Male Hairy Woodpecker

[Airedale1]

Not good conditions, but I see a lot of Downey and very few Hairy Woodpeckers. So, I took my best shot. The light was dim and the T.C. was not helping with that but I did not have time to take it off. Besides I learned a long time ago to just take the shot first then fine tune.;) As it was he flew off after just three shots. If I had taken the time to take the T.C. off, I would have missed him.

Av Mode ISO 400 1/60 sec w/400 and 1.4 TC

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h33/Airedale1/hairy2.jpg

[hTr]

I like the Shot Paul, You got good exposure on the blacks and the Lights.

[downywp]

Very nice shot, I like the soft light and the beautiful b/g and the pose. This is amazingly sharp with such a slow ss! :-)

[canonloader]

It's a great shot Paul. Been a long time since I've seen a Hairy. :)

[Gary Fairhead]

Nicely exposed with nice details, perch and BG. and I am surpeised at 1/60 sec that came out so nice. Are you using manually focusing with the extender on?

[Airedale1]

Nicely exposed with nice details, perch and BG. and I am surpeised at 1/60 sec that came out so nice. Are you using manually focusing with the extender on?

Thanks all. Yes, Gary with the 20D and the 400 w/Canon 1.4 TC you lose AF, unless you tape the pins and that method is not 100%, so I'd rather trust my eyes and manual focus.

You can use certain other manufacturer's T.C.'s that do allow you to retain AF but I am loyal to the Canon brand to a fault.

[Gary Fairhead]

Thanks all. Yes, Gary with the 20D and the 400 w/Canon 1.4 TC you lose AF, unless you tape the pins and that method is not 100%, so I'd rather trust my eyes and manual focus.

You can use certain other manufacturer's T.C.'s that do allow you to retain AF but I am loyal to the Canon brand to a fault.


I am with you all the way on that philosophy Paul. I think taping the pins is not a good thing for the lens..

[sugarzebra]

Really nice Paul, especially in the challenging light. Great pose and BG too. We are fortunate to have lots of Hairy & Downy's at the cottage and its always fun to watch them (and try to tell them apart :))

[Airedale1]

Really nice Paul, especially in the challenging light. Great pose and BG too. We are fortunate to have lots of Hairy & Downy's at the cottage and its always fun to watch them (and try to tell them apart :))


For anyone who is interested it is pretty easy to tell the Hairy from the Downy Woodpecker, even though at first glance they look identical.

The hairy is larger in size and it's bill is proportionally larger (longer) than the Downy's, which has a short bill.

Here is one of each for comparison.

Downy Woodpecker
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h33/Airedale1/downy10-1.jpg

Hairy Woodpecker
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h33/Airedale1/Hairy1.jpg

Note how much longer the bill of the Hairy's is.

[bromm]

Nice shots Paul, and thanks for the comparison, I dont think I've ever seen a woody's eye lit up like that last shot.

[Stephen Stephen]

Great captures Paul.

If you want to try a little exercise sometime, I've found that if you want to boost the brightness overall try increasing the Gamma correction and the Contrast by about the same amount. Overall the whole image will be brighter but will retain the same Contrast ratio as the original.

[Grimm75]

Great photos there!

[Nighthound]

Amazing shots Paul! Very impressive.The bill size is the clear difference.

NH

[woody60]

Your guys not too far removed from our british greater spotted w p as you can see here .

[kolok]

Ooo the pic of the downy looks very nice! Well done.