Black Crowned Night Heron...edited

[Steven Kersting]

Based upon suggestions given in a previous post (http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/88157-Black-Crowned-Night-Heron...suggestions-please.) I went ahead and edited this pic.
The original was not cropped so I enlarged the canvas a little top/bottom and filled it in. I did a bunch of cloning on the BG, a blur, and hue saturation adjustment. Moved the pupil a little. High pass/soft light ~50% sharpening. And finally exposure/levels adjustments with whites at 245.
What do you think? Was it successful?

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6088/6065861570_f9a9f9fc24_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/skersting/6065861570/)

D7000, 28-300 +1.4TC, f/8, ISO 1800, 1/500, -1/3.

Hmm, I see something that needs a little more work.....

[Karl Egressy]

Aside the colours that look too colourful on my monitor, it is a very nice picture of this species.
I did not see the previous one.
This one shows some noise in the darker plumage.
Also the dark colour of the bird looks very blue.
Is it the real colour or ws ith enhenced?

[Steven Kersting]

Yes, the colors are vibrant...it's actually "toned down" some from the original (link above). The blues are not "enhanced", I just added some shadow recovery; maybe a bit much.

I guess I still have some more work to do....

[Steven Kersting]

Second attempt. I fixed a couple of things that were bothering me and toned it down.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6190/6066249789_8cb637c70a_z.jpg
I (http://www.flickr.com/photos/skersting/6066249789/)'m still not thrilled with it.

[Karl Egressy]

I like the second version better, Steven.

[Fred Canter]

Steven, while I like the second version better I'd at least take a look at a little more work in the dark blue areas of the bird, it looks a little dark in that area.
Also, maybe move the bird a tad higher in the frame.

[Arthur Morris]

It is likely that you are ruining the image during optimization. The back of the bird is shiny enamel blue-black and the bird is mega-contrasty. If you would like some help, please post the untouched original as a JPEG....

You say that the colors are "not enhanced." Do understand that no BCR N-H in real life has enamel blue-black feathers.

[David Pugsley]

As Artie said, an original, out of camera reference would be helpful. There is definitely a color issue.