On a freshly painted gate pole this little guy was doing his best imitation of the Paradise Bird Dance he had seen on the Nature Series for his admirer watching on. Feathers ruffled, wings flayed, tail splayed, chirping as load as he could. The only thing I didn't get him doing was hopping off the pole. It worked, they flew off together.
From an image standpoint, the fresh red paint and matching wing colors where too much for me to pass up. The pole gave just enough interest without competing with the subject to give what would be an ordinary blackbird, more impact.
Pretty good EXP, although I think you could get more out of the blacks. Head angle could be a big better, but fair and you got a good catch light, which may or may not be lost in the head turn.
Ohhh no you don't, I'm not touching that one (no pun intented) :p but I would like to know how would you improve the blacks. I was not completly satisfied with them either.
Thanks Fabs. I am always amazed at your eye. Problem/Solution. What a package you are. I used S/H +4 then added 9 points selective blk and kicked in the Linear Contrast preset. Mucho Better Chica
The one thing I would add to the comments above is that the reds are over saturated. It is especially obvious in the the reds on the wings. Desaturating might bring a little more detail into the reds.
Thanks Aidan and Phil. I isolated the back side and ran a couple passes of despeckle where there wasn't much resolution anyway and left me with what I percieve as a better front end, shoulder and eye.
Phil, I did knock the reds down a little but I must tell you the reds against the blacks in these birds is very bright. That is what caught my attention in the first place compared to the gate pole.
POLE DANCER
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