female card on a snowy day

[Hazel Grant]

I still feel like such a beginner re birds. I was pleased with this one vs others I've taken. The tiny white spots are snow. Not sure if they are distracting.
Snowing, cloudy day.
D7000. 1/800 f9 iso800 300mm

[Diane Miller]

I think female cardinals are lovely, with their subtle colors. Just had a chance to shoot some for the first time in south TX a few days ago and will post one when I'm back home in a few days. (Don't quite trust processing on my laptop.)

Although this BG would be considered busy by some, I like it for its authenticity. There is no distracting element, and the colors work so well with the bird. The snow isn't obviously snow, so I'd clone it out if it were me. The Spot Removal tool is so perfect for that. If some were on the bird, it would read better.

It's hard to "direct" birds, but always best to try to get a good eye, preferably with a catchlight or some sky reflection to give it life.

The bird appears a little soft, while the branch exiting from the right side looks sharper. If you had one focus point selected, and squarely on the head, and were in continuous focus (always a good idea with a subject or camera that might move a little) you might want to check your focus calibration if the camera permits. But there are so many other factors, that is probably low on the list. Arash's blog has a good article on why some pictures are soft -- several factors to think about.

Did you get others of her? Would love to see more! The ones I had a chance to shoot were attracted to feeders. I'm definitely in favor of shooting fish in a barrel! :S3:

[Sandy Witvoet]

Hi Hazel... Female Cards are so lovely. She is sweet here. As Diane said, a bit more "eye" would really help. As to the snow, more actually would be better, but with just a few flakes I'd be tempted to clone them out too. I am seeing a lot of "green tint" on most of the branches... not sure why... seems that they should be more gray/BW? Show us more! :S3:

[Hazel Grant]

thanks. I'll check out the blog. I did note the green halos and tried to get rid of them with camera distortion. Don't know why they were there. I had the white balance set on cloudy. I will re check the focus. No, I didn't have more of this one they do tend to move in and out a lot. I, too, have feeders out and this bird was on a branch near one. Thanks for your comments. I'll keep working on it.

[Diane Miller]

I accepted the green tints as natural. They don't stand out to me as anything that needs correcting but it's always good to poke around with the temp and tint sliders, and try Auto WB. I rarely like the presets and almost always leave the camera on Auto WB, then tweak it in raw conversion if necessary.

The head here (and almost always!) could be brought out with a masked Curve. Quick and dirty example. I wonder if the darkest tones in the eye could have been brought out further in the raw conversion?

[Sandy Witvoet]

Hi Helen, don't be discouraged by any means... this is a way pretty image .... I've seen how talented you are in some of the other forums...and how much you have helped folks there. I really enjoy your work. You have a great "eye". (I wish I had it!) I am by no means very good at PP.... but had a thought.... often when we get a "green tinge" it's not really green to the "puter"..... it's yellow. I looked at the colors/levels/hue/saturation just in PSE and reduced the yellow... did a slight crop to the "rule of thirds" just a bit. Not sure.... but would love to know what you think!

[Hazel Grant]

What nice things to say....thanks! And, yes, i think the yellow idea works! I have a blue jay I took this morning that unfortunately is a bit soft and has the "green" problem so I'll use him as a work project with the suggestions above. Will give me a chance to improve my masking skills, too, Diane. Thanks to both of you for taking the time to work with me.

[Diane Miller]

Good correction, Sandy! I might mask off about 50% of the desat on the bird itself, as there may be some yellow in it.