Steller's Jay

[Tom Redd]

I enjoyed seeing this bird, but wish I had shot with more DOF. My focus point was more on the chest than the eye and it shows. Next time.

D3s
300/2.8
1/1000
ISO 720

Cropped and sharpened

[Steve Wasson]

Beautiful bird, Tom! Nice composition, perch, pose, background. You already identified the FP/DOF issue.

[gail bisson]

Agree with you and Steve! What a nice composition.
Gail

[John Chardine]

Really nice Tom. The white flecks indicate an interior subspecies. As you say too bad the DoF was not just a little wider to get the feet in focus. I like the sharpness and background. I would like to see the head a little brighter- you could accomplish this by dodging, using Fill light in Adobe ACR, Shadows and Highlights and other techniques.

[Tom Redd]

Thanks everyone, the background was busy and I tried to keep the DOF shallow to avoid the distaction and kept it too shallow.

[Tom Redd]

Here is a repost with some shadows/highlights adjustments. I can fix the DOF.

[Kerry Perkins]

Tom, good self-critique. I think you covered all the major issues. I think you could find more sharpness with Topaz Detail or one of the other filters or maybe just unsharp mask. You get good marks for your composition, color, pose, and head angle. Nice bird and well done other than the points mentioned.

[Tom Redd]

i just reread my post in pane #6. It should have read, "I CAN"T fix the DOF", not "I can". Sorry for the confusion.

[wendell westfall]

Tom: Beautiful bird; I like the re-post.