Backyard jay

[Rene Quenneville]

-20 Celsius today! Overcast day, very little light for 10:00 AM. The birds were very active in the backyard. What do you think about this composition? Is there enough room in front of the bird?

I may have blown the whites on the lower abdomen/tail . Lightroom does not show any clipping.

1/320s
f/6.3
300 mm
ISO 640

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the wintery mood and soft light. I wish for a bit more head turn, would run NR on the BG and would prefer a natural perch. The crop looks good, I would probably give it a bit more room.

[Doug Brown]

In addition to what Axel said I would selectively sharpen the eye and tone down the whites a bit. I'm not sure what LR saw, but they definitely look blown on my monitor.

[Juan Aragonés]

I agree with Axel and Doug and the whites looks hot in my monitor. If you have more room at the left you can also try a landscape format. Too bad the perch looks so unnatural. BTW, I love the blured cornflakes in the BG and the sharp ones in the plumage of the bird :-)

Oh my god! I was meaning snowflakes instead of cornflakes.... I think is time to have my breakfast just right now :D:)

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Rene,

Not only do the whites look hot they are hot as presented. As contrast is increased when JPEGS are created this can happen with whites are right on the edge if you are not careful. Here is the histogram from your image showing the clipped highlights. They are not restricted to the rump area as the tips of the coverts and other areas of white show as flashing when I hold down the ALT key and the Highlight Slider.