Green Jay/Cozad Ranch

[Arthur Morris]

This curious Green Jay was photographed at a feeder set-up on the Cozad Ranch in Linn, TX with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D MIV. ISO 500. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop set manually: 1/500 sec. at f/6.3. Fill flash with Better Beamer at -3 stops.

When working with the 800 at the feeders fitting the larger species in the frame was often a problem. :)

Don't be shy; all comments welcome.

ps: With the black mask and neck and all the light tones making a good image of this bird is absolutely dependent on a good head angle else the blacks are NG :)

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Pretty cool pose, this species is pretty high up on my wishlist. I also like sharpness and BG and might run some NR on the BG. Maybe a tad more room at the bottom?

[Arthur Morris]

Axel, BKGR NR as requested. As taught to me by you :) I am fine with the COMP.

[Krijn Trimbos]

Hi Artie,
Great looking bird, nice pose, colours and HT. I like the second version with some noise reduction, but thought the original was good already. I am not to fond of the perch, but I think that is very personal. Love the comp though.

Cheers,

Krijn

[denise ippolito]

Very cool pose and sharp details. The repost looks good. I like the complimentary BG color :)

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Artie, Great looking bird, nice pose, colours and HT. I like the second version with some noise reduction, but thought the original was good already. I am not to fond of the perch, but I think that is very personal. Love the comp though. Cheers, Krijn

Thanks Krijn, Are you guys still in TX? How did the contest go?

[Ilija Dukovski]

Great bird, love the colors, SH, pose. Prefer #2 with NR.
Great BG color for this bird too.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Hello Arthur.

To me everything works here except, sorry for that, but the perch is too simple, may be one with some vegetation from that particular area where you are would add more interest to it. This is one handsome jay for sure.

[Stu Bowie]

Thats one colourful bird, especially around the head. A different pose from the norm, and Im fine with the perch. Anymore perch would have obscurred the subject.

[Kiran Poonacha]

the reason why I call you guru is because you make magic at times.....

[Arthur Morris]

Hello Arthur. To me everything works here except, sorry for that, but the perch is too simple, may be one with some vegetation from that particular area where you are would add more interest to it. This is one handsome jay for sure.

And to think that I not only have Alan Murphy's great songbird guide but helped develop it!

Thanks all for your help and comments, especially Kiran-bhai.

[Randy Stout]

Artie:

Lovely bird, fun pose, nice techs.

My 1st thought when looking at the thumbnail was, too tight on the tail below. So, I am with Axel on this one.

Cheers

Randy

[Arthur Morris]

If anything, a bit more below would work for me but I was being a bit lazy when I thought of having to extend the perch....

[Arthur Morris]

As requested, but about 20 minutes of work... Yikes, what's wrong with me???:confused:

[Randy Stout]

Artie:

Very nice. Well, it seems to me, that someone I know once took me to task about doing even the simplest shots to the best of my ability. ( My boat lens mount pedestal pictures). Nice to see you practice what you preach. :D

Cheers

Randy

[Arthur Morris]

What can I say? I have been swamped. Please do not take this personally but I never quite understand why folks choose to use the grinning idiot symbol...

:)

On a totally unrelated note my average daily blood glucose levels for the past three months are about 88. I can't wait for my next Hb a1c!

[Colin Knight]

Count me in with the ones who like more space at the bottom. But the techs have been beat to death. And now, here it comes, the grinning idiot :D

Thanks for sharing this beautiful bird! It's a great capture.