BlueJay + Repost

Excellent detail and exposure, Ray. I like the head turn and the way the leaves frame the Blue Jay.

I miss these "real" Blue Jays of my Ohio childhood. the Stellar ones here are not as beautiful, imo.

Great pose and head-turn, bright eye, lovely greens. Too bad the tail is partially obscured - but still a very nice image.
Sandy

Beautiful blue jay Ray. Very nice turn of the head. All the shades of blue and details in the feathers are just wonderful. Although the green is a very beautiful color, I almost wonder if toning down the green would bring more attention to the bird and less to the greenery.

nice head turn and setting, Ray. details and DOF look good. colors are very pretty but do feel a little oversaturated. I might clone out the white spot on the leaf at top left.

Decreased saturation, thanks for the suggestion.

Ray

Great image. Beautiful soft foliage nicely framing the bird. The covered tail tip doesn't bother me at all-gives some character. It looks like in your redo you decreased your general saturation button. I have tons of bluejays in my yard and the color of the bird her is spot on in the original. If you want to selectively reduce greens and yellows just a few clicks, I would do that, but bring the bird back to his original glory. I would crop on the right to the edge of the OOF leaves in the upper right corner though. Getting the bird out of the center and leaving more room on the left.

Beautiful! Great detail, color and background.

Just lovely colours with the blue (especially the patterns on the wings) against the green. I actually like the original colours as they are; and not bothered one bit by the slightly obscured tail-tip. Fantastic!

I liked the first image before looking at the second, but I do think the reduced saturation helps highlight the bird. I also agree with Sandy's preference for the tail to be clearly seen and the suggestion that the bird be further to the right in the fram. Still those are fairly minor. I don't think the oof fg greenery helps here. But I love the pose, the beautiful blues and the simplicity of the green bg.

I like the pose, tilt of the head and the nice look at the eye. I much prefer the toned down version as the colors all look more natural to my eye. I'd consider cropping the right side to eliminate the OOF leaves on that side and perhaps some from the bottom as well.

I agree with all the comments althought the colors are glorious in the OP I do prefer the repost. I like how the Jay is looking up. Nice image.

Thanks all for the comments and critique. Thanks for your input on the bluejays color Angela, I'll bring him back to his original glory. Appreciate it. Ray

The colors of the jay are better in the first image, which I like very much. Sharon

Great blue jay and habitat photo Ray! Personally I like the original.

Ken Archer

I like the rich green environment that the botanical gardens provide, and this natural framing.
Great detail and exposure with the soft light, nice head turn also.
I might clone out the small debris on the leaf upper left if it was mine.
Good job with the green on that repost too Ray

Nice image Ray, for me the greens were over bearing in the original post, but I like the repost very much. It posed very nicely for you with it's head turned up.

Love the composition shot through leaves, such a beautiful bird! The repost is definitely more appealing, very nicely done Ray :^)