LadyV

[Chris Martinez]

Female Variegated Fairy-wren

1D MKIV, 600mm f4 IS, 1.4x extender Wimberley, Gitzo5541LS

ISO 1600, 1/1000, f/7.1, 0ev

Extensively reworked the background. CS5 has opened up a whole new world of opportunities. Now I just have to learn how to take advantage of it :confused:

It will all come together eventually and I will prosper :D

[John Chardine]

This is an outstanding image Chris. In your last post you said you would be learning CS5 and it looks like you have. Love the pose and look-back, soft light, sharpness where you need it, and beautiful BG. I'm fine with the tail not being in focus. I played around with crops with a little less at the bottom and more at the top but I think you've nailed this too. The only thing I might suggest is bringing up the mid-tones a little (middle slider in Levels to left would work). Very nicely done.

[Chris Martinez]

That's all too kind of you John! :D

Is this the kind of levels adjustment you were suggesting?

[John Chardine]

No image Chris!

Image came up 5 min later!

[Chris Martinez]

Whoops, I think this is a little bright!

[Chris Martinez]

try again

[John Chardine]

Looks good on my monitor but you have to be the final arbiter in relation to what you saw. I like how the extra brightness lights up the face.

[Chris Martinez]

I notice a bit of a trend here with photos appearing quite bright(in my opinion). I personally prefer fairly contrasty images. I think I'll start looking at the subject a little less subjectively and see how my images result.

Thanks again for all your help.

[Cheryl Flory]

beautiful pose and sharpness, Chris!! The only other thing I would try is adding some "pop" to the eye by increasing the contrast/ blacks or saturation, just a little bit.

[Julie Kenward]

I love the perch, the pose and the exposure - especially in the repost...but I'm struggling with the tail being so much more OOF than the head/body of the bird. I would think at f7.1 you would have gotten more clarity there. I would suggest dropping the shutter speed and letting the aperture stop down a bit more.

[Mikko Viljamaa]

Awesome photo Chris !!!

[Eric Patdu]

Great photo Chris! I'm new here and still learning. You mentioned that you extensively reworked the background. Does that mean that you erased all other things in the photo except the bird and the perch? If you did, that was one great PP you did there.

I seem to like the first image because it looks more crisp and contrasty as you mentioned.

[Chris Martinez]

Yes Eric. The background was an unpleasant mix of out of focus grasses and plants(greens, yellows).

[Chris Martinez]

Julie, I will endeavor to get more of the little birds in focus. I was about 5.5 - 6m away from the birds and with the 1.4x DOF is pretty shallow!!!

[Bob Miller]

Hi chris...jumping in a little late but this is a sweet image! You have to love it. I think the oof tail works here as the bird's expression carries the attitude so nicely. i too think I would prefer the tail to be sharp but as is...it works for me! BG is handled nicely....what kind of brush did you use?

[Chris Martinez]

Bob, I think it's called "Hard round presure size" (???) with hardness set at about 40%. Opacity was used at varying percentages.

Does this help? I'm very new to Photoshop.