Blue Jay

[Browncoat]

There are a pair of Blue Jays in my back yard. They're very pretty birds, but also aggressive and territorial...they constantly chase away other birds. Unfortunately for me, they're also very smart and have eluded my camera for a long time. It seems like every time I set up a shot, they would fly away. Today I got a decent picture of the male:




Camera: Sony a330
Exposure: 1/250
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal length: 300mm
ISO: 200
Flash: Did not fire

[Laurenbiz]

What are you wanting a critique about?

[Browncoat]

Mostly the exposure and post-processing. I had to adjust the contrast in Photoshop because this picture was pretty much taken at high noon and it was very bright outside. The colors have been slightly saturated, in addition to some sharpening.

[chris2471]

I'm still pretty new, so you can take what I say with a grain of salt haha. I really like this photo. It is a little bright towards the head of the bird, but for me that kind of brings my eyes down to the beautiful pattern on the wings and tailfeathers. I love that the knothole in the fence is there and in focus. If it were my pic, the only thing different I would have done would be cropping out the left almost up to the knothole.

[chris2471]

Oh, and btw, I throw out peanuts for the blue jays, and that keeps them away from the other birds for awhile.

[windrider86]

Did you mean to remove your image?