Scrub Jay

[Kerry Perkins]

Either nesting or having a bad hair day... :D

Captured at Cachuma Lake. The EXIF data shows shutter priority but I'm not sure why. Must have overshot on the dial changing from manual. Anyway, converted from CR2 in DPP, then exported to CS4. NN, sharpened and tweaked curves, colors, etc. Used selective color to lower the saturation of yellows and greens, neither of which exist in the bird but it makes the bg softer.

50D, EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS + 1.4x @ 280mm
Shutter priority, 1/200@f/6.3, evaluative metering EC 0 ISO 400 AWB
AI Servo autofocus using back button, HH, 580EX II FEC -2/3 E-TTL mode Evaluative

Thank you for your comments.

[Lance Peters]

HI Kerry - like the pose and the low shooting angle -- Bonus nesting material - like it a lot.

Might try and lighten the eye a bit and there is also a orange OOF rock or something on the RHS i would get rid of.
Good show :)

[Kerry Perkins]

Better? I lightened the eye and cloned out the offending organic material. :)

[denise ippolito]

Kerry, Pose and nesting material a big plus!!! Like the BG! Very nice capture!!!The blues on head look a tiny bit oversaturated on my monitor-but wait to see what others say.

[Alfred Forns]

Love the repost !!! The lightening of the eye made a big difference .... first thing we zero in ....

Great pose and attitude Just perfect !!!

[Ilija Dukovski]

Agree with above. The pose and eye contact
the head position is plain great. Another composition
with more space on the left and less on the right might work
in this case too, I think.

Cheers, Ilija

[Gus Cobos]

Hey Kerry,
A very fine composition...agree with Mr. Peters' assessment. The repost is over the top...good show...:):cool:

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

THe lighter eye is better. Nice bird and good moment that you have captured here. :) Thanks for posting

[kevinmat]

A good capture. Nice low angle on a handsome bird. The repost is a good improvement. Congratulations.