I finally had one of these stop long enough for me to get on it and get one frame this morning, More by luck than good management, my zoom was set so I was able to get the entire bird in the frame without adjusting or I would have missed the shot. The nice dynamic pose was an unlooked for bonus.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
Anything. I painted over the background with some colors from it then reduced the opacity of that layer to get some of the texture back. The original showed the green fence in the background a bit too well for my taste.
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
I cropped this from the left and added canvas to the top to get a 5x4 aspect ratio. Does this comp work?
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
7DII, Sigma 150-600 C @ 451 mm, gimbal head mounted to blind window, f/8, 1/1600, iso 800, fill flash at -2 2/3 EV, manual exposure. Processed in LR & PS CC. Noise reduction with Neat Image, feather enhancement with Topaz Detail. Background modified by painting over at reduced opacity. Canvas added to the top using content aware crop. Taken at 9:21 this morning under sunny skies.
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1 Like
What a beauty, Dennis. One shot was all you needed. I don’t see how it could get any better than this. The beautiful bird, the perfect pose, and a very nice perch he is on, composed perfectly. So glad you had everything set up to capture this excellent image. 
Wow, Dennis. I so many of the Steller jays in my backyard in Lake Oswego, OR. I can never seem to get one in perfect focus even at shutter speeds greater than f/500. I love these beautiful birds. Great capture.
Very nice capture Dennis…Great pose and the focus is spot on. Nice exposure and background. We don’t have these birds in my area so it’s interesting to see one up close. Well done.
Nice pose and excellent detail. Looks as if you had some nice lighting as well. The crop and background work for me.
Great capture of this colorful jay, Dennis. I really like the headturn and directional light. DOF and focal point look very good. We had a few show up two years back, but haven’t seen any since then.
Great eye contact and lighting here Dennis, I would prefer more depth of field for the tail because it’s facing us.
Hi Dennis,
I never get good looks at these jays and it is good to view one out in the open. Pose and color are good and wish that he dropped his tail down for a better dof. Other than that, well done…Jim
