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Great Spotted Woodpecker
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Great Spotted Woodpecker

by Ron McCombe

Gallery: AvianPosted November 18, 2009342 views11 comments
This picture was taken in Sweden back in February. Heavy snow and very cold (-25°). The shot was an opportunist shot. The bird landed in front of the hide on a small pine tree, it stayed for 4-5 seconds and left. But long enough to get a series of decent pictures.

The light levels were quite low, no bad thing with the white on the woodpeckers body and the black on its back and head. The canon 300mm f2.8 lens was made for such conditions I think

Canon 50D Canon 300mm f2.8 lens
ISO 640, 1/750sec, f2.8



Comments

11 comments
Comment posted by Carrie O'Brien-Sib on November 18, 2009 at 8:35 PM
Looks like a Post Card to me, Ron!! This is a fabulous image, and one I will not forget!! It's MAGICAL!
:toast: :toast: :toast:
Registered on August 4, 2009, 149 Posts, 889 Comments
Comment posted by Charlie VanTassel on November 19, 2009 at 12:36 AM
Hi Ron,
Looks like quite a nice scene. I only wish that you had posted it at the maximum allowable size as it's hard to see the detail. :toast: :toast:
Registered on October 18, 2006, 644 Posts, 4801 Comments
Comment posted by Rob Drummond on November 19, 2009 at 4:51 AM
Beautiful setting Ron - I'd love to see it at 1200 pixels

cheers
Rob
Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments
Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on November 19, 2009 at 9:59 AM
I really like the comp on this shot Ron, but I cannot see the details since it was posted so small. If you get a chance, would love to see a repost at the size allowed!
Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments
Comment posted by Nate Chappell on November 19, 2009 at 12:50 PM
Looks great from the small sizes posted, I'd love to see it posted larger Ron, for the regular image you can post up to 720 pixels on the long side, for the larger up to 1200 pixels. :toast:
Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments
Comment posted by Greg Cope on November 19, 2009 at 1:46 PM
Oh how I would love to see this larger. As is it looks beautiful, but at this size its difficult to critique beyond that
Registered on January 22, 2007, 212 Posts, 2737 Comments
Comment posted by Gary Gulash on November 19, 2009 at 7:46 PM
Very pretty scene, I also thought "Christmas Card" when I first saw it. Interesting composition, very different yet well conceived. Would be well worth reposting at a larger size, looks like a real winner to me!!! :toast:
Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments
Comment posted by bill meikle on November 20, 2009 at 5:41 PM
Oo, I like this one a lot. Very atmospheric Ron.
Registered on May 21, 2006, 173 Posts, 663 Comments
Comment posted by Nate Chappell on November 20, 2009 at 10:52 PM
Hi Ron,
I've tried to respond to the email you sent me but it keeps bouncing and won't go through to your email address. So I will try to help you here. What I would do is read this article on how to prepare your images for the NPN Forums:
http://www.naturephotographers.net/articles0509/dw0509-1.html

You could also try reading the discussion topic written by me in the bird photography discussion forum http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/bbs.cgi?a=vm&mr=44870&CGISESSID=11d440c461d0e8ea9bf7b0a47d445a21&u=17038

Let me know if you are still having problems with sizing after this and we'll get it sorted.
Cheers,
Nate

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments
Comment posted by Ian Mason on November 21, 2009 at 3:25 PM
That looks like a superb image overall and I would really like to see a larger version.
Registered on December 14, 2005, 399 Posts, 2305 Comments
Comment posted by Sharon Hallowell on November 21, 2009 at 11:17 PM
Ditto to everyone else's comments! :toast: Sharon
Registered on November 1, 2003, 392 Posts, 4810 Comments