A sunny day here for once, what a shocker! So we went over to the Royal Botanical Gardens to feed the chickadees. People always leave lots of seed & snacks along the trails around here for the wildlife. Those are my daughters in the background, my wife is right beside them, but I cropped her out so I could get more detail on the jay in the wee little 640 pix allowed DPC size. It's not easy getting the jays around here in a good shot, as they're really hyper & spazzy. I was lucky to get this shot in the short amount of time allowed by impatient wife & kidlets.
Not much in the way of editing. I did some dodging & burning on the jay, mostly the eye. Such a shame only 640 pixels is allowed, as there is so much nice detail on the jay, oh well.
Here's a 100% crop on his head, you can see the snowflakes on his beak:
Statistics
Place: 44 out of 218 Avg (all users): 6.3721 Avg (commenters): 6.7200 Avg (participants): 6.2477 Avg (non-participants): 6.4631 Views since voting: 1597 Views during voting: 482 Votes: 258 Comments: 34 Favorites: 0
I'm afraid you have an interesting picture that doesn't look like all the other bird pictures in the challenge, so I'll give you a low score and offer some tips on how to be completely conventional...
I'm afraid you have an interesting picture that doesn't look like all the other bird pictures in the challenge, so I'll give you a low score and offer some tips on how to be completely conventional...
I got The Gift. You got A Seven. Possibly... if the humans were still watching the jay, to see him get The Gift, the suggestion of interaction would be more easily perceived. I liked the story and the level of saturation. Excellent focus, especially on the peanut.
Good point, though I like the idea of the peanut left behind, to be furtively received later on. :-)
I got The Gift. You got A Seven. Possibly... if the humans were still watching the jay, to see him get The Gift, the suggestion of interaction would be more easily perceived. I liked the story and the level of saturation. Excellent focus, especially on the peanut.
Sadly, it appears I failed to convey the idea to many commentors that the out of focus children in the background left the peanut as THE GIFT. I don't know whether to be more disappointed in the crop-happy, speed-commentors for their inability to see; or myself for my inability to convey.
If I'd wanted a stock photo, I would've made it that way.
:-(
I thought I recognized those girls! ;-) Nice shot, Slippy! I'm mixed about whether the tighter crop would be better. Tighter maybe, but not just the head perhaps.
Nice to see the version with just the jay's head. I really prefer this version and I imagine it would have done better. Thanks for pointing out the snow. Had I noticed on the first time through I probably would have voted higher (another reason to go with the tighter crop)
Outstanding, the dof is absolutely perfect. Looks like he is posing just for you, this is a great shot. I just love blue against the almost golden background. Very well done!
Great color and focus. Hopefully people will realize how hard it is to get a good shot like this and not vote low due to the distracting people in the background.
personally, I think that this would be a stronger image if the people were cropped out ... nonetheless, great capture ... love the colors, bokeh and sharpness of the bluejay ... 7
I love the color and detail on the jay, but I really would prefer the people cropped out. They compete for my attention with what is a very nice capture of the bird.
Striking - I am sure you may have a few comments about the people - I can understand you having them in there - Only problem for me is the one wearing red - It's too much competition for the eye against that wonderful blue bird. Still a great capture though.
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