Scrub Jay

[Bill Foxworthy]

Canon 50D, 500 f/4L +1.4, ISO400,
1/50, f/5,6, Around 8:20am Tripod mounted,

[Randy Stout]

Bill:

In this shaded setting, fill flash would have been your best friend. It would have perked up the bird, changed the relative brightness of the bird vs. the bright background, made the colors pop a bit more.

I wish the leaf wasn't touching the breast, but that is minor.

Head angle is nice.

Keep them coming.

Randy

[Bill Foxworthy]

Thanks for your critique Randy.
Fortunately I had the flash on camera. Unfortunately the battery had given out and I missed it on this image.

[Randy Stout]

Bill:

Did any of the other images, where the flash fired, turn out decent? It might be interesting to see the difference on a repost.

Don't' you hate when the flash does that! I did check your tech. details before commenting about the flash.

Randy

[Bill Foxworthy]

Actually this was one that I liked best.I have some from an opening out of shade that are better. Also have one with 3 of these in a scrub bush that I really like.

[Tony Whitehead]

Lovely colours in the BG - image is crying out for fill flash as already mentioned. here's a digital cheat version using onOne Photo Tools Digital fill flash masked to the bird and then a local eye adjustment