The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Action at the feeders has been frustrating this spring, at least partly due to these guys being playground bullies. And doubly frustrating because we have had some lovely light with morning fog, that is about to end for a while. So I shot what was available.
Specific Feedback
All comments welcome! I thought about removing the feather sticking out of his back, but kind of liked the detail in it. Really only works with the largest view, though.
Technical Details
Tripod with fluid gimbal head, loose enough to allow movement for composition. Shadows raised and highlights lowered slightly in LR, just globally. Into PS to crop a little off the bottom and add some to the top. Topaz Denoise. Darkened the bottom a little with a gradient.
Outstanding detail here, Diane. I can’t say we have any of these guys locally in and around our place. I can go either way on the feather. Not a deal breaker at all and is always an easy change option there…
I understand your frustration but, speaking as someone who doesn’t have this species to photograph, this is a beautiful and unusual-looking bird which you have captured excellently! Awesome details and colors and a cool perch with a wonderful pose. Oh, and a nice background. Well done!
I like the errant feather! Keeps it real in a sense. Birds are fastidious groomers, but even they have a hard time seeing behind them. Sorry about their bullying ways, but they are striking birds. We don’t have them here either so I enjoy seeing them. Lovely light and pose and oh, detail to die for.
Thanks, @Paul_Breitkreuz, @terryb and @Kris_Smith! You guys don’t have them because they are all here. ALL of them. It’s like a plague of locusts.
The upside is that they can be acrobatic, and sometimes hang upside down from perches, seemingly just for fun. I have gotten some fun poses in the past but none this year yet. They are too busy being grumpy.
Very nice pose and an excellent perch, Diane. Interesting that you considered cloning out that stray feather. I’ve always considered them an asset and never tried to remove one.
Hi Diane, love the pose and perch - great to catch him at the top of the branch. Sharpness and BG look great too. A striking bird even if they are common - love that prominent eye. Another vote to keep the errant feather. Well done!
One of my favorite woodpeckers. I don’t have this species in my neighborhood but have photographed it in California. Coloring detail are outstanding. I like the perch, the pose, the color, and the textures. Nicely framed.
As always, Diane, clarity and feather details (all of them) are excellent, and I also like the top of the stick pose adding to the nice soft creamy background. I see and hear these guys on all my woodland hikes in So Cal, they can be the bullies and the clowns.
Gorgeous detail with a nice perch and background. Interesting about their behavior as we have a fair number of Acorn Woodpeckers in our neighborhood and they occasionally come to the feeder/suet, but it’s the Scrub Jays that are the bullies here, not the woodpeckers.
Thanks, @Allen_Sparks, @David_Schoen, @Stephen_Stanton and @Allen_Brooks – the feather stays!! Our Scrub Jays used to be the bullies but this year they seen scarce, or else the Woodpeckers drove them away, too. But they were really just gluttons. The Woodpeckers are protecting the feeders! And they discovered the jelly feeder for the orioles and now eat it, ravenously AND now try to drink out of the Hummingbird feeder! I hadn’t seen either of those behaviors in the previous several years I’ve been putting out jelly.
Maybe a nuisance, but it’s a great image of a species that is pretty rare in most of the US. Outstanding details and techs. Composition and elements are also top-notch.
Excellent image, Diane and I would leave the feather in. Love the BG as well, against the sky it would have been a totally different image. Cheers, Hans
