What HouseFinch do U like?

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi Folks:

Trying to get another learning experience, and there's no better place than right here. Photographed this Male House Finch in our garden today, first three backgrounds were leaves, pieces of sky and trunk of a tree. Final one I changed backgroud with sky I photographed on other side of tree.

Looking to see which capture you like or improved repost.

All CC's very welcome and a great learning experience.

First photo straight out of camera resized only

Olympus E-520 IS, Zuiko 70-300mm ED
Aperture Priority
F 6.3, 1/400s
ISO 100
-0.30eV
Auto WB
560 mm focal length HH
Fill flash

[Gus Hallgren]

House Finch 2~ Cropped & one pass of USM 30/1/0 . . .

[Gus Hallgren]

House Finch #3 ~ Cropped & 2 passes USM, 30/1.0/0

[Gus Hallgren]

House Finch #4, Cropped and changed backgroud with Sky > Removed BG using Image Skill BG Remover with a couple of freehand selections and tidying up with CS4 Background eraser. Then resized Sky shot I took to same size as House Finch with transparent BG>Opened Sky in CS4>Clicked Move tool & holding down Shift to aligne both photos perfectly I moved House Finch over Sky BG. Minimal cleanup.

Uncle Gus

BTW: With Background remover you first select object with a one line haphazardly inside it. Then select background with one line haphazardly in background around object, let go, and background is gone. Any remnants are cleaned up with 3 line control window. (It came free with Corel PSP's many free programs)

Uncle Gus

[Nonda Surratt]

I personally like the 1st one minus the tan on the right and the 3rd, which is my Fav.

[Gus Hallgren]

Thanks for your comments, Nondra, and denise. My interpatation is this done with some Exposure editing, Vibrance and minimum USM using Lab Mode . . .

I think my previous #3 to 4 a bit oversharpened, but then what do I know?

Uncle Gus

[denise ippolito]

Gus, I like #2 . Number 3 looks a bit over sharpened. I like the darker BG it looks more natural.

[Dave Leroy]

Hi Gus, I like the size and presentation in the last the best, although bg may be a bit too dark and strong for my taste. Interesting settings for sharpening, seems like a lot of people have a slightly different take on it. Nice feather details and good eye.
Dave

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Uncle Gus,
I like the second repost. The colors and details look more natural...also you got rid of the oof blotch on the upper right hand side of the frame...only suggestion would be, adjust your crop factor so that the branch does not come out of the intersecting corner...:cool:

[Rob Mckenzie]

I like the 3rd one with two passes of sharpening. It looks like the sharpening might have brought out the noise in the BG though. After many comments by the awesome team here I now get around this by using quick masks on the bird and just sharpening the bird. In this case you could also add the perch to the QM. If you have done all this already then I apologise.
#4 look like it needs the light on the bird to match the background. The whites on the bird seem too warm to match the clear blue sky.
Anyway enough babbling...great shot. These birds are beautiful considering their very mundane name.

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi Folks:

Thanks heaps!

Listened to all your suggestions, wrote them down, and adapted them to a House Sparrow I photographed yesterday in the same group as the House Finch which I will post early tomorrow. I think you will like the results from what I learned today?

Uncle Gus Hallgren
BPN Apprentice

BTW: No votes for #4 with sky, however, it looks good on the front of a 5.5 x 4.25" Notecard with this text on the back to fit:

W I L D E R N E S S I M A G E S
House Finch (Male)
Carpodacus mexicanus
L 6" WS 9.5" WT 0.74oz (21 g)

Commonly widespread in suburbs and patchy brushy and wooded areas.
Nearly always in flocks. A regular visitor to bird feeders and often nests
on or near buildings. Relatively long tailed with round head short bill with
curved culmen. Female drab overall. Male with red breast and head.

For over 1500 photographs
By Gus & Gina Hallgren
Visit http://unclegus.150m.com

[denise ippolito]

Gus, I like the bit of info supplied at bottom of image here, also liked your web-site! you and Gina sure have some great shots!!!

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Gus They look over sharpen to me?

The base image is beautiful and love the bg !!! Would probably crop just a little of the original at the bottom but would not go as tight as the others. Having the perch end does look appealing. Its a beautiful image !!!

Just added in selective color to the black and neutral about two points and very slight smart sharpening.

[Gus Hallgren]

Perfect, Al . . . big lesson I learned in this exercis is that "Less can be more"

Thank you.

Uncle Gus