Steller's Jay

[Declan Troy]

I've been chained to my desk and pretty much missed the brief period that qualifies as fall with all the wonderful photo-ops. Fortunately these guys come to me and flutter against the windows when they make the rounds of my neighborhood. The hard part is getting one to pose for a photo. This one wasn't too bad although it is a bit distressing to see that the sun is so dim that I ended up using iso 1600 in the open!

50D iso 1600 100-400 @ 220, f 5.6, 1/1000

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2455/3951862025_ac8999edcf_o.jpg

[Tony Whitehead]

I like the soft light, pose and HA, Troy. Sharp texture of the foliage is a nice contrast to the soft plumage of the bird bit tends to draw the eye a bit. I have tried a version with a slight blur masked to the foliage to reduce it's contrast, a slight contrast and blue saturation boost to the Jay and a sight corner burn. May not be that obvious looking side by side but if you open the 2 versions as layers and switch from one to the next it highlights the differences. See what you think.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the head angle, pose and setting. The critical focus seems to be in front of the bird. Maybe some selective sharpening of the head?

[Harshad Barve]

lovely looking bird with nice HA , Tony's repost is improvement
TFS

[Ramon M. Casares]

Not the ideal BG probably but... and don't ask me why... it works for me :) Nice pose, detail, colors, species and sharpness! Congratulations!

[Declan Troy]

Hi all,

I was a bit surprised to think this could use a saturation boost but Tony's magic did help and the blurring does add focus to the bird.

I checked the focus and it was on the greater coverts so perhaps some of the head was a bit too close but odd that the needles in the same plane are too sharp! But I've attempted a bit of sharpening of the head and boost of saturation so we'll see if it shows. Being a biologist I kind of like seeing all the branches so typical of jay habitat (not so sure about the branch sticking up the birds cloaca though!) even though it is a bit busy for the more pure photographers out there. But good to see master raptor photographer Ramon likes the needles (way to go on that big 4000).

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2571/3970895448_111cf6c07d_o.jpg

[Ray Rozema]

Great detail and pose. I like the background. But I find the needles at the feet a little distracting because they are so sharp. Very natural looking image.:)