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edit with repost:

didnt get any pictures taken this weekend due to one thing and another.
I took this shot a few weeks ago and was going to bin it, except that I quite like the expression on the birds face
and havent been able to quite bring myself to do so. and besides is the closest image of a honey eater I have.

Shit to bits about the branch across it.
edit: did around 10min clone job one the branch across chest and a coulple of others.
Previously didnt bother because I thought it would have been a big job. but based on paul's 3 minute job I thought it might be worth editing.
Not sure whether its the right thing to do when you take a shot which has issues and clone a major flaw out,
however it looks quite nicer now.
wonder what the concensus is on that subject??
throw away crap shots or edit crap away??
I did like the shot prior to manipulation (except for the branch of course) but now it looks more like what I was going for, except that I didnt have the skill or patience to get the shot in the first place. Did I do the right thing??




I was in good position to get the shot,
but it refused to go visit the flowers about 12 inches to one side
that had a perfectly clear background and not junk in the foreground.
I am sure the beak open is it laughing at me.
full frame but cropped to vertical
80-400vr @ 400 hand held, sb800, bb

Steve

There's this little button called Clone If you've got an hour to spare.

Damn shame about the twig. Nice shot otherwise.

That would of been a brilliant photo if it wasnt for that stick.. but damn.. its still a nice image... and a good capture!!

Tim

thats what thd D'oh is for,

I was looking at it in the viewfinder going yes, yes a little more
and I could see it wasnt going to do I took a shot anyhow.
I waited and waited and it wouldnt got where I wanted.

I have considered cloning. but it would take a while.
when I looked at it I knew it would have been great, except for that goddam *!@$#$$%$ stick!!!
grrrrrrr

Steve

I guess that is one of the hassles of shooting birds. They won't always go where you want them to. Would have been a great capture though.

Actually the twig isnt bad. Shame about the bird.

Love honey eaters. You have captured a great little expression on his face.

Well done.

Peter Mc

What a bugger Steve! I too would be really annoyed. The Lewin's seem to love 'busy' foliage so I've often found it hard to get a clean shot too. Then again, is your taking the shot for the expression while still getting the stick a better decision than me putting the camera down and coming home with nothing? I think so. It's all about the shot!

On my monitor the colour seem a bit washed out. If that's true, I'm sure this would really benefit from a levels adjustment or a tweak on the saturation.

Avkomp...

With a little playing with the clone tool you can make that look fantastic.

I did a very quick job on your image... with your permission I will post it if you like so you can see how it looks. (took me 3.5 minutes)

Let me know and I'll post it. No problems if you don't want me to

Paul

sure that would be great.
post away, I thought it would take way longer than 3 mins.

Steve

With the full sized image you could make it look better. This was just a very quick job. Also... I only did the bird and didn't get rid of the whole branch. It'd be just as easy to completely remove the whole thing.

damn

that makes a difference.

I was going to try a clone but I thought it would take ages.

Is a clone job all you needed??
I might have to do that with the full sized image!!

thanks for that!!

Steve

Yup, just used the clone stamp tool

I used the feathers below the branch for the body.

The yellow patch was a little more tricky... but would be easier with the full sized image as there would be more pixels to work with.

The wing also will be a little tricky. Just use a relativly small brush size and it'll be fine.

Using a graphics tablet also helps.... but you'd be fine if you only have a mouse.

Paul

NikonUser - it matters not that you did not remove the whole twig as it now appears to be behind the bird anyway - nice clone by the way

sirhc55 wrote:NikonUser - it matters not that you did not remove the whole twig as it now appears to be behind the bird anyway - nice clone by the way

I agree keeping the twig but giving the affect that it does behind the bird is a great affect, and I'd say most would not question that, that was actually how the shot was taken, nicely done!

I reposted the shot with twigs removed.
wonder about the ethics of this however

steve

Looks good Steve....

On the ethics of doing such a modification...

I personally have no problem at all with it. For me it's all about the pictures and making pleasing images... If I have to do a bit of editing to achieve this then to me it doesn't matter. You haven't made the scene 'fake' at all or invented the scene.... You have taken a great image of a bird and taken out an element of the photo that took away from the image you wanted.

For me it's as much about the 'art' as the photograph and in the end it's about the final image created and the emotions or reactions it produces.

That's just my personal thoughts.

Paul

Steve,

Love the shot of Lewin's (especially shot with stick cloned out).

Congrats

Cheers

Michael

Ok, so I overestimated. That is now a fantastic shot