Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
What? Don’t you mean Steller’s Jay? My friend, you’re behind the times. The American Ornithological Society (AOS) in its infinite wisdom is poised to purge the world of all eponymously named birds. So, good-bye Dr. Steller. I suspect birders will be playing guessing games as to what the AOS will re-name different birds. A prominent Oregon birder has proposed the name Stellar Jay for this bird. I could also see Western Blue Jay, to differentiate it from its eastern counterpart as they both have similar markings on the back. Though my name above is more descriptive, which I think is what the AOS is striving for. Will Townsend’s Warbler become the Masked Bandit Warbler?
Specific Feedback
Rather harsh light and I didn’t like the background, on which I did a lot of messing around. Your thoughts are appreciated.
Technical Details
Canon R5; 100-500 with 1.4 Tx at 508 mm; 1/1000 at F10; ISO 4000
Lot’s of discussion on this topic within our household and with birding buddies here too, Allen. A very nice pose and I like how the light comes through the crest. I think you could pull the blacks down a bit in the bird as the head is looking rather brownish on my monitor instead of black. Nice job on the background.
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Allen, I am related to some very, very dedicated feather chasers. I don’t hear much about the name changes other than the splitting which then adds a “new” bird to the “list”, a list that is word-wide I might add. My immediate reaction before reading @Dennis_Plank’s comment was the need for darkening the head. I wonder if then the blues could be just a bit more vivid. Not sure about that. Steller Jay is what I thought this was from way back when I took ornothology in grad school.
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Really nice pose and head turn you managed to get on this one! I think the harsh light hurts this more than anything else. But I think you did a decent job of processing it considering the circumstances…except the blacks look a tiny bit overworked.
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Hi Allen
The Steller’s Jay seams to have the same attitude as your common Blue Jay, nice head turn and eye contact. The background helps punch the Jay to the foreground.
Peter
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