Every morning several woodpeckers still try to get a snack from our feeders near the house. With four different species you never know who will be the first one. It was the warm light this morning that caught my attention while getting ready for the day. The Hairy Woodpeckers are usually the most skittish ones and I’m always happy if I get a sharp image of one of them.
This was all not very difficult today, the woodpecker moved around while I opened the window carefully, but didn’t fly away and gave me some time to make a few clicks in the first sunlight that hit our woods. However, a mistake was made that needed some correction in post process at the computer. I simply forgot to reset the white balance in the D750 from my last shooting. I had it still at 7400 Kelvin, a setting I use quite often during sunsets when there is some red or orange in the sky. The light was definitely warm but by far not that warm. I hardly ever correct white balance or colors in my wildlife photography but what I saw on the screen was not what I saw this morning. After correcting to “cloudy WB” (6500 K) in Adobe Lightroom, the photo reflects much better how the light had unfold early on this Friday.
Mistakes are good for one thing, they can teach us a lesson for the next time we try to make a new photo. A little nuance in light temperature can make a difference how we tell the story about our wildlife encounters. Sure, we can always “fiddle” at the computer but I still believe in the craft of photography, means get it right in camera.
