Cactus Wren on Prickly Pear

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi Folks:

Getting ready to go inside at about 4:30 PM because of lightening and thunder when the Cactus Wren landed
on a large prickly pear cactus in front of our neighbour's white adobe house.
Like the photo of the Cactus Wren but think the background should be another 2 prickly pear pods instead of the white. What do you think?

C&C's welcome.

Uncle Gus

Olympus E-520, Zuiko 70-300mm ED
AP, F/5.6, 1/200s
200 ISO
0.70 ev
Auto WB
450 mm Focal Length

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Uncle Gus,
I have to wear my sun glasses to view your image...:eek::D;):p Uncle; the bright background is taking away big time from your capture. See if by cropping perhaps on the left side right up to the edge of the plant, the try to softly replace the white color with a very pale defused earth tone or hue.:cool:

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Gus Sure do like the pose and perch but the white area is overwhelming !!!!

The thing to do here was to move a little to the side so the bird would have a green bg Would also check the histogram .... I think its a bit under !!!

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi Folks; Changed the background using PSP XI . .. think it looks better? . . . Uncle Gus

[Gus Cobos]

Excellent Uncle Gus...much much better...:D I would also increase the saturation in the now green background just a tiny bit; to make your bird really stand out...very good repost Uncle...:cool:

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi Gus,

Thanks for C&C's, I did the H&S, green +12, then did Selective Color & added +2 Black to Neutral, Black & Green . . . . . . Uncle Gus :D

[Julie Kenward]

Gus, not sure what your level of PS skills are but this would be really nice converted to black and white and then masking the colorful bird back in. Another option would be to convert the whole thing to a sepia image - that would add a bit of a brown tone to that lackluster white BG.

Just another way to go...

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi Julie; Good idea! No wonder the best man for the job is a woman :) Have to drive Gina to the dentist in Mexico this morning, so this is a quick idea of what you might have had in mind?? Did it in B&W CS3, then painted over bird and cactus . . . . Uncle Gus :D

[Joan Chasan]

love the bird, but on the 2nd repost the cactus line goes right by the right side of the bird. looks like something is cut off? or too tight?

[Julie Kenward]

Gus, try that same technique but with the original file. It's that white BG that will look better if done in B&W.

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi Julie:

Is this getting close, Had a 65 minute wait in line getting back across the border because the other exit point was closed down due to flood waters. Saw your comments when we arrive home about 40 mins ago, so I gave it a go!! . . . Keep smiling . . . . .Uncle Gus . . . Admire your tenacity :cool:

[Julie Kenward]

Yes, that one is better although your sky is a bit blank. I originally meant to take your original and reduce it to b&w and then color back in the wren...kind of like this:
I also did a square crop and that removed some of the empty white. Again, I think it would also work as a sepia tone so you might play with that as well!

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi Julie,

Don't like it with the white in the background and grey tones, like the one with grey cloned in.better. Actually original should have been a regect, but it was fun and good experience going through 5 edits. The last one was the toughest as getting to true black and white took a lot of steps and experimentation. Even changing first complete background was a challenge. Love challenges but they take a lot of time

Thanks for the exercise

Still smiling

Uncle Gus :D

[Julie Kenward]

I totally agree. You never know what you'll like till you try and I wanted everyone here in Eager To Learn to realize there's more than one look for any one image! Thanks for spending the time showing everyone all the different choices they have in photography post-processing!