Taveta Golden Weaver @ Bronx

[kuul13]

I loved this Golden Weaver... but I didn't have the luxury to get it clicked in a studio environment I wish I could get rid of those bushes on the left of the weaver. I was trying Clone tool in Photoshop but I guess failed miserably. I would appreciate if someone can give some suggestions on how to make this frame look nice and natural. How should be the composition of the picture.



The post processed picture that I was reluctant to add is here: I bumped up the exposure and saturation, tried cloning to remove the clutter.


EXIF:
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposure: 1/90
Focal: 300mm
ISO: 800

[Silvertone]

By silvertone at 2011-06-09

I'm just a newbe...but I would start by cropping the messy stuff out..the clone tool can get ya in trouble fast...I just did a fast crop..

[ArmySoldier777]

Kuul13,

As requested, I took a look at this image. Here's my opinion on it, and I'm sure some people are going to disagree lol. But as I said, it's my opinion. It doesn't make it wrong or right.

If you're main focus is just to portray the bird as a subject, then Silverstone has the right idea. You'd want to crop out the bushes on the left to bring more attention to the Weaver. HOWEVER, I believe that this photo does what a lot of photos lack. And that would be: it somewhat tells a story. It gives meaning to the image. When I look at it, I almost get a feeling of hardship. Like there's a lot that this bird has to overcome.

That being said, there are a few things that I might change. I bumped up the exposure to .80 and changed the gamma correction to .90. I feel like it helped bring a little more depth to the image.

After doing that, I also decided on making another change. I applied a guassian blur to the background and masked out the bird and front branch so that they stayed in focus. This would be close to the affect achieved with a wider open aperture, bringing the bird in focus while the background stayed blurred. Then I applied another exposure change to the base layer so that only the bird would be affected, raising the exposure another .30. I believe that for the lighting conditions, this makes the bird stand out fairly well.

Of course, there are many things that you could do to an image like this to make it stand out more, but these are just a few things that you could try. I'll post the final result below so that you're able to see what I was working with.


I really do enjoy the image overall though, I think it was very well done. I hope some of the things I said help you out. I look forward to seeing more of your work,
David

[kuul13]

Silvertone, thanks for the tip and to show how it will look if I focus only on the birdy.

[kuul13]

You are the best I like the way you blurred the background and with little exposure on the bird, the picture looks good. Now the bushes at the back are easy on my eye and overall the pictures suits the mood.

Again, thanks for showing me the steps to edit the picture and to give the description why you did. I am glad that you have critique this picture and spent some time in enlightening me on PP.

I really do enjoy the image overall though, I think it was very well done. I hope some of the things I said help you out. I look forward to seeing more of your work,

Thanks for the word of encouragement, this really helps in klicking and posting it on the forum. I will try my best to klick the best

Here is my version (more exposure) which close to yours.

[sweetdani]

2nd one is very nice picture you made in PS very well work man

[kuul13]

Sweetdani, glad you liked the picture. All thanks to David for helping me understand how to make this picture look good. Your comments proves it

[ArmySoldier777]

kuul13,

It was no problem man. That's what we're here for, to learn. I'm still learning a lot on the photography end. I look forward to seeing you implement the things you've learned and seeing what you've got coming next.

David

[mariselafm]

I really liked the original composition too, and with the changes reccomended by Armysoldier, you have a very interesting image, cool!

[kuul13]

Marisela

Thanks for liking the images. These comments encourages me to do better. Thanks again!