Little bluejay

[Pat Nighswander]

Canon 30d Iso 400, f 5.6, 1\800, 400 mm on Canon 100 to 400

[Rosl Roessner]

Hi Pat,
this is a nice oicture of a very cute litte bird..
I whish I could get some eye contact to the bird to become more involved.
Were there some leaves or grass between you and the bird's neck?

[Pat Nighswander]

No the grass is behind and leaves except for smaller spikes in the foreground

[Dick Boone]

Hi Pat, I guess if I HAVE to critique anything about this image, it would be the out of focus portion of the log the bird is on. A little distracting, but only just. Overall, I reallly like this image. The first thing that came to my mind was that the young jay looks just like a typical teenager. Good exposure, great composition, and the fact that it is looking out of the upper left part of the image creates an air of mystery (I wonder what he/she is looking at?). Thanks for sharing. ;)

God bless.....Dick

[Lana Hays]

Pat
Usually I like some eye contact but given his overall scruffy feathers I like that he is looking off.....and pondering life!!! The composition and exposure is good. Was there some detail with the rest of the perch or did you blur it? I'd like to have some detail in it.

[Jim Neiger]

Hi Pat,

I like the cute little Blue Jay, but wish his head was turned more your way. The bg is nice too, but I wish the shadowed area at the top wasn't there.

[Pat Nighswander]

It was more or less straight out of the camera.. The bluejay is on the ground and looking up at the perch. I cropped about 10 to 20 percent off the edges and removed a sort of lens flare from the shadowed area.. I didn't do any blurring just the camera did it. I liked his adolescent qualities and probably got maybe three somewhat similar shots before he moved. I suppose the shadowed area could be removed...I thought the eye contact was acceptable in this situration although will check other shots.. thanks for the feedback everyone

[Robert Amoruso]

Pat,

I like the log diagonal in the frame and entering at the right corner. As mentioned a head turn to get the head parallel to the sensor is needed to make the image more engaging. Though you did well handling the high contrast side light, I find it distracting and only accentuating how scruffy looking he is. Fill flash would have lower the contrast and surpressed the side-light details and may be more pleasing.

Thanks for posting.