Himalayan Monal Pheasant

[Ian McHenry]

Here is a recent picture taken at Willowbank.
Details: PentaxK10D 300mm.
1600 ISO F5.6 @ 1/250 sec.
Multi segment. No EV adjustment. Uncropped.
Ian McHenry

[Maxis Gamez]

Hello Ian,

The image looks very dark, perhaps playing with curves will help you lighting up the image. I would also use a NR software to remove some of the noise from the BG.

Keep them coming!

[Ian McHenry]

Thanks Maxis
Have "Increased Midtones" in curves.
Still to learn how to do selective NR in Photoshop Elements so have applied clone/healing brush and Noise Ninja.
Cheers: Ian Mc

[Maxis Gamez]

Huge improvement Ian. Still needs some fine tunning but you are heading the right direction.

[Ian McHenry]

Cheers Maxis.
Fine tuning sure is the name of the game !!!!
Ian Mc
http://www.pbase.com/ianmc

[Lana Hays]

Ian
Now this guy is really a colorful beauty. The composition looks good.....just need to work on the BG a little more. You do have to be careful of the images around the bird as it's evident that there's been some work. I can't tell you how many times I've fixed a problem in something like the BG.....only to create another one somewhere else. If you used RAW, then I'd go back to that to start.....your repost is definitely showing artifacts from the work.

[Ian McHenry]

Thanks Lana
I like the "Increased Midtone" change but not comfortable with cloning/healing brush edit.
Main problem with BG was caused by taking picture thro wire netting so need to figure out a way around this.
Cheers: Ian Mc

[Ian McHenry]

Just one more edit of this image.
No cloning or healing brush on this one and Imagenomic instead of Noise Ninja.
Ian Mc

[Ian McHenry]

Just found a bunch of "Frame Masks" on Faststone.
Here is one applied to latest edit.
Ian Mc

[Lana Hays]

Ian
What a cool "frame". This would work well for some cards. All you need is to smooth out the BG.....such a colorful bird.

[Harold Stiver]

Great looking bird Ian. I love the color and detail you have in the head. As mentioned, your background work sticks out, especially under the beak.

[Ian McHenry]

Thanks Lana & Harold
Much appreciated.
BGs are my number one learning focus now !!!
Cheers: Ian Mc

[Ian McHenry]

Here is a BG noise reduction using mostly Noel Carboni's process in Educational Resources merging layers, but partially supplemented with Steve Canuel's method with masking ( Photoshop Elements)
Once again: Thank You.
Ian Mc

[Steve Canuel]

Hi Ian,
Here's the version I referenced in your post in the Digital Workflow Forum. Let me know if you'd prefer to have it removed.
Steve

[Maxis Gamez]

Hi Steve,

The PS work looks to obvious IMO, but I'm sure this is a good example for Ian.

[Steve Canuel]

Hi Steve,

The PS work looks to obvious IMO, but I'm sure this is a good example for Ian.

Hey Maxis,

I agree. My intent was not to dazzle him with my extensive processing capabilities :) , I was hoping to show an example of what I was poorly trying to explain to him in another post. I'm sure he can do a much better job with the original file, more time, and his advanced version of PS Elements.

[Ian McHenry]

I looked at my latest edit side by side in editor with Steve's latest and colour depth in Steve's edit is much superior.
Just shows how when you concentrate on one part of edit,it is easy to overlook deficiencies in other areas.
Thanks for that Steve and Maxis for your continued interest.
Cheers: Ian Mc

[Arthur Morris]

A reverse S curve to reduce contrast and a slight reduction in Saturation would improve all of the reposts...

[Ian McHenry]

Thanks Artie
Appreciated.
Still to gen up on reverse S curves !!!
Another one added to my "Learn about" list.
Photoshop Elements learning is a slow "step by step" for me. LOL.
Cheers: Ian Mc

[Ian McHenry]

At Artie's suggestion have reduced saturation by 5 points.
Difference can be seeen in softening around blue eye colour.
Thanks again Artie.
Cheers: Ian Mc