What should I do?

[Simon Bennett]

Varied Sittella photographed on a burnt eucalypt stump in a local nature reserve near Canberra.

This image initially had the bird well into the right of the frame. I managed to find an another image taken a minute later that added part of the stump to the right. I used the Photoshop Auto-Align Layers to make a composite with about 1/6 added on the right of the frame - like a mini panorama. There was a vertical seam apparent which I removed by altering levels on one layer to get similar tonality and then using the healing tool to clean up the rest.

Now I am in a quandry - the bird is a bit centered, but I do like the shape of the stump. What should I do?Should I crop the image? All suggestions welcome.

Canon 40D, EF500 f/4 + 1.4 tc, tripod, ISO 400, partial metering:1/800, f/10, program (left 5/6 of image); 1/1000, f/9, Av (right 1/6 of image), shot vertical.

[Tony Whitehead]

Works well for me as is, Simon. Might take a little off the top to avoid the line of the stump merging exactly into the top left corner. That is one comical little bird. The colours and textures of the stump and bird contrast well with the smooth BG

[Jonathan Michael Ashton]

Very nice shot, I think I would crop the bottom part up to the bottom of the uppermost patch of lichen, but I have to tell you I am always asking other folk about composition!
That is one glary looking eye - is it really so colourful/intense as that or have you enhanced it?

Jon

[denise ippolito]

Simon, I can't say about the crop- but I too am wondering about the eye. Is it real or enhanced? I don't mean to sound ignorant but I've never seen that type of bird and was curious.BTW great shot! I like the overall tones and exposure- the stump is interesting, you did a very good job of adding to it.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I understand that you like the perch alot, and so do I - but you don't need to have so much of it in the frame to show off its beautiful properties. Here is a crop that I think retains the essentials that you were looking for, but gives a more pleasing, balanced, and "attention to bird first" priority to the image. I've also done 3 other things to enhnace the image...see if you can spot them (they are subtle, but I think they do make a difference)

BTW, this is a very beautiful species of bird you photographed, and great work on the added canvas at right :-)

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Wonderful image with excellent alert pose and detail as well as superb eye contact. I like Daniel's repost but certainly understand why you liked the perch so much. Fine work Simon and many thanks for sharing.

[Mike Milicia]

Great image of a very cool bird !

If you want to retain as much of the perch as possible (I like it too!), one possibility
would be to place the bird in the upper left corner.

Here's a quick try at it ... see what you think!

[bill kominsky]

Like very much the image posted by Daniel, great detail and wonderful eye contact really lovely bird.

Bill

[Dave Mills]

I like Dan's version with just a wee bit off the top.

[Ramon M. Casares]

Reposts look good, but for print I would simply go with the original post as it has more room all aroound the bird and the perch is so great, congratulations on a very nice shot!

[Juan Aragonés]

I would crop just a very little bit of the left and the top because I really like the original post a lot. Yes, the perch is absolutely fantastic but the BG and the species are really nice too.

[Simon Bennett]

Thank you all for your suggestions and comments.

There has been quite a bit of interest in the eye, so here's a very heavy crop of the little fella so you can have a closer look. The only work on the eye is selective smart sharpening at 75/0.8, and all the highlights were multiplied to extract extra detail. By the way, these birds behave just like nuthatches and hop up and down and under and over trunks and branches in search of insects. They don't visit feeders.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great capture, I like Daniel's repost best.

[Simon Bennett]

Daniel said I've also done 3 other things to enhance the image...see if you can spot them. I can see where you have lightened the dark wings and tail, and darken the stump a tad, not sure about the third one. I'm interested to know the tools you used for these improvements. Many thanks.

[Aidan Briggs]

Nice capture. The eye really stands out. I like Daniel's repost best

[Daniel Cadieux]

Daniel said I've also done 3 other things to enhance the image...see if you can spot them. I can see where you have lightened the dark wings and tail, and darken the stump a tad, not sure about the third one. I'm interested to know the tools you used for these improvements. Many thanks.

Not bad! The other, although not as apparent on my work monitor, is that I saturated the orange in the eye a bit more. Tools used: wings and tail = dodge tool, bark = burn tool, eye = sponge tool. Therer are, of course, other ways to do these...but for a quick and dirty job on a small file these were adequate enough (although I use them regularly on my larger files too). P.S. my favorite opacity for each of these tools is 8%...seems to work well for most uses.