Great spotted woodpecker

Hi everyone

Still getting to grips with the 500, so decided in a moment of enthusiasm to take the day off (well it was a very nice light this morning ) and continue climbing that learning curve.

I have a few GSWs which regularly visit the feeders. I've positioned them so that there's a fair chance that they'll land at around this point on the hawthorn adjacent to the feeder. I'm pleased with the BG on this - there are few lines of sight in my garden which have a suitable distance between subject and background.

Comments welcomed!



Mark

Techs: Nikon D80, ISO 400, Sigma 500, 1/500 @ F4.5, PP in Lightroom & CS2, Noise Ninja mainly on BG, levels, curves, USM

Nice shot Mark. Shadows ad lower leaf are a shame as it's just obscuring the tail but if they're visiting regularly, it's just a matter of time before all the elements come together. That's being highly critical of course. Saying that, far better than I've ever got, and one I'd be pleased with

Classic woody shot Mark, and yes, you deserve a day off work ,

Looks like the trusty 500mm is already paying dividends!!

Graeme has covered my thoughts on the slight drawbacks, but a fine result

Alan

Nice capture Mark

I think Graeme has just about covered the bases - hope you get another chance soon

Hi Mark,

Looks like your getting the hang of it just fine,, so looking forward to some spectacular shots,
agree with Graeme on the leaf in the forground.

Paul

Looks like you are rocketing up on that learning curve Mark! It's a great colourful photo, but definitely worth another go with processing. It looks like you have plenty of detail in shadow areas, so why not trying to process RAW twice and then blend those two together?

Cheers,
Marko

Lovely light and colours, maybe looks a bit soft to me (could be my monitor though)...



Mark

For me, this would be absolutely spot on if it wasn't for those leaves in the bottom right corner. I think the light is great and the background fab. Its a nice setup.