Canon 20D Canon 180mm macro plus Canon 1.4TC, tripod taken from a hide in the back garden (my 100 -400 L IS was faulty!!)
ISO 400 1/250sec f5.6
Jays are very shy birds and extremely wary, I tempted the jay within camera shot by placing peanuts and seeds in the snow beneath the sheep skull. I let him pay a couple of visits before I took any (I managed 3) images... then he was gone!
All comments welcome. I was a little concerned about the white patch on the wing but it is not hot/burnt out - it just looks a little bright to me??
Last edited by Jonathan Ashton; 01-25-2010 at 10:51 AM.
Unusual setting for a woodland bird, but with a nice plain background. I find the perch a bit over dominating and distracting. As you say they are very shy birds and you did well to get some photos.
The wings patches on jays are very bright and the surrounding feathers very dark and overall I think the exposure is looking pretty good. You have however lost some detail in the blacks in order to save that white patch from overexposure.
Did the bird have something in its beak that was cloned out, as it just doesn't look quite right to me somehow?
Hawk eye! I must admit maybe I rushed the cloning a bit on the bill - I didn't think it would be noticed at this image size - yes there was a peanut in the space!.....previous version I cloned a bit off where the tongue is so it was a little less straight on the edges as it were.
Those are shy fellows! So far I wasn't lucky with them even though we have them in our garden during winter.
I like the soft light but I think a little fill flash might have be good here.
I think you did a great job on the exposure here. The dark and white parts are not easy.
Background is great.
Jay
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