Another example of using 400mm to get right in. The first is a downsize from the original and the 2nd is a crop.





and then a shot a little further back... I don't know how happy I am with these so some likes/dislikes from the gentle readers (you can be brutal!) would help.

I like the first and third images. The first because I think the composition looks good. The bird looks well in place in its environment. The third illsutrates more the bird camoflaged in its environment. If the second was sharper, it would be much more impressive, but I can understand the shallow depth of field and the obstacles in the way. Nice photo all around.

bear in mind that I have a not-so-good monitor... I'd like the middle one best, except that it's soft. I wouldn't mind more color saturation as well.

With my exceedingly crude PS skills, here's a different version. Charles, please excuse me for taking these liberties, it's fun to experiment a little.

Originally Posted by wxwax With my exceedingly crude PS skills, here's a different version. Charles, please excuse me for taking these liberties, it's fun to experiment a little.

Don't mind at all. Besides cropping what did you do?

Here is the 2nd one with some sharpness added for those who thought it too soft.

I'm a real PS amateur, so I try different things at random. I did a levels layer and a hue/saturation layer, then went back and toned down the green 'cause it got a little strong in the left hand strand of grass.

I like the sharper version, does it look to you like there are artifacts by the wings? In Scott Kelby's book on Photoshop for Photographers he explains how to use unsharp mask using the LAB colors. You go into channels, and work on the B&W channel... it helps get rid of artifacts.

Originally Posted by wxwax I'm a real PS amateur, so I try different things at random. I did a levels layer and a hue/saturation layer, then went back and toned down the green 'cause it got a little strong in the left hand strand of grass. I like the sharper version, does it look to you like there are artifacts by the wings? In Scott Kelby's book on Photoshop for Photographers he explains how to use unsharp mask using the LAB colors. You go into channels, and work on the B&W channel... it helps get rid of artifacts.

I used 'xv' which *probably* just does a simple Laplace matrix multiply and then adds the result to the pixels. (have not looked at the 'xv' source)

So I did one pass with unsharp mask using the lab color process.

This is with a second pass.

Originally Posted by cmr164 Another example of using 400mm to get right in.

I like this one because it gives the idea of the bird and its surroundings.

Regarding sharpness. The couple things I do in PS is to 1) adjust the levels
(manually) and then using an unsharp mask. Too sharp is almost not real.

Ian