Canon 7DII; Sigma 150-600 at 451 mm; 1/1000 at f6.3, +1 1/3 EV; ISO 5000. Processed in LR and PS with Topaz DeNoise.
All the drama of the plumage comes through here! They are such striking birds and so much fun to watch. That over the shoulder look is priceless and I’m glad you were on the spot with the big lens to grab it even if it was dim. The exposure on the bird looks about right, but the background could be taken down a notch IMO. Should be easy to do with the Select Subject Mask and then inverting it. I love the little bit of leaves on the branch. It’s a nice detail that keeps the image from being too stark.
A simple and beautiful portrait of this gorgeous bird. I too like the over the shoulder pose. I especially like the soft background, which really lets the Jay and its plumage stand out.
A great pose, Allen, and the detail is excellent for iso 5000 on that camera. I love the high key background that still looks leafy. Well done.
A nice pose and a pleasing background. Both nice.
The higher key background works OK for me, but I wondered what it would look like with a tad less saturation. Did a little PS work to see. I also did selective dodging on the bird to accentuate some parts of the plumage. Here’s the result.
PS. Your image did not have an embedded color profile. That will lead to others seeing different colors.
Thanks, @Keith_Bauer , I like what you did on the jay, the colors pop more. By color profile, I assume you mean something such as sRGB? Isn’t it automatically embedded on export from PS?
Hi Allen: No, it isn’t automatically embedded on export. Not sure which export option you use from PS. For the legacy Save for Web, here’s a screen shot with the option checked to embed the color profile
Hi Allen
You have given us a very nice looking Blue Jay at ISO of 5,000 on a 7Dll, not an easy thing to do.
Peter
A good as it gets: the bird free standing against a nice and not-distracting background, showing the wonderful pattern of the feathers on the back, and doing the head turn to give us the head and eye-light. Keith’s reworks enhance it even further on my screen, but the original one made me very happy when I saw it. Nice work ! Cheers, Hans
You definitely pulled it off well - nicely exposed for the highlights in the BG. Gorgeous bird, pose and background. Excellent.
Grt, Ingrid.
Blue jays are dirt common, but very difficult to photograph. They are cunning, defiant, and always moving. You can’t sneak up on them, but you managed to get one just fine. Go with Keith’s suggested edits for printing–it will make a wonderful image for the wall. Well done…Jim
This is really a superb image. I like the pose and the detail. Keith did an excellent job with the repost. The color contrast here works quite well.
