A Little Color

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Some Topaz InFocus, Adjust, Simplify & a back yard bird ;-)

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Michael, I love backyard birds I like the colorful background - it's a nice way to start the day!

[denise ippolito]

Very nice cheerful image! The bird is sharp, though facing away you have a great view of the eye and beak. The colorful background adds nicely to this one. I might tone down the bird and perch slightly if it were mine.

[bobdecker]

I agree with Denise. The bokeh is lovely, almost the best thing about the image, the detail in the bird is excellent. The colors in the perch and bird could be toned down a little. All in all, a great image!

[John Storjohann]

Late to the party..with good suggestions made, RE the perch...may have to take a look at Topaz InFocus...how does it hold up in sharpening for prints without halos?

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Cheryl, Denise, Bob, John,

Thank you for commenting. It's much appreciated.

I should say that some of the detail in this one is from (surprising to me) Topaz Simplify. For those of you who have it, you might try setting the simplify size to 0 and then play with the edges settings - I've been happy with any of the Fine settings for various images - Color Edge - Fine, Color Line - Fine, Mono Edge - Fine, Mono Line - Fine. I'm pretty sure I used Color Edge - Fine for the OP.

John, Topaz InFocus will produce halos and sometimes I find myself removing the effect along problematic edges (wings against blue sky, for instance). But there are slider adjustments to balance effect vs artifact. The main deblur effect is different from sharpening and I've used it and then sharpened (or can also use sharpening within Topaz InFocus). The Topaz suite is pretty good. I find myself using the various tools more and more.

Regarding the Topaz Simplify Color Edge - Fine in the OP, the addition is usually to my eye without halo, but there is a different kind of artifact. The color that it chooses is one of the colors of a two color edge (for example, white wing on blue sky) and an edge strength slider seems to control contrast to the selected color to make the edge more distinct. So the artifact while not a halo, in the example would be a dark blue line between the white wing and the lighter sky blue.

In other words there is no free lunch. The tools can be used to good effect but need to be controlled against undesired artifacts.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Paul Lagasi]

Michael
A lovely little bird that I have only seen once and never been able to photograph, Chestnut backed are fairly tough...must be nice to have them in your back yard. Nicely composed image, well done.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Paul,

Thanks... this one was born from a bit of frustration at not catching the chickadee on a natural perch (they fly off at the least provocation such as the sound of a shutter & seem always on the move). I shouldn't complain though as they do frequent my back yard (and this one through my home office window ;-)...

Cheers,

-Michael-