Blue Jay fledgling

Posted by Cliff Beittel on Tue Nov 25, 2003 8:51 pm

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© 2003 Cliff Beittel, all rights reserved
For discussion only. May not be downloaded for any purpose.

We had bumper crops of young Blue Jays and Catbirds in the yard this summer. I never saw any Catbird, adult or young, take a drink, but the Jays were at the stream constantly. I photographed this one July 14, Bastille Day. This is about as little sun, and as much flash, as I'd ever want to do. York, PA, EOS-3, 600 IS, 12mm extension, f8, evaluative -2/3, flash at -1 2/3 (CF 14.1), Provia at 200 and pushed one stop. Full frame.

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by Bill Whala on Tue Nov 25, 2003 9:42 pm

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Excellent image, Cliff. I love the bent over drinking posture. You can really tell this is still a young bird. The waterfall in the foreground adds interest.

Really very nice.

Bill Whala

"Aves of similar plumage tend to converge with one another"

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by Jill on Tue Nov 25, 2003 9:51 pm

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Positively adorable youngster, Cliff, and what a pose!!! Love the setting as well, which adds action to the action!! Thanks for sharing this gem!!!

Jill Rosenfield

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by ajhand on Tue Nov 25, 2003 10:08 pm

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Cliff:

You got this guy at just the right age. Past that scruffy awkward stage, but still cute. Perfect use of flash, and a nice dynamic pose. Too bad he has his head jammed up against that rock.

aj

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by AlexC on Tue Nov 25, 2003 10:10 pm

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Excellent Blue Jay and a great pose to boot, perfect fill-in as well!!!

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by Andrew Mc on Wed Nov 26, 2003 12:27 am

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He's a cutie. Nicely captured.

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by Juli Wilcox on Wed Nov 26, 2003 1:04 am

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Nice, delicate shades and excellent feather detail. This is neat! I like your technique for achieving this.

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by KK Hui on Wed Nov 26, 2003 6:19 am

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A very nice one, Ciff!

Love the bent-over pose ...

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by BrianS on Wed Nov 26, 2003 7:09 am

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Lovely photot ... this guy/gal cerainly is young (you can see it in the face) and I love the pose. Only additional work I might try is to even out the shadow line across the head -- not exactly sure a best approach for that.

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by Phil Shaw on Wed Nov 26, 2003 8:27 am

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I like the composition and the lighting is good, overall. I think the spectral highlights on the waterfall in the f/g are a bit of a problem but could be very easily fixed in PS by cloning out the white pixels. I don't think the shadow across the face detracts as there is still plenty of detail in the shadowed area; in fact I think the shadow adds some intrest and looks natural. If the shadow had fallen across the eye, that could have been a bit of a problem though.

Nice work.

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by Bruce DiVaccaro on Wed Nov 26, 2003 10:17 am

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Cliff,

Very nice shot of this youngster. I like the drinking pose.

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by Cliff Beittel on Wed Nov 26, 2003 10:27 am

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ajhand wrote:. . . Too bad he has his head jammed up against that rock.

They seem to prefer the edges, perhaps for cover from potential predators (though logically, it could also keep them from seeing a predator). Many of the photos I got on the couple of days I shot this stream show birds at one edge or the other.

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by E.J. Peiker on Wed Nov 26, 2003 10:35 am

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Really nice shot - you handled the part of the face that is in shadow well.

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by Jim Zipp on Wed Nov 26, 2003 10:45 am

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Cliff,
NIce use of the flash. Not overpowering it as you have done keeps some shadows which to my eye looks more natural. Nice job. I've been thinking of building a pond with moving water but I have so much around me naturally I'm not sure if it would be worth it. Sure works for you.

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by Wil Hershberger on Wed Nov 26, 2003 11:01 am

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Great shot. Nice use of light both natural and flash.

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by Cliff Beittel on Wed Nov 26, 2003 1:13 pm

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Jim Zipp wrote:. . . I've been thinking of building a pond with moving water but I have so much around me naturally I'm not sure if it would be worth it. Sure works for you.

Jim, the stream is good for the birds, but not nearly as good for photography as I'd like. If you build one, make sure it's wide, shallow, and oriented east to west.

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