Some more UK birds

[Pumptruffle]

Hi all,

A few more bird shots for you to look at, please throw any criticisms at me, sometimes you just don't notice something until somebody points it out!


Red-crested Pochard


Blue Tit




Great Tit, I don't like the twig next to it, tried cloning it out but looked messy and was hard to do with the different coloured background. Any tips on how to do this would be appreciated.


Marsh Tit

[ionian]

Hi Paul, I'm not a nature photographer so can't comment on specific technical aspects but they look good to me.

I wanted to offer advice about that twig: use photoshop and layers.

I'd start by selecting the twig with the selection brush or polygonal lasso, put it on a new layers and then go over the selected area with the clone brush using selections close to the twig at 100% opacity. You may find you have some hard edges once you've finished - create another copy of the background and turn the clone opacity down to around 20% and run over the edges until you have blended them in. If this is unsuccessful in completely removing a hard edge, use the paint brush tool with a large diffuse brush, again opacity around 20%, and blend again. You can select colours closest to the area using the alt key.

Now, the hard part - removing that shadow. I'd select the shadow and use the clone brush, sampling from the branch the other side of where the twig was. Again, blend of necessary once you've done.

Finally, tidy up the stump - select the stump area that's left with the lasso or polygonal lasso, making sure to create a hard line that follows the path of the twig edge. Go at it with the clone brush and blend. Then tidy up anything the other side of the twig edge.

It's a lot if work, but with patience, it will disappear completely.

Completely different subject, but here is a great tutorial on removing anything from an image:

[Shadowman]

Nice capture.

[Shadowman]

Hi Paul, I'm not a nature photographer so can't comment on specific technical aspects but they look good to me.

I wanted to offer advice about that twig: use photoshop and layers.

I'd start by selecting the twig with the selection brush or polygonal lasso, put it on a new layers and then go over the selected area with the clone brush using selections close to the twig at 100% opacity. You may find you have some hard edges once you've finished - create another copy of the background and turn the clone opacity down to around 20% and run over the edges until you have blended them in. If this is unsuccessful in completely removing a hard edge, use the paint brush tool with a large diffuse brush, again opacity around 20%, and blend again. You can select colours closest to the area using the alt key.

Now, the hard part - removing that shadow. I'd select the shadow and use the clone brush, sampling from the branch the other side of where the twig was. Again, blend of necessary once you've done.

Finally, tidy up the stump - select the stump area that's left with the lasso or polygonal lasso, making sure to create a hard line that follows the path of the twig edge. Go at it with the clone brush and blend. Then tidy up anything the other side of the twig edge.

It's a lot if work, but with patience, it will disappear completely.

Completely different subject, but here is a great tutorial on removing anything from an image:

Nice link.

[NorthernFocus]

Hi, Paul. You've really got the technical down. All you need is time in the field for opportunities to present themselves with optimum poses, BG, etc.

In the first image, in spite of being turned away from the camera (both body and head) the image works OK due to the lovely water, just a touch of catch light visible, and the excellent detail.

The second image has only techs going for it. Not only is there no eye contact but it is shrouded in shadow.

The third shot is really lovely. IMO straight on breast shots are sub-optimal. A bit of tail or wing (even if outside DOF) makes a huge difference.

If the fourth shot if the Great Tit was in that pose and on the perch of the Marsh Tit, you'd have a stunner indeed. As is a lovely image with a great BG. One obnoxious twig away from excellent.

Even though the Marsh Tit is one of the aforementioned breast shots, it works IMO due to the excellent feather and eye detail and the lovely perch/setting.

Overall a nice set of images. Well done.

[IzzieK]

Paul...my turn:

#1 -- is a pretty shot, but my problem there is the line across the eyes and the back of the head. It would have been nice if that line wasn't there.
#2 -- lacks eye contact but it is OK -- sometimes you get what you get at the time you press the shutter.
#3 -- is pretty as a picture so they say...
#4 -- another pretty one despite your problematic twig.
$5 -- My favourite of all : what a cutie!!