Acorn Woodpecker

Pleasant surprise when I went back to Irvine Regional Park to shoot Wood Ducks. The sun came out and it became a nice morning. My shooting buddy called me over to see something. There were five Acorn Woodpeckers darting back and forth in some trees and the light was in the right direction (for once). I set back a bit so I would not get such a vertical shot and I wanted to capture the texture of the tree. I cropped this a lot(to 30% of FF) to enlarge the bird and I think it is still fairly sharp.

I tried spot metering to get the exposure correct, but I think I picked up to much of the tree which caused the image to be a bit bight so I darkened it a bit in Elements along with a bit of sharpening. The Acorn Woodpecker was one of the first captures I tried when I started in May 2010 and the results were dismal. This day turned out great for me and thanks to the NPN members who continue to really help me.

Comments are appreciated.

02-20-11 9:30 a.m.
Canon 7D
300 2.8L + 1.4 ext
f/6.3
1/320
ISO 500
Metering = Spot
Exposure Comp 0
WB - Auto
Tripod