My favorite (but bad) image of all time.
I'm posting this in Eager to Learn not because I need help figuring out what is wrong with it, but because I'm looking for post processing techniques that can be used to "rescue" my favorite (but bad) image of all time.
First, why I like it.
This is from 2004 when I was first getting into serious digital photography. It was also a pretty stressful time in life.
I had been watching the Elegant Trogons fro some time in AZ. I spent all day, nearly every day watching and photographing first the male, then the female, and then the little one.
I watched the male arrive in the area on his yearly visit and watched him select a nest. I watched the female approve of it and move it. Then I watched a storm blow down the limb that the nest cavity was in.
The couple moved into a new nest and produced the little lady seen here with her father. As best I can tell, this was her first day out of the nest for "flying lessons." This image has always struck me as a tender moment between dad and daughter while they are stopping to critique the last sortie.
Anyway, I'm having trouble dealing with the discoloration on the female's back due to oof vegetation between her and the lens. I think the male's tail is beyond recovery. I have played in the past with repairing his right wing and getting rid of the vegetation that blocks it.
Sadly, I was using JPG in camera rather than RAW at the time.
I'm looking for suggestions in the full range of normal to "out of the box" to make this one more presentable even if only for me. What would you do? (Besides try again of course, which I hope to do someday.)
