Beez!

[Andre Pretorius]

I think it is about time that I climb out of my box!

A collage of 4 images with an interesting BG shot around the feeder. The idea came to me after looking at the downloaded images with the little Bronze Mannikins. The original image was the bird in centre, cloned his companions in from the other 3 images.

Nikon D3S with 600f4
ISO 2500
1/800 @ f5.6
Aperture Priority.

These little things are so fast and so small, you can not get any closer to get an inflight image FF.

(Hope I posted in correct category?:Whoa!:)

[Nancy Bell]

Your collage is well done! You did an amazing job with the blurred wings! You might consider moving the bird on the lower left back into the image more. Since it is looking down I think it could use more room "to look into". That would also vary the space between birds. You captured 4 great flight poses and I like that the birds are all looking in the same direction. The bkgd is beautifully blurred yet lively in color.

[Diane Miller]

Wonderful!! I could go with just the 3, leaving out the one on the top left.

Hope to see more of your wilder side here!

[Dennis Bishop]

I like it for some of the same reasons as Nancy -- the blur of the wings, and the color and lack of focus in the background. She makes a good point about varying the space between the birds, and I agree with Diane about leaving out the upper left bird to leave three.

[Anita Bower]

You did a great job of putting this image together. As others have said, lovely blurred but bright bg sets off the gray birds nicely. I, too, would vote for eliminating the top left bird, or maybe switching places with the bottom left. But, nice as it is. This is the right forum for this type of image. Hope to see more.

[Hazel Grant]

Agree with above, esp re deleting the top left bird. He's too "sharp" to fit the others, and there's a rule in many areas (like flower arranging, etc) that says keep things in 3s.

[Kerry Perkins]

Hello Andre, your image makes me smile and I like that! The background is super and I like different flight poses. I do agree with others on the issue of removing the one bird. Odd numbers of objects in images do tend to work better sometimes. Looking forward to more. :c3:

[Andre Pretorius]

Thank you Nancy for suggestions and comments!
Tried to move bottom bird with Move tool after lasso, the resulting white area where the bird was, could not be fixed properly. Decided to rather add canvas:tinysmile_shy_t:!

Thank you Diane, Dennis, Anita, Hazel and Kerry! I have newer done flower arrangements, but I think it is time to learn, if it would improve my PS skills!

Some technical questions: what is the "best" way to remove an object- In this case used Patch tool, then cloned in @ 20% to smooth out.

Thank you all for comments and suggestions!

Andre

[Anita Bower]

Thank you Nancy for suggestions and comments!
Tried to move bottom bird with Move tool after lasso, the resulting white area where the bird was, could not be fixed properly. Decided to rather add canvas:tinysmile_shy_t:!

Thank you Diane, Dennis, Anita, Hazel and Kerry! I have newer done flower arrangements, but I think it is time to learn, if it would improve my PS skills!

Some technical questions: what is the "best" way to remove an object- In this case used Patch tool, then cloned in @ 20% to smooth out.

Thank you all for comments and suggestions!

Andre
I can't help with how to move objects--that is a skill I don't have. Having uneven number of objects is one of those "rules" that often works. But, as with most rules, it can be ignored. I think 4 birds would work fine in your image. Perhaps the main issue was that the 4th bird didn't seem to fit with the feel of the other birds. Anyway, what matters most is that you are pleased with your images.

[Carl Walker]

It does look better I must admit. It looks like a bit of work goes into this. Well done Andre in another venture. Perhaps you could now have a small area in your shop allocated to a florist section:2eyes2:

[Dennis Bishop]

. . . Some technical questions: what is the "best" way to remove an object- In this case used Patch tool, then cloned in @ 20% to smooth out.

Thank you all for comments and suggestions!

Andre

I think you did a great job removing the bird. Doing a loose selection with the Lasso tool followed by Edit>Fill with Content Aware chosen will often do it very well and very quickly. However, with a background like this, it's not likely to work too well.

[Diane Miller]

Great result!!

The Patch tool would be the first thing I'd try, then if that doesn't work, select the area and try Content-Aware Fill.

You got the white area because you moved it on the same layer, with no way for a fill to occur. After it's selected do Ctrl-J to copy it to another layer, then that can be moved, and masked as needed. Then after it is moved, the original location can be filled in.

Beware for some subtle posterization to occur with large areas of fill on a plain BG -- you'll need to fix that with cloning.

And of course when an element is added, keep it on its own layer, for future editing for the little things you didn't notice. They never show up when you need to see them.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

I like the repost, although I think the first would work with more canvas to the left. The BG is great and the poses delightful!

[Mitch Carucci]

Blurred wings are hard to mask. You did a great job here. The collage is attractive, but also interesting as it allows a study of the movement of the wings. Very nice background also.

[Andre Pretorius]

Thank you Anita, Carl and Dennis:bg3:
Thank you Jackie and Mitch:S3:

Diane, valuable advice as ever, appreciated!

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Andre, I'm late with a comment but welcome to OOTB! I think I like your original post as well as the repost, in fact I like them both a lot. I agree that if you keep 4 that a little more room on the left would be better. I hope we see more of your images:S3: