Crested Barbet - Backyard, Johannesburg

[Mike Blackburn]

So I offer this. I think it needs a lot of help.
The problems I see - messy background - have tried my best to manage it in LR and Viveza. Not sure how to deal with it in PSE.
Noisy - shot at 1250 on a 7D.

Comments on composition would be welcomed - does the branch obstruct the flow, is the bird too centred, too low?
All comments appreciated. Struggling to get on top of the feathered friends....

Shot from below - difficult to get close as they are quite skittish.
Canon 7D | 300/4L + 1.4x II | 1/800 at f/8 ISO 1250
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5601/15645317846_51fddbe9cb_o.jpg

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5601/15645317846_51fddbe9cb_o.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/pQwkVq)MRB_20141026_170743-2-Edit-2-Edit (https://flic.kr/p/pQwkVq) by BlackburnMike_1 (https://www.flickr.com/people/49857908@N03/), on Flickr

Post processing - gentle sliders in LR (blacks, whites, highlights), drop clarity globally and bring back on the bird with the brush tool, NR in Dfine, sharpened in Sharpener (20% adaptive, selective on the bird) at 72ppi.
(Followed instructions - can't seem to get the image to embed in the post) I must be missing something.....

[David Kenny]

The background is very busy on this shot. Busy backgrounds are not always bad as long as you can make some kind of order out of them. With your background on this shot you have a branch going through the birds head and shoulders. Keeping the background in mind with every picture is something I struggle with myself. Subject Background goes through my head when I get out to shoot. I am a 7D shooter as well. I have found that Exposing to the right and then if needed darkening the exposure in post helps with the noise at higher ISO. If you shoot at higher ISO and try to lighten up a photo in post I have found that it makes the noise more noticeable.

[Diane Miller]

With a skittish bird you get what you can get. If you could have moved a little to the left you might have moved the BG branch away from behind the bird and the FG branch might be covering it less. A crop from the top to remove the sky will simplify the BG a little.

Looks like you did well with what you were offered. I'm on a laptop and can't really be sure of color of tonalities but it looks good to me. Keep working on it!

One thing you probably know is to use the camera's DOF preview to get a better ides of the BG. You're looking at the image wide open thru the viewfinder.

[Edward Arthur]

I like the comp and pose. BG is nice, but I would suggest de-noising it somewhat and maybe adding a touch of Gaussian blur if you can to smooth and flatten that branch going through the bird as David mentioned. It would also bring a bit more pop to the subject.

I really like your image and wanted to play around with it. Quick and dirty. Sincerely hope you don't mind!

By no means am I an expert -- or even marginally capable --just trying to learn like most folks here. The bird's crest could use some work, but my point here is to show how I might change the BG to pop the subject.

146105

Tools used: Topaz Denoise, Topaz ReMask to set off the BG blur and exposure, PS CC Shake Reduction filter for sharpening.

[Diane Miller]

I'm still on a laptop but this repost looks good to me!

[Mike Blackburn]

Thanks Diane, Edward and Dave.
I also ran this through PSE10 - Used Topaz ReMask (on trial - I can see I'm going to be buying it though....)

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7550/15493397129_2d1deea1b5_o.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/pB6HbH)reposted barbet (https://flic.kr/p/pB6HbH) by BlackburnMike_1 (https://www.flickr.com/people/49857908@N03/), on Flickr
I'm on the fence as to whether it now looks stuck onto the background in an unnatural way..
(and clearly there are some nits - the crest and some of the feather detail above the branch)

[Diane Miller]

With the BG isolated, I'd have a look at reducing its contrast in combination with maybe a little less sharpening. Hard to know the best balance, but a good job here of a difficult task.

Be sure to bring in the isolated layer with a mask instead of just as a cutout, so you can fine-tune it. ReMask is the best thing I've found for isolating a difficult subject, but if the subject has well-defined edges, the Quick Selection tool in PS will often do the job.

[Mike Blackburn]

Thanks Diane. I'm still unclear as to what you mean "bring in as a mask". When i use reMask it brings a new layer... Appreciate the input a lot though....

[Diane Miller]

I'm traveling with only my laptop and don't have Remask on it, so I may be mis-remembering, but I thought there was an option to bring in the selected item as either a cutout layer or a masked layer.

[Edward Arthur]

I always use cut-out mask, but now I see there is an alternative.

http://blog.topazlabs.com/can-i-mask-without-cutting-my-actual-image/

[Diane Miller]

Thank you, Edward! Nothing like traveling with an aging laptop to remind you of the vagaries of your own aging memory. (But I may finally have some modest contributions to Landscape. Have been in Yosemite, shot fall color and some magenta sunrises in the eastern Sierra, and now in Death Valley, where some of my favorite views have washed away.)