Saffron Finch in heavy fog

[Nancy Bell]

I am revisiting some images I took in the past year or so during the process of cleaning out files. This is a Saffon Finch taken during a very heavy fog at a small lodge in Brazil.

Canon 7D, Canon 400mm f4 DO IS, ISO 640, f4.5, 1/160, tripod, flash with exp. comp -2/3.

Suggestions & comments most appreciated.

[Jeff Dyck]

A pretty little bird, that certainly is the colour of it's name! A few critiques Nancy: The biggest issue for me is the bird's posture, which you can really do nothing about after the fact - I would really have prefered a pose with more of a head turn so that the bird was better connecting with the view. I also think a conventional 2:3 crop would work better than the square-ish one you have chosen. If your ethics so allow, I would at least consider cloning out the unappealing broken off branches on the perch (and possibly and the full-height vertical OOF branch in the background).

[PhilCook]

I love all the finches...and this one looks like our pet Canary { whose name may or may not be Cheep lol lol } I think Jeff summed it up quite well, and I think also the fog is obvious on the branch so some pretty difficult condition to contend with, so considering that not too shabby Nancy.

[Ken Watkins]

Nancy,
I agree with the above but to my eyes the fog has had too much of an effect on the detail in the bird.
I was once told how to remove this sort of effect but cannot really remember, perhaps try adding a multiply layer and setting the opacity to suit, no guarantees though

[Nancy Bell]

Thank you all for your comments and good suggestions. I'll work on cloning out some of the distracting elements and see if I can reduce some of the effects of the fog.

[Jim Crosswell]

Tried to minimize the fog in this one. I don't know if its an improvement.

[Nancy Bell]

Jim, I think it is an improvement. What did you do?

[Jim Crosswell]

I did a layer with levels, selected overlay with opacity set at 16 percent and applied it. Then I used selective colour and increased neutrals by 2 points and blacks by 9 points. It seems to make the bird stand out more. I did this for the whole image but it might be better to select only the bird and perch and apply the above method.