Long Tailed Tit on Wire

[BarryJ]

Hi
Took this yesterday in the garden. The position of this feeding station is not ideal as the perches are in shade and the background can be strongly sunlit.
Would welcome your thoughts on composition etc.



Regards
Barry

[Tobyh]

Barry,

I like the composition, background and the perch - not one I've snapped any birds on but I think it works well.

I don't know how much you process your images but on my screen there are some highlights on the head and the left side which are overexposed and have lost detail, maybe dampen those a bit. I personally may have shaved some off the top of the picture also to make it less square, I'm sure it would still work well with the subject looking into the space on the right.

TobyH

[BarryJ]

Hi Toby.
Thanks for the critique, agree about the blown high lights. I process with Elements 7.
I might try and go back and rework it I was conscious of the whole image appearing under exposed.

Regards
Barry

[big bill]

Hello Barry I like this pic and agree with the points that Toby brought up ,also you could try cropping into a verticle format with the bird looking out off the image otherwise a great pic well done

[Tobyh]

Barry,

Hope you don't mind but I thought I'd have a little run through my processes on your image. It's a bit of a liberty so let me know if you aren't happy, I normally don't do things like this.

Anyway - wanted to see how it would turn out. This is reduced in size (make sure you click to see proper size) , I tried to tone down the highlights in the hot areas (not my best skill!) some noise reduction applied and selectively sharpened using a mask. I use Elements 8 by the way.



Make sure you click then click again to see the image as intended (if it's resized at all by the site then it loses some sharpness). I think maybe the edges are a little harsh perhaps.

TobyH

[BarryJ]

Hi Toby
No I dont mind at all, glad of the assistance.
I've been stuck in a rut of cropping to print 12x10 so often foget to crop to suit the picture and not the mount.
Totally agree with your edit.
Did you use the magnetic lasso to isolate the highlight areas ?

Thanks for taking the time, if your anything like me you've got a constant backlog to cope with.
Regards
Barry

[Tobyh]

Barry,

I mainly used the Smart Brush Tool which allows you to "paint" areas with an adjustment and you can then adjust that as required.

TobyH