Photoshop GURU'S - fix or not?

[Lance Peters]

Worth fixing? - Or not and how??

Background - I could not move postitions (yes the sun was from the wrong angle) and it was physically impossible to move anywere else, this was the only angle I had.
Yep fill flash would have helped.

So what do you think - worth trying to do something with - or assign to the rubbish bin?
Dont be shy - happy to hear all comments and see all adjustments.

Personaly I love the pose/action - maybe this just wasn't to be the time for me to get this shot.

D3
sigmonster @800mm shot through car window
f5.6
1/2000th
0EV
as metered

:)

[Alfred Forns]

It is worth fixing Lance !!!! ...... how would "you" do it ? :)

btw with those settings the flash would not have made much difference, probably would have been 1/8 power. Also did real well with the exposure, whites look fine despite the light !!!

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Luscious BG. Cropped a little. Lightened the head a tad via levels, and painted an area beside his head that was white and cropped just a tad.
My two cents.
Beautiful photo!
Not a photo guru by any means though:).

[Alfred Forns]

Looking better !!! I like the changes Jackie !!! Any more suggestions .......

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Well it was pretty much perfect to begin with, as you say the whites look good. Just a few tweaks that came to mind.

[Dan Brown]

A keeper! Here's what I did on my repost. Cropped, mostly from right, cloned out the white area near the Kite's beak, lightened the face and eye using a quick mask and shadow/highlights filter, cloned in a tiny bit of highlight in the eye, applied shadow/highlight filter on whole image then selectively on the hot areas on the leg, secondary feathers and tail, applied a hue/sat layer to slightly bump up the color in the legs, applied a selective color layer to add a bit to the blacks and grays in the image. I think that's it!

Dan Brown
http://naturestoc.smugmug.com/

[Desmond Chan]

What Dan did basically matches what I would do. I personally would like to see the head not that close to the chest. Still, good job Lance !

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Lance........and all,
Selected just the head & beak with a combination of the lasso tool and magic wand........using black matte as the preiew in select>color range.......holding down shift key.......selected entire head...........apllied layer mask........pulled down screen blend mode........set opacity round 30%...........blurred it using gausian blur. Merged layers and selected only the eye........used levels to lighten a bit and adjusted contrast on it...........added very subtle catchlight with the clone stamp at 1 pixel and used the grey in the head. I might have been tempted to tone down the whites a bit more overall........but just lightening the face & eye seems to work pretty well. Let me know if you need any more specific information.

[Oscar Zangroniz]

Lance. Since I'm not a PS Guru, I just wanted to comment on how detail and sharp your subject is. You also have a great background.
Regards as always,

[Roman Kurywczak]

He he he,
I was also going to do a SH mask on the entire body. Dan beat me to it!

[Maxis Gamez]

I would use quick mask to lighten up the shadows. Excellent capture!

[Harold Davis]

dont throw it away!!! i like the reposts and after seeing what those guys did with a small jpeg, i'm sure you can rock out the RAW!!!! for pete's sake!! it's taken with a D3. the original file has to be huge!!! good luck with it, mate!!!

[Maxis Gamez]

http://********.org/bpn/lunch4.jpg
ORIGINAL

http://********.org/bpn/lunch4_copy.jpg
With Quick Mask

You get the idea.

[Lance Peters]

Hi Everyone - thanks, I do know all the procedures mentioned, guess I wanted to see what the best possible result was - to see whether it was worth fixing... youve nearlt got me convinced lOL :) :) :)

[Alfred Forns]

I guess that answers your question Lance !!!!! :) GREAT posts guys !!!!!!!!!

[Maxis Gamez]

You are welcome!