Steller's Jay

[Ian Cassell]

Taken at the edge of Lake Tahoe, CA this morning

Canon 7D
Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L HH
1/1000 sec f/7.1 ISO 800

Crop for composition, levels, and sharpening in CS5
Some cloning of stray twigs

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Ian, good job capturing the jay calling - always a nice touch. Looks like this was an overcast day, as the light seems very flat. I would suggest a levels adjustment or adjusting the mid-tones (blacker) in LR. As long as you are pruning, you might consider losing the branches above the bird altogether. I would also take the time to expunge the OOF branches the one that exits the frame on the left. Would make for a cleaner image IMO. Good to see you posting here again, we missed you!

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks for the tip, Kerry. Yes, a bit of a flat day combined with BG snow made it a challenge. When I made the black blacker, I lost detail. A bit of fill-flash might have helped but, as usual, I never have it with me when I need it and the pop-up on my 7D was too weak for this. I thought the branch above the jay made a nice frame, but will try losing it and see how it looks.

Yes, I haven't been shooting much the past couple of months as my weekends have been tied up. Hopefully things have calmed down now. I'm on a week of ski vacation in S. Lake Tahoe, and then back to Phoenix. I want to get out to Gilbert this week to see if I haven't missed the Avocet courting.

[Ian Cassell]

OK, Kerry, here are a couple of variations. Thoughts?

[Kerry Perkins]

Ian, I like the one on the right. You could even crop a bit from the right side of the image.