D500, Sigma 150-600 @ 500, ISO 1000, 1/1000 @ f6.3, handheld
(If backgrounds have been removed, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
I like the look-back/calling pose and the setting. Really enjoy the colors in the BG. I don’t love the needles nearly intersecting with the bird’s body, and your image quality could be better. The sharpness is pretty good, but this looks like it was a fairly big crop. I’d definitely run some noise reduction on the BG.
Wonderful pose from a handsome bird! The blues are striking against the greens and oranges, almost 3D in appearance. I wonder if Topaz DeNoise would help with the appearance of the gray upper back. It almost looks like a moiré pattern, maybe from the pixel pitch being close to the level of detail int he feathers. If I were to try it, I’d do it before any resizing. A localized adjustment might bring out a bit more detail around the eye.
This is a very complementary pose for a Colorado Jay… I’m not too bothered by the pine needles. I do agree that there are some image quality issues and I would like to see a little more plumage detail in the black areas.
