OOYCZ 5 - Pileated Woodpecker

sapphire73 · April 17, 2014

Here are a few shots I captured the other day of a male pileated woodpecker working on his nest. I am heading out of town again and may not be able to capture more shots of this bird before the trees leaf out (or participate in this challenge). But thought I would share my first attempts.

The nest is behind a neighbor's house and she kindly let me come over, but we are giving them lots of space. (Another photographer saw the male and femaie together, and we are hoping they stick around rather than looking for another place to nest.)

These are shot late afternoon with a 70-300mm lens handheld.

1.

2.

3.

Any tips for shooting and/or processing differently?

Thanks!

lifeinfocus · April 17, 2014

Nice shots. I have not seen one poking out of tree before.

We have those birds in our backyard too. Love to watch them fly and go from tree to tree. Largest North American woodpecker.

Alans Grin · April 17, 2014

Lovely shots - very jealous! For hand held at 300mm in late afternoon light these shots are very crisp - you have a much better hand than I have!
Personal taste ... I prefer the crops where I can't see round the RHS of the tree and the red plant on the RHS in the middle shot is a detraction from the bird in my view - red always pulls the eye - you could crop out or possibly de-saturate the red in this area. Just a thought.

Alan.

PS - The white stuff falling in the first shot is intriguing.

sapphire73 · April 18, 2014

Thank you both for your input on these! Alan, the white stuff is wood chips being tossed out in the process of making the nest hole.

Alans Grin · April 18, 2014

sapphire73 wrote: »

Alan, the white stuff is wood chips being tossed out in the process of making the nest hole.

Even better! Great capture.

Alan.

JAG · April 19, 2014

Wonderful captures! I really like the one with the chips being tossed out. Don't see that very often, at least this is the only time I have ever seen it! Kudos!

lifeinfocus · April 19, 2014

Let me add one more thought. How about cropping a tighter, perhaps landscape? I would like to see them a little more close-up if possible.

sapphire73 · April 22, 2014

Thank you all for your input! I tried reworking a few of my shots. (There was no opportunity to reshoot because the woodpecker was absent each time I went back.)

4a.

4b. [Same image with different crop]

5. Another shot of the wood chips being flung out of the nest.

I am leaning toward 4a or 4b as they feel more dynamic to me - even though there aren't any chips in mid-air. But the resolution is pretty low with a tight crop.

I will be overseas without a computer so we'll see whether I'm able to follow through or not.

Alans Grin · April 22, 2014

They are all great as far as I'm concerned, but if I had to pick it would be 4a.
I'm not saying it matters, but the white balance is clearly different in 5 and I think 4 looks more natural.
For me, the tree is also better exposed in No 4.

Alan.

grandmaR · April 22, 2014

I would like the original top shot better cropped if I could still see the wood chips (which I can't and whether that is because I will have to wait about 6 weeks to get glasses for the eye that just had the cataract removed and which now everything is blurry with or without my glasses, I don't know). I like the bird with the beak open better and though it wouldn't be technically correct, I wonder if you could put the wood chips into 4a.

sapphire73 · April 22, 2014

Hi GrandmaR - thanks for your input on these. That last shot is a different photo with lots of very small wood chips. Hard to see.

It was fascinating (to me ) that the beak appears closed when the chips are flung and then opens wide.

I am now without computer so I welcome input but won't be able to act on it .

Hope you are seeing very well ASAP!

lifeinfocus · April 22, 2014

I like 4a also.

puzzledpaul · April 22, 2014

Colourful, photogenic subject doing something interesting and well captured - especially hand held.

I wonder if there's another cropping option that might be worth considering / trying, which might also have been what grandmaR was referring to?

A portrait crop of the original #1 image ...
Halve (say) the trunk showing between hole and rhs of frame
A smidge off the top
A bit off the lhs ... just to the right of the largest chip next to lhs frame ... this one tends to get lost in the similarly coloured bg more so than some of the others on darker bg
Bit off bottom to suit desired frame aspect ratio.

Sort of think of trees + woodpeckers as up/down pics, rather than side to side, somehow ... maybe it's just my distorted way of looking at things

If a major interest aspect of the image is the chips being flung, then it's worth playing on that aspect ... even tho' a viewer is possibly unlikely to realise what they are ... unless told, maybe ... as per here?

pp

jwear · April 22, 2014

#1 with the wood chips bill open, wood chips in the air, sharp

the chips add alot to the photo and it shows folks what goes on in the wild. When anyone looks at the capture if they can not guess then they think!

sapphire73 · April 29, 2014

Thank you for your input Phil, PP, and Jeff. I was already enroute to Japan and Korea and had just sent myself the one photo as an email attachment and didn't really have time (or a big enough screen to evaluate the results) to play around with some of the photo processing apps like Snapseed. Just returned home after 24 hours of travel time. Tried out a new lens, 28 mm (2.8), while there visiting friends there, traveling light on this quick trip.

Thanks again for your input throughout this process!

OOYCZ 5 - Pileated Woodpecker

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