Rainy Day Magpie

[Steve Canuel]

Been awhile since I've posted here but thought I'd throw one back in the ring. An old one I worked up during hard drive purging. This was taken on a mid April, early afternoon drizzly day. The colored background is a layering of pine trees, gambel oaks that never shed their leaves, and a dreary sky. I won't deny there was some noise in this photo but the visible splotchiness on the blue feathers is mostly due to raindrops and the iridescent colors. 7D, 700mm, f6.3, 1/125s, ISO 800, HH from vehicle, cropped to just over 10mp, removed some whitewash from one of the lower branches, PP'd in DPP and PSE10.

[John Robinson]

Hi Steve
Can be murderous so and so's but I have to like them. Didn't realise you had the same one over there. Some folks over here wish they woud all fly over to you!.
Nice exposure.
John

[Randy Stout]

Steve:

Soft light with good colors, nice display of that long tail, good eye contact. Like the visible rain streaks.

The whites on the left shoulder are just a bit hot, with some loss of detail.

I could see a small crop from the top with a balance crop from the left to keep the original proportions.

Always fun to look back through the archives, often missed jewels.

Cheers

Randy

[Steve Canuel]

Hi John,
I'm actually quite fond of these guys. Constant companions during my hikes and I often follow their squawks to find owls and the hunting coyotes they shadow for scraps. Resourceful and clever birds.

[Ian Wilson]

The blacks and whites look about right on my monitor. I like the layered background and rain streaks, just a few more would be even better. I find your signature at the top a little distracting in this composition. Well done. Regards, Ian

[dankearl]

The shooting angle is a little steep, I wish it was looking down....
The exposure looks fine, I can see detail in the whites and blacks.....

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Very nice image, Steve. Great you were able to show the iridescent feather quality on a rainy day. You have a beautiful BG and good detail. Well done.



Geoffrey

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Steve, great light, killer BKG & colour palette. Like the framing, the head looking back and you had some catchlight too, cool. The vibrant branches are a nice change and having the hint of rain streaks adds to the scene. You certainly have a steady had for 1/125 sec . If you add a Luminosity layer for the bird ONLY, it just brings back a nice depth and tone of colour set at 100% Opacity IMHO.

TFS
Steve

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Steve, lovely comp here, and I do like the look back pose and eye contact. Well exposed on the blacks, and I feel the whites of the shoulder are on the borderline fine on my screen, there is detail there. I really like the blues on this fellow, together with the colours of the BG.

[Steve Canuel]

Thanks to all for the comments and suggestions.