Blue Jay

[Richard Stern]

On a wrought iron metal "tree" near my feeders in the yard. The bg is a fall-leaved Sumac bush, and I couldn't decide how much to desaturate or blur the original, which was a bit overwhelming. In the end this is what I decided on.

D300, 300 f/4 + 1.4TC. Fill flash. Tripod. 1/320. f/7.1, ISO800.

Richard

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

Sharp with good detail, good pose given by the bird and nice background. Even though the perch is not natural but it does look interesting. Wishing that the feet did not get block by the perch.

[pat lillich]

gorgeous background - love the colors of the jay against it - really nice detail in the head and neck. beautiful bird and picture.

[Dan Brown]

Beautiful pose, HA and bg Richard. The bird seems a bit soft but it still works! I wish for a better perch.

[Julie Kenward]

Hello Richard...I think you did very well with the BG. These autumn colors often look best without a lot of detail as they do tend to draw the attention of the viewer away from the main focal point.

Lovely pose and HA here. I wonder if you ran some noise reduction as some of the main feathers look really soft compared to others. If you did you can always mask the bird feathers back out of the NR.

Yes, if a perfect world a better perch would be nice but I think you made the most of this opportunity!

[Bill Dix]

As common as they are, these are still really lovely birds, and you captured him nicely. Good detail, position in the frame and lovely background. The perch is what it is. Head looks just a tiny bit soft on my screen.

[Johan Kruger]

Pity they are not common here too Bill, ive never seen one :D. Nice looking bird , well done

[Troy Lim]

Great details and BG...TFS.

[Bob Miller]

Nicely handled in every way....love the bg