I've just bought a 2nd hand Canon EOS 1D MkII so that I can use the 300mm f4 with a 2x extender and still have AF. Not an ideal situation as I lose out with DOF but at least it works until I win the lotto.;) This is one of the first images taken in the garden. - I selected the bird and the branch it's sitting on and inverted . then ran surface blur on the busy bg. Hope it works?
Jeni,
Looks like the combo is working! Great pic. Think the BG isn't too busy, although you might be tempted to take out the branch in the ULC. Nice and sharp. Well done.
Well done! Ideally, you'd want to be able to clone out those two other branches above and below the perch but this is quite nice for what you had to work with.
I think your pp work was well done - there are no visible marks and everything looks very natural. Good job!