Old world House Sparrow on Arizona Ash

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi George, Took Sparrow into CS3, using Robert O'Tooles Quick Mask Tutorial for cloning over unwanted item, I used the first part. Press Q (For Quick Mask), pressed B (for paint brush) changed size using left (smaller) Bracket key [ and right (larger) ] I sized it to 90 and 0 hardness. I then painted over exposed part of tree (paints as red). Then pressed Q again to take it out of quick mask. It shows dancing ants around complete photo and portion of tree I painted. Then I pressed ctrl+shift I to invert it. Then clicked Layers, Adustmen Layer > Curves. When Curves window appeared I held down Ctrl key and clicked on middle top of over exposed tree & kept pushing down arrow key until I had brightness I wanted. Closed curves and followe same steps to darken bottom part of over exposed tree. What do you think? I neglected to crop 1/2" of left side :-) . . . Gus

[George DeCamp]

Hey Gus!

The background here is sweet!! I like this shot, nice pose nice bird and like I said the background is very nice. I might be tempted to try a little off the left here to see how it looks, not 100% sure. Also, looks like the bark is a little over exposed, maybe a Ev or -.33 would have helped or you can try and tone down the bark a little.

Looks like a nice image though Gus!!

[Gus Hallgren]

Thank you, George, I pulled the page to the left 1/2" from the edge of the photo, and it does look more intimate. Doing that made me thinkI should use that method as a final test before cropping. I do have a full Thirds screen in ACDC 10 when cropping, and can now see that is not always the holy grail :-) I also agree about the tree looka over exposed, looks perfect in the shadow of the bird, If I selected the over exposed part & gave it a Adjustment layer, curves I could remedy it, however, I'm trying to get it right when I take the photo. Appreciate your help . . . Gus

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi George. . . Please note editing on Sparrow . . . Gus

[Gus Hallgren]

Original Sparrow with overexposed tree . . . http://unclegus.150m.com/original_sparrow_.htm Gus

[George DeCamp]

Hi George. . . Please note editing on Sparrow . . . Gus

Very well done Gus!!!! :D

[Judd Patterson]

Huge improvement Gus! Looks really nice, and that background is indeed quite beautiful! Hard to beat the pose of the House Sparrow too...seldom see them acting quite this "woodpeckerish". ;)

[Nonda Surratt]

Very nice Gus!!!