Intro - New Member - Pileated Woodpecker

[DonC]

Hello All my name is Don and I live in the Appalachian mountains of NE TN. My work is mainly Birds and insects and I dabble in landscape. I shoot a D800 and have several lenses. I tried to capture the contrast of the shadows in this shot. What do you think?

[Jakov Minić]

Don, let me offer you a warm welcome
I am certainly going to enjoy your images as your introductory specimen, wow!

[elsa hoffmann]

a big welcome from me too - and a lovely image. I wish it was mine!  Any chance of lighting the face a bit more?
Woodpeckers seem to elude me - I would LOVE to shoot them. The composition is great

[PedroS]

Welcome 

Nice capture and a real example where a flash could be helpful as a filling light.
In similar situations I tend to use the beamer and fine tune it to where I expect the bird will appear... sometimes I got lucky 

Keep coming

[Bjørn Rørslett]

You probably could work in a decent RAW converter and/or Photoshop to pull out additional shadow detail, if the present image is felt unsatisfactory? It seems fine to me.

I don't normally shot birds, however on the few occasions I've tried, I felt the subject was a bit more tricky than expected The only woodpecker I have captured did co-operate though.

Oh, and lest I forget, welcome to NG !

[Anthony]

Welcome.

I actually like the treatment, the subtle toning produces a very different result from the normal bird portrait style, a very attractive image.

[Thomas Stellwag]

touch wood, or knocking on wood is a good start to enter, welcome

[tommiejeep]

Don, welcome to NikonGear.  Lovely image.  I actually really like the image as is.  The play of light and shadows is part of shooting birds.  Very occasionally you get the great bird in great light (not lots of light  ) and in a very great setting.   Very seldom do you get all three or even two of the three 
May the birds and light be with you.
Tom

[DonC]

Thanks to all for the warm welcome! I have tons of shots with the head not in shadow, I just felt like this shot exposed that the bird had frozen and was trying to remain hidden 'in the shadows' I've been shooting birds sine the film days and I use to always focus on the perfect frame-filling side shots with perfect ID marks. Now I'm looking for more emotion or mood.

[Andrea B.]

Don, cool shot of the Pileated! I love those big guys. I only see them when I'm in Maine - and not very often.

[John Geerts]

Welcome Don. 

Amazing lighting on the Woodpecker. The shadows give it an unusual and effective depth.

[Erik Lund]

Welcome o NikonGear! Do enjoy the site Lovely light on the bird and tree!

We have a separate thread here called Introduce Yourself

[John G]

Hi Don
          Welcome to NG.
          A very nice capture of a Pileated Woodpecker. A species I am unfamiliar with, thanks for posting.   

[BW]

Nice pecker, and welcome to this site😎

[golunvolo]

Remarkable image! Great mood. Welcome to Nikongear