Male Cardinal

[Bill McCrystyn]

Nikon D300 200-400VR 1.7 TC ISO400 1/200 f/6.7 EV -1.33 CW HH

Got his guy a couple weeks ago but it had a really bad branch and twig BG so I filled the BG with a solid green but didn't like it. Changed it to blue but it was too stark SO I have learned to do my first ever layer :) in 6 years of digital to get a gradient BG fill which gave me the blue and knocked down the fill to enhance the bird rather than kill it. Be gentle :D These things are so subjective but you guys are the masters so tell me what you think.

[Kora Baker]

He's beautiful, Bill. What a gorgeous color. Have never seen one of these stunning birds in the feather, so to speak, only photos and this is a knockout. Love the subtle gradient. Wonderfully complimentary. Great composition. Kora

[Paul Lagasi]

Bill for your first try..very well done, only spot that would be a giveaway is on crest...little bit of brown. I've done 100's of these and I'm still learning.
If your using CS4, do a search in BPN, on using the Refined Edge function...it will really help on the next one

[denise ippolito]

Bill, I think you did a great job w/ your first layer. There are just a very few spots that can be seen. I usually zoom in at over 100 % to see the edges before during and after the selection. Nice gradient BG -It is subtle. You may want to de-saturate the reds a tiny bit.

[Dave Woeller]

Congrats on your new skills with layers. be careful though cause it may lead you to even more great images :D I really like your gradient backround. Nice work, and I'm looking forward to seeing more.

[Bill McCrystyn]

Thanks a million you guys. I was so absorbed with the layer thing and looking at the over-all image, I made the mistake of trusting my Q/S and didn't enlarge to re-check it. I was afraid I had over saturated. I bumped my JPEG to post +4 cuz they always seem dull on the web. The rework here is up +1 over my TIF. Hope that looks better.

After all, six weeks ago I could not spell Photo-Grahpher and now I are one. :D

[Hazel Grant]

The second one is more "realistic" to me. We do have these in our area, a lot in my backyard, so I immediately thought, great caputure with the clarity, but the red is a bit bold. Glad you corrected. The eye contact is very good.

[Christopher Miller]

Great job on the BG change, Bill. I wouldn't have guessed. :) Nice pose and colors. Well done!

[Cheryl Slechta]

Bill, I really like the subtle gradient bg and your layers work looks great. Welcome to the club:)

[Bill McCrystyn]

Denise said their could be a Porsche Boxer in this for me. :)

[denise ippolito]

Denise said their could be a Porsche Boxer in this for me. :)

Too funny:) The repost looks good. The reds are still a bit bold but it is OOTB so ...

[Bill McCrystyn]

I agree Denise. My TIF is yet still down 1 point from the JPEG shown here and seems correct. Good eye! I guess I won't try to bump sat for Web JPEGs again. :o