Gray Jay

[Rachel Hollander]

The Gray Jays near Lake Louise are very habituated to people because, unfortunately, many people feed them. As a result I was able to take this photo while walking by with my 16-35mm lens.


Canon 7D
16-35 @ 35mm
1/2000
f2.8
ISO 200
Cropped from horizontal to vertical, people in bg removed with content aware scale, slight s/h adjustment, sharpened in CS5.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

P.S. Can't remember if I left the CP on or not.

[John Chardine]

Hi Rachel- This beautiful bird is a Clark's Nutcracker. They are in the crow family as are jays, so you were close!

I like the inquisitive look of the bird. The image really gives a sense of how playful these birds are. Impressive to get that close and use a wide-angle lens. With the flexibility you had I would have maybe turned around the bird to get more direct light from behind you, and maybe you could have improved the background at the same time.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks for the correction John. I literally snapped this as I walked by on the path. Not sure I could have got him to turn away from the kids feeding it cheetohs (that's the orange crumbs).

Rachel

[Eric Patdu]

Wow 35mm! You must have been very close to get all these details.

I like the raised foot as it gives the bird in the photo more character.

[Svante Larsson]

The bird with its raised foot is really nice and this with 35 mm. I dont find the light to be much of a problem but am not to keen on the background with the house etc. If it were my image I would also remove the whitewash on top of the pillar

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Rachel, nice capture from so close. What a treat! I love that lens and will have one some day... I rented one a couple of years ago for an assignment and fell in love with it. Really nice use of it here. The foot is too cool. The background is a bit distracting, would be so nice to have all trees back there. I think you could crop a little from the top.

[nancy hazen]

What a great find Rachel! This is such a cute pose. Great detail too!
Nancy

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks all for the kind comments. Not often we get to shoot birds with a w/a lens and have it almost full frame. The building in the bg is the Fairmont Lake Louise. In the opposite direction would be the lake front and the walking paths with lots of people so unfortunately not a lot of choices for a clean bg.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[annmpacheco]

Yup, great snap that was a lovely surprise. I just bought the same lens last month so I'll be more open minded about full frame bird shots, and cheerios! Thanks for the ID John.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Ann, you'll love that lens for landscapes.