Florida Scrub Jay

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this image in southeast Florida. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D500
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED image captured at 400mm
1/2500 F/8 Matrix Metering EV +1 ISO 560 Daylight WB, camera supported by a monopod
Post processed in Lightroom Classic CC and Photoshop CC 2018
Cropped for composition and presentation

[annmpacheco]

Hi Joe, hope you are beating the FL heat! Lovely windswept scrub jay and I do like the weathered perch. Sky here is "so blue" and it distracts from the jay imo... As a suggestion, would you consider reducing the blue sky so it doesn't dominate so much? Lovely frame Joe.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Ann, thank you for viewing and commenting. I guess I am like a reptile... I like the heat as long as I have air conditioning. Here is a edit and repost taming the blue background and changing the crop. The clear sky in winter here is so brightly blue. Thank you for your suggestion.

[Isaac Grant]

Hi Joe, that is a pretty shot of a Florida Scrub Jay. Nice details, pose, head angle and overall feel of the image. I think you are still having a bit of a problem with the blues in your images. Not sure what it is. The whole image has a blue cast to it and the colors are not quite right. I did the following, I lowered the blues in hue/saturation, I went into NIK colrefx and went to remove color cast and lowered the blues some more at 50% opacity, added a bit of brightness and warmth as well. The grays on these birds is a bit more sandy colored. While subtle, I think these minor tweaks are a bit more accurate. You want to be sure to keep the boldness and beauty of the blues in the bird while at the same time maintaining the sandy gray browns as well.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Joe, that is a pretty shot of a Florida Scrub Jay. Nice details, pose, head angle and overall feel of the image. I think you are still having a bit of a problem with the blues in your images. Not sure what it is. The whole image has a blue cast to it and the colors are not quite right. I did the following, I lowered the blues in hue/saturation, I went into NIK colrefx and went to remove color cast and lowered the blues some more at 50% opacity, added a bit of brightness and warmth as well. The grays on these birds is a bit more sandy colored. While subtle, I think these minor tweaks are a bit more accurate. You want to be sure to keep the boldness and beauty of the blues in the bird while at the same time maintaining the sandy gray browns as well.

Thanks Isaac, will go to the raw file using your image as a guide.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like the reposts' colours better, but prefer your original composition. Nice and sharp. I love the tail with the layered feathers.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting, very much appreciated.