Hairy woodpecker

[Bobobird]

Was walking in thick woods looking for sign of deer and owl. Stopped for a drink of water and heard this very faint knocking sound. Looked around to see where it was coming from and saw this guy hard at work.

Lighting in there was dreadful - shot taken at ISO 1600, 300mm, AV, 1/160, f5.6, -2/3EV, spot.

Please leave constructive comment. I have thick skin.

Thanks.

Bobo

[rob marshall]

Bobo

The lighting might have been bad, but you can rescue it a little in PS.

I would have done a more aggressive crop. There seems to be too much bright yellow in the left side on my monitor, so you can reduce the yellow channel in saturation and exposure. You could then increase the overall exposure in 'levels' on a new layer, to get that right. Then add a layer mask to the layer and brush out the increased exposure on the left side of the image, leaving Mr Woodpecker nicely exposed and contrasted. See edit below.

Love Woodpeckers. We had three! on our bird-feeder in the garden yesterday - a pair and their offspring.

[Bobobird]

Thanks Rob for the short PS tut. I will try that asap.

Your edit is just great.

And yes, wps are really lovely (but I say that about any bird hehe).

Edit :

Redone image - views please.

[rob marshall]

Thanks Rob for the short PS tut. I will try that asap.

Your edit is just great.

The three Woodpeckers I mentioned before were in my garden again just now, feeding off the bird stand. Never seen three together before. Pity I don't have a very long lens and my full frame camera gives a wide view anyway.

[Bobobird]

Don't have the luxury of a full-frame unfortunately but for what I shoot the T2i/550D seems to be fine for the time being (only been into photography since Oct last year). Have so much to learn so reckoned an inexpensive camera for now is just right for me.

[rob marshall]

Don't have the luxury of a full-frame unfortunately but for what I shoot the T2i/550D seems to be fine for the time being (only been into photography since Oct last year). Have so much to learn so reckoned an inexpensive camera for now is just right for me.

If you shoot mostly birds and other wildlife a crop factor camera is better, as you will have more reach.

[Bobobird]

Yes, mostly that and street with some landscapes. For some reason, I like something that has some life/action in it then static stuff.

[Dave Humphries]

Redone image - views please.

Hi Bobo,

It is better than the first in some ways, but you've now lost the detail in the white feathers, particularly those on the front of his/her leg

This also looks like you might have done 'a monochrome job' on the bird and tree. I appreciate it may just be you removed the green cast brought about by the backgound light, but now it looks false. If not 'monochromed', I would suggest increasing saturation again on the bird and tree to get some colour into them.

Just my views though

[Bobobird]

Arrrrgggghhh, you are right Dave. These edits and my limited PS skills are killing me. It is a case of fix one and create another here.

Have a bit of time atm so will see what a re-redo will do.

Thanks

[jiro]

Hello, Bobo. Your image is really nice. It looks a little bit dark but I think that is really how it looked naturally when you saw it. The slight green cast is evident and I would agree with Dave that a slight reduction of the green cast would help the shot look better. I thought that by giving the image a boost in contrast would be great, unfortunately it would also make the image lose some detail on the highlights. So, my idea was to use the black and white layer/luminosity blend mode technique to increase the contrast without sacrificing highlight details. As for the crop, I played around with it but can't seem to find a suitable crop (for me, that is) that would make the shot look balanced so I decided to stick with what you did. The last addition that I would probably like to introduce here would be a slight dark vignette so the viewers' attention would go first to the woodpecker and slightly wander to the surrounding then back again to the bird. I did a quick edit in LR then export it to photoshop for the layering edit. Here is what I came up with:



Your camera shows a lot of detail in it and its fun to edit your work. Nice shot, by the way. Good work.

[Bobobird]

Thanks Willie - each edit other then mine looks great. Have to wrap my head around one of 2 things - either get it right in camera or get it right in PS.

[jiro]

Do whatever makes you transfer the vision you saw to the image that you captured in your camera. If you can get it right straight out of the camera then that is perfectly fine. If you need the help of an editing software to help you further develop the image so it would come close to the vision that you had in your mind that is also perfectly fine. Use whatever tools you have to help you achieve your goal with your shots. Good luck.

[Dave Humphries]

Arrrrgggghhh, you are right Dave. These edits and my limited PS skills are killing me. It is a case of fix one and create another here.

Have a bit of time atm so will see what a re-redo will do.

Evere wondered why I don't post much (photos I mean)?
Same reason!
Fix one thing, break another

[Bobobird]

Very true Dave, so true.

I am still at that pic and still cannot get it right (or wrong).
The raw pic with a touch of ACR touchup is not all that bad. Perhaps should just leave it at that point and use the lessons learned here for future stuff.

See how frustrating this can get ? Now I am backtracking.... LOL

[JohnC]

All very helpful comments which have improved the image but not to lose sight of the fact that it's a superb shot.

Marvellous that you have 3 of these in you garden,Rob. Have you had a look at the Canon 70-300IS-it gets a very good write-up too. You can pick up good deals on the 1.6 X Canon 40D too especially on Ebay where I sold mine.

[rob marshall]

Marvellous that you have 3 of these in you garden,Rob.

It is, but we do have a lot of trees around our property. We have our own trees in the garden, plus a 12thC church behind us with quite a few 100+ year old trees, and then open hill-side beyond that. We regularly get about 20 different types of bird, including Sparrow-Hawks, Buzzards, and Red Kites, either landing in the garden or circling overhead.

[JohnC]

It is, but we do have a lot of trees around our property. We have our own trees in the garden, plus a 12thC church behind us with quite a few 100+ year old trees, and then open hill-side beyond that. We regularly get about 20 different types of bird, including Sparrow-Hawks, Buzzards, and Red Kites, either landing in the garden or circling overhead.

Wow..All those raptors too-I think a lens with reach is a bit of a priority tbh. Probably some bats in the church roof space too - or wherever they find to roost in a church building.

[Bobobird]

Final edit - my eyes hurt.



I have tried to retain the "emeraldy" look of the green background but reducing the yellow somewhat and reducing some of the green cast.

[FrankMi]

Final edit - my eyes hurt.
I have tried to retain the "emeraldy" look of the green background but reducing the yellow somewhat and reducing some of the green cast.

Lovely, simply lovely, and I'm sure it was worth the effort to get it to this point, Bobo.

[Bobobird]

Thanks Frank - this was one BIG learning exercise but have to thank everyone here for that. We have magicians here !