This shot isnt particularly sharp.. and the BG was totally blah in the original shot.. so I attempted to cut it out and replace it.. these clouds were actually shot in the same location at the same time.. because I anticipated needing a BG....
well. anyway.. Im not really all that happy with the result.. or to be more precise I guess I wasnt too unhappy with it.. but Im the ONLY one.. lol.. so what next? trash can here it comes?
Well, Kenn, you know I'm not nearly as expert as you are or as most of the folks on this site, but I think all you need to do with it is lighten or brighten it up a little. Hope you don't mind; I downloaded it and tried several methods, all of which I thought improved the image. It's not up to your usual work, true, but it's not bad at all and I'm sure most people would admire it. That is a dramatic sky you put in and you did it well; and it's a neat pose of the bird as well.
Kenn, I think you did a fine job on this photo. I like the composition, and if you hadn't mentioned the replaced background I would not have noticed it. Do you mind sharing your workflow for the background replacement? (I use Photoshop) daviddilworth@yahoo.com
The bird is slightly soft, but I prefer a softer image rather than one that is so sharp it appears unnatural.
Kenn, as Anita has hinted, you need more contrast to really make this image sing. A first edit that I often make on images is to start a Levels adjustment layer and then pull in my black and white points according to the histogram and how the effect previews on the image. In this case the effect is dramatic as your dark grays move toward black and your light grays move to white. Try it and see hot it looks to you! Nice and sharp and that wing pose is really nice!
I really like this as is. The misty / hazy look adds a certain moodiness to it.
If you insist on changing it however, upping the blacks will do away with at lot of the haze. Then a curves adjustment for contrast will finish it off I think.
Still, I wouldn't change a thing other than crop a tad off the bottom to hide more of the platform, but show the sticks.
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