Green Jay & Ruby Red Grapefruit

All comments welcome.

Nice sharpness and colors

Very nice nature photo. Image and colors are sharp, crisp, and clear. Nice work.

i like the combination of all the colours of the bird and the red very much, nice picture

Just wondering if the bird was real, looking at the legs. Does not matter...excellent picture

Beautiful juxtaposition of opposite colours! Magnificent!

Yes, the bird is real. It was chased away from the grapefruit by a great-tailed grackle shortly after this picture was taken.

Meant no insult. It did not matter to me if the bird was real or not. It's an excellent photo, great colors and exposure.

Thanks for commenting! I just wanted to reassure you that the bird was real, and took no insult. This was an unplanned, right place and time situation!

nice combination of colors.

Excellent shot!! Very nice!

This is probably a once-in-a-lifetime shot. As such it deserves the highest ratings because the photographer made the best of it despite the obvious volatility of the situation. Just to be extremely picky, I would crop a bit tighter on the left to leave out the jagged end of the short branch - it sorts of contrasts with the overall smoothness of this photo.

Thanks to all for the thoughtful and encouraging comments!

Outstanding image... I love the colors, the sharpness of the Jay and the blurred background.

Nice color saturation. Good choice of DOF. Sharp details

this is not a once-in-a-lifetime shot. someone placed the grapefruit there. was it the photographer or a friend? that said, this was a partial setup situation. the photographer likely was waiting in anticipation for a subject to arrive. that said, the photographer should have chosen a better angle so as not to merge the tree stump with subject. but no, the angle chosen was clearly one to show the grapefruit "full frontal".

That last post seemed a bit hostile, though I'm sure it's well intentioned. I agree that the photo was probably staged and that given time the composition could have been improved. However, the only constructive criticism I can offer at this point (post production) would be to crop the jagged edge of the branch on the left side. It's a terrific photo and I'd be proud to have it in my portfolio.

This is a 7/7 any day in my book.

Jeannette - OK, let's make it thrice in a lifetime. I have had grapefruits, oranges and melons all over my terrace for years and never a pigeon, not to speak of jays, had the complacence of perching on a slice while I was ready with a camera. The photo was probably solicited, not to say staged, but I think the chances of having a bird actually stopping by while the photographer is ready with a camera are scanty to say the least. In this case patience and cunning were obviously rewarded.

I'm almost sorry I started doing digital. If your going to do digital at least make it look non-digital. Give me a break. I love photography, don't prostitute it.

how did you get this so sharp??? amazing!

I have some pictures of these birds, too. They are so unusual and a lot of people have never heard of them, let alone seen them. Last year, I didn't get any pictures - this year, I've been very lucky. I think this is a good capture, nice and colorful and the grapefruit adds even more color to the composition. I think it's nicely balanced, too.

Thanks very much to all for taking time to rate and/or comment.

 

Since there was some interest in the circumstances of how this photograph was taken, let me say that the personnel at this National Wildlife Refuge put fruit and seeds out daily for the birds. Great-tailed grackles and red-winged blackbirds dominate the feeding activity, both in numbers and aggressiveness.

 

This jay spent only a few seconds on this grapefruit, and was eating most of that time. He had just spotted a grackle headed his way as this shot was taken, and flew away a split second later. Although I've visited this and other locations in the Rio Grande Valley many times over the last five years, and have many shots of green jays, this is the only time I have seen a jay perched on a grapefruit!

 

Again, thanks very much to all who left thoughtful and encouraging comments.

i just love the colors, the sharpness of the bird and the depth of field,well done bro!

 

 

To suggest the shot was "set up" is like saying a sunset picture is set up because all you have to do is point the camera West at dusk! I suppose there is some predictablity in every shot, that's why we look through the viewfinder rather than just pressing the shutter and taking a peak after we shot. Anyway. Great saturation. Great texture. Great capture. Crop is fine. Nothing like looking through the view finder for a couple of hours to be rewarded with a great shot. If this shot IS set up, could the get the bird to show his Nike swoosh tatoo next time?