Grey Jay

Gallery: AvianPosted March 15, 2012130 views13 comments

Hi Everyone! I took this picture last month in Waterton Lakes National Park. We found some Grey Jays flying around looking for food when one of them flew right by me! He landed in a spruce tree and gave me this cute pose. I like how there's a few snowflakes falling, but wish there were more! These guys are so fast I only got this one picture but I'm happy it worked out.

I know his tail isn't showing but I like how cute he looks nestled into the spruce branches.

Thanks for looking!

Nikon D7000
Nikkor AF-S 300mm f/4 IF-ED w/ TC-14EII
ISO 1000
1/400sec @ f/7.1
monopod
cropped to about 75% of original

Selective adjustments to curves, tone and some dodging and burning by my dad. Partial clone of distracting branch in LLC. Also we used Topaz DeNoise to smooth the background a little.

Comments

13 comments

Comment posted by Jenaya Launstein on March 15, 2012 at 5:45 PM

Really nice image, Marlise! I love the way he looks against the dark green branches. You have great detail in the feathers, and you even have a catchlight in his eye! He has a great pose, and I do agree that he looks absolutely adorable

. I do wish there was more snowflakes though...

Registered on February 8, 2011, 254 Posts, 1302 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on March 15, 2012 at 5:50 PM

Well composed and nice winter colors. Good detail. I think I would have cloned out the few snowflakes.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on March 15, 2012 at 6:14 PM

Very cute little fellow in a nice pose.
Great work!
Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by wade pettitt on March 15, 2012 at 6:18 PM

Well done Marlise. Nice pose and I love the suspended snow flakes.

Registered on May 6, 2009, 184 Posts, 471 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Teller on March 15, 2012 at 7:16 PM

Nice detail, color, exposure and composition. I think I agree with the cloning out of the snow flakes. There isn't enough of then to give the feeling of snow fall and they tend to look like spots on the image. Very nice image.

Registered on August 23, 2010, 1162 Posts, 6692 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on March 15, 2012 at 7:54 PM

A lovely image. Very nice colors, good textures and composition. I think the snow is a positive, not a negative.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on March 15, 2012 at 8:04 PM

The tech's look excellent Marlise, lovely setting. Love the bits of snow fall about the head as well!

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Peter Cross on March 15, 2012 at 8:13 PM

This would be a great Christmas card photo. A perfect image of the bird in it's habitat. A very appealing pose ceretainly helps and you caught it just right. I think I would be tempted to clone out the 2 snowflakes (?) above the head as they really seem too bright for snow flakes particularly the biggest one. It's a distraction. Very nice capture. You had goodf reflexes to be able to get this.

Registered on April 3, 2010, 271 Posts, 1342 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on March 16, 2012 at 12:45 PM

Very nice image with a wonderful pose and I like the spruce setting, nice job in reacting and getting this shot, way to go.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on March 16, 2012 at 10:00 PM

Great setting and the framing works so nicely. I might add a little more sharpening on the face and I too wish for more snowflakes to make the three look like they belong. I'm not sure I would keep them because they look like light glitches or something? But I'm on the fence. Nice work.

Registered on June 30, 2009, 300 Posts, 5051 Comments

Comment posted by Sally Wood on March 17, 2012 at 8:17 AM

So sweet.. the colors and composition are great. very pleasing to look at.

Registered on March 8, 2012, 39 Posts, 509 Comments

Comment posted by Matt Shellenberg on March 17, 2012 at 11:46 AM

This is a beautiful look at this Jay, Marlise. Great head turn and the foliage makes for an awesome environment. Very good job with the exposure.

Registered on February 6, 2008, 168 Posts, 3118 Comments

Comment posted by Marlise Launstein on March 20, 2012 at 1:53 PM

Thank you for all your nice comments! I was very excited to find these grey jays, but for one to land on a nice spruce tree and to pose for me so I could get this shot was really cool.

Registered on August 31, 2011, 28 Posts, 175 Comments