Is it Real, or is it "Counterfeit"? #3

[Arthur Morris]

Can you find spot the major Photoshop alterations in this one? Any added canvas, added body parts, or branches or other main elements removed?

This Blue Jay was photographed at Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario with the Canon 500mmm f/4L IS lens and the EOS-50D. ISO 320. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/500 sec. at f/10.

Working at a feeder set-up I had the 800 f/5.6/1.4II TC/EOS-1D MIII on one tripod and the 500/50d on another, the former for the smaller species the latter for the larger ones. It worked great.

Don't be shy; all comments welcome. I am here to learn too.

ps: Will post the original after we have a few players.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the pose and details, it looks a bit bright on my monitor. Hmm, if you changed something then it is pretty well done. The pattern of the left tail feather looks a bit unusual. There seems to be something cloned out, maybe a vertical branch underneath the beak but this is a pretty wild guess. :) The BG is a bit noisy.

[Kobus Tollig]

I'm not going to look hard for stuff. Does look real to me. Might find somethin if I look very hard but WHY? Great looking bird we don't have here. Great shot well done SIR

[Randy Stout]

Artie:

The only thing that jumped out at me was the thin dark line along the lower breast and abdomen where it joins the background. This certainly could just be a trick of the light, but I don't see it in other areas.

I like the idea of two camera/lens setups. I do find that even with the 500mm D300 setup, I am too tight on the larger birds such as jays and cardinals when shooting at my feeder setup.

Cheers

Randy

[Stu Bowie]

Lovely pose, colours, and detail on the blue jay. Good exposure, and nice and sharp Artie. Ive had a good scan, and although I dont see any evidence of anything, there may have been some cloning below the perch, below his left foot.

[Jasper Doest]

I'd say you did something to the bg area left above the branch.....but you have to look really careful to notice. Do I win? ;-)

[John Hawkins]

I think it is a Frankenstein Bird. Possibly a Headectomy?

[denise ippolito]

There is a straight line where the tail meets the wing to the left-that tells me some work was done.
Also at the back of the left leg another straight line.
Another tiny straight line furthur up on the wing.

[Brian Wong]

Hi Artie!

Looks really good to me! Maybe seeing a few "stretched" pixels in the background below the tail ... possible tiny add canvas? The lower white tail intersecting the branch shadow seems a bit abrupt. A branch removal around the tail is a wild guess! Very nice!

[Bill Bryant]

This reminds me of my favorite happy hour game in Dallas bars.... are they real or silicone?

Nice work whatever you did Artie. I can see where you removed something beneath the tail and left a couple of specs.

[Arthur Morris]

This is the original capture. Pretty much straight out of the box but for a bit of work on the BKGR. No head-ectomy, no branch removal. Those straight lines and dark lines can be mis-leading. All in all everyone did pretty well.

[Arthur Morris]

This is the final, toned down a bit as per Axel's suggestion, a bit less saturated than the ORIG post, and with a bit more BKGR work.

[Arthur Morris]

I'd say you did something to the bg area left above the branch.....but you have to look really careful to notice. Do I win? ;-)

Assuming that you meant the area above the branch right on the frame edge, you win! Ooops, there are no prizes. Yikes. Thanks all for playing.

And Jasper, you have one sharp set of eyes.

[denise ippolito]

Wow ! Those straight lines really fooled me:)

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Denise,

Yes, any time anyone sees a straight line in nature they get suspicious. Thanks for playing. See #4!

[denise ippolito]

No way!!You killed me on this one!!!:)