This is an autumn motif for a couple of reasons: the mountain ash is in full berry at that time of year and is a big resource for feeding birds around here; and the blue of the Steller's Jay gets real punch when the autumn sun includes some yellow tones.
All that being said, I think I heading for some comments I have had before; namely, too much in the bg. I want the tree to be part of the composition, but maybe this doesn't do it? What do you think?
All suggestions and comments very much appreciated.
Thanks for looking
Gail
Canon 40D with 500mm plus 1.4xtc, f/5.6 at 1/50, +2/3EV, ISO 640
I like the berries in the image, but find the berries above the bird pulling my eye away from the jay. those I would tone down or remove, but I would keep those to the side the jay is looking toward. Can you tone down the white area on the left side in the bg?
I really like the pose of the jay, the backward look shows more energy and that berry at the tip of the beak is wonderful. Not a static image at all!
Hi Gail,
Great shot!!!! I think I would be tempted to either Gaussian blur the BG just a bit as there is a little noise or just use the blur tool to soften it a little, And maybe add a little black to the bird's body (not the head) thru selective colour to make him stand out more. I wish this had been my shot! Beautiful colours!
I would just darken the bird a little (just the body not the head thrus selective colour maybe two points) as the BG is OOF and the bird stands out IMO, I don't have time to tweak around, but just my thoughts. It sound as it you are leaning toward darkening the BG? Maybe you can post something.
gee, Jackie, that will teach me to open my mouth! lol
OK, I tried it. You're right--darkening the jay worked better than just darkening the background.
Love the pose Gail!! The berry in beak is tops. I like what Cheryl did, berry etc. but color wise I think somewhere in-between the orig and the re-post.
there's a couple of things i see. first is a color cast. it looks a little blue/magenta. should be able to easily correct. the second thing is just tone the whites down. the darks on the bird look good. it's just the whites on the bird and bg that need to be burned. nice compo. bg is a little busy for me. i do like the berry in the mouth!
color balanced by establishing black and white points, desaturated the reds, cropped for compo, toned the whites down, brightened the face area and added a little sharpening. too lazy to selective sharpen so there is some noise in the bg now.
hope you like it. there was a huge blue cast. went right away after balance!!
Like Cheryl's repost a lot and good eye for the colour cast Harold. The colours seem truer in the repost. Like the cluster of berries that Cheryl removed as well.
Aha-thanks Harold. On my monitor the your re-post has exactly what I have been searching for. It now pops right off the screen. Thanks ever so much for the detailed explanation. I'll try it for myself tomorrow. What I see in your re-post is also the quality that I see in most of your images; the colors seem alive and vivd.
Thanks again
Gail
Hmmmm, in real life a Steller's does not look such a bright blue. Striking, but darker. Does that matter? To my mind it does, and it would alter the whole discussion of the photo if it were more representational of the bird. The pose, btw, is great.
What do others think?
Hi Stephen and Cheryl
Au contraire Stephen, Steller's Jays in the interior of BC are the blue of the original image when viewed in direct sunlight at this time of year. There are at least a few things that are making this happen. First is a fresh molt; second, is the amount of yellow/orange in the sunlight in the fall in the interior of BC. The angle of the sun is much lower now than a few months ago. I also suspect there is a difference between the interior race and the coastal race of STJA that may affect more than just the colors of the stripes on the face above the eyes etc.
I would agree that this blue is right at the edge of realistic/natural and, depending on monitor calibration, could be over the top.
Cheers
Gail
Stephen - I checked Birds of NA and the there is a difference in the blue of C.s. stelleri stelleri (nominate subspecies and coastal form) and C.s.annectens (interior BC subspecies). The blue of the coastal form is darker than interior form.
Cheers
Gail
motif: Steller's Jay
