Mourning Dove: Trying to improve

[Warren Spreng]

I think I should have included more background above the dove but working on exposures, ISO, orientation of subject etc.
Canon EOS T3i
Tamron SP 150 - 600mm shot at 213mm
f/6.3
ISO 1600
Overcast with light rain 10:02AM EST

Adjusted highlights, shadows, whites and blacks in LR and final process in PS. I had to clone out a dove facing backward on the left side of the subject, softened background and added additional blur. Mild sharpening applied to dove.

[Sandy Witvoet]

Beautiful detail on this under-appreciated bird.... Love the little foot poking out below the breast. Do you have any more room on the right to add some space? Lovely BG too. The soft petals of the birdbath truly make this "not just a bird on a bath or feeder". Really like the "look back". Your cloning looks great!

[Warren Spreng]

Beautiful detail on this under-appreciated bird.... Love the little foot poking out below the breast. Do you have any more room on the right to add some space? Lovely BG too. The soft petals of the birdbath truly make this "not just a bird on a bath or feeder". Really like the "look back". Your cloning looks great!

Thanks Sandy, I would need to "add" some space to the right since I framed it to keep as much of the other bird out as possible, this is about a 50% crop, but great suggestion for future framing! I have found the comments and suggestions here very helpful as I continue in this hobby.

[Jon Pugmire]

Definitely needs more room all around (except maybe on the bottom), more on the right than on the left, feels very "crowded". Nice sharpness, good detail in the feathers, like the complementary colors on the bird bath. Would like to see the eye better, so the head turned a little more would help. Might raise the shadows/exposure on just the bird a tiny bit. Can't decide on the water droplet on the head, would be tempted to clone it out and see if I liked it better.

[Warren Spreng]

Definitely needs more room all around (except maybe on the bottom), more on the right than on the left, feels very "crowded". Nice sharpness, good detail in the feathers, like the complementary colors on the bird bath. Would like to see the eye better, so the head turned a little more would help. Might raise the shadows/exposure on just the bird a tiny bit. Can't decide on the water droplet on the head, would be tempted to clone it out and see if I liked it better.

Thanks for the suggestions Jon, I totally agree on the need for more room in the image. I was thinking the same thing about the water droplet, I really like the ones on the tail but that one may have to go!

[Moe Ali]

These are beautiful birds, and anytime I see one it's a treat. I have to travel a good 2 hours to find them in my area.

The cropping issue has already been mentioned, and for me it would be adding a little more space behind the tail and a lot more in front of the birds beak as well as over top. Your exposure looks good on my screen, but was this taken on a cloudy day? The mid-tones look a little subdued, so you might want to increase them a bit. It makes the image pop out.

I think I would clone out the one spot on the birds head.

[Diane Miller]

Very nice sharpness and detail, nice lighting and pose. And good thoughts above. Would be easy to add some canvas. I'll usually bracket zoom if the subject will sit still.

If you're shooting raw you should be able to bring down the highlights in the LL.

[Warren Spreng]

These are beautiful birds, and anytime I see one it's a treat. I have to travel a good 2 hours to find them in my area.

The cropping issue has already been mentioned, and for me it would be adding a little more space behind the tail and a lot more in front of the birds beak as well as over top. Your exposure looks good on my screen, but was this taken on a cloudy day? The mid-tones look a little subdued, so you might want to increase them a bit. It makes the image pop out.

I think I would clone out the one spot on the birds head.

Thanks for the suggestions! I can't do anything about the area to the left of the tail but did some addition to the top and sides and brought up the mid-tones since yes, this was a cloudy, rainy day. Oh yeah, and cloned out the drop on his head!

[Diane Miller]

Nice work on the canvas! Since the tail is a bit crowded, I wonder how it would look to crop from the bottom to just exclude the bright highlight on the water ?

[Warren Spreng]

Nice work on the canvas! Since the tail is a bit crowded, I wonder how it would look to crop from the bottom to just exclude the bright highlight on the water ?

Thanks Diane, hmmmm, you gave me an idea I'll have to try.

[Warren Spreng]

Thanks Diane, hmmmm, you gave me an idea I'll have to try.

Last revision and now I'll move on, but this is fun playing with images this much! So I copied the left side, flipped it, cloned out the tail and added it back in. Did some work on the water reflection and the highlights on the bird bath on the lower left. Now I'll concentrate a bit more on orientation for my next shot! Thanks for all of the comments and suggestions.

[Diane Miller]

Nice to see you taking advantage of the ProPhoto workspace, but this image is still in that color space. For web posting, convert to sRGB and be sure the profile in embedded (tagged) -- many browsers and OSs will misrepresent the colors otherwise.

Check my thread in Educational Resources:

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/122407-How-to-Prepare-Images-for-the-Web

and

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/122391-Seeing-Colors-Correctly-on-the-Web


Here it is in sRGB space and tagged. Just for a couple of added suggestions, I also added a little more canvas on the right, lightened the bird with a masked curve and darkened the near part of the fountain, using Viveza there for masking and adjustment. I think I could have taken a little off the top, too.

[Warren Spreng]

148904

Thanks Diane! Good information. I love the treatment you gave that area of the bird bath and the water, that looks terrific. I took a little off the top and used the Spot Healing Brush to tidy up where you added canvas on the right.

[Diane Miller]

Very nice! It's always best to try to have the main subject be the brightest and most contrasty area.