New Sky

[RGS]

These Cedar Waxwings were difficult to photograph - there were lots of twigs, small branches and ugly out-of-focus sticks around them. I cleaned them up but the mess left behind wasn't much either, so I changed the sky as a final clean step. I tried to find an inconspicuous sky that would not change the photo. I'm interested in your thoughts.

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[Ralph]

These Cedar Waxwings were difficult to photograph - there were lots of twigs, small branches and ugly out-of-focus sticks around them. I cleaned them up but the mess left behind wasn't much either, so I changed the sky as a final clean step. I tried to find an inconspicuous sky that would not change the photo. I'm interested in your thoughts.View attachment 102820

I would have like the waxwings to be further to the right. The tree seems to be taking the attention away from the birds. Just my thoughts.

 

[bleirer]

I like the pattern the resting birds make. It would make a nice vertical panorama, maybe a 1 to 2 aspect ratio with the bits of leaves removed. Can we see the original sky? My personal limit is the sky replacement would have to be a photo I took at the same place, similar time of day, similar direction relative to the sun. The remove tool in photoshop is truly amazing, as is the patch tool in content aware mode and the content aware fill tool. The original might be fixable.

 

[RGS]

I like the pattern the resting birds make. It would make a nice vertical panorama, maybe a 1 to 2 aspect ratio with the bits of leaves removed. Can we see the original sky? My personal limit is the sky replacement would have to be a photo I took at the same place, similar time of day, similar direction relative to the sun. The remove tool in photoshop is truly amazing, as is the patch tool in content aware mode and the content aware fill tool. The original might be fixable.

Very interesting observations. Thank you. I made a vertical crop but left the mistletoe in because it seems seasonally appropriate. I'm putting up the original after basic editing and crop and a couple of verticals after the tangle is cleaned. The sky I used for the first post was one of my own but not from the same day. When birds are in such a tangle, I find the clean-up difficult - especially the out-of-focus blobs - but changing the sky seems to clear out the final debris. I'm trying to let the new sky support, but not alter, the original. Another option for the clean-up might be to blur the background strongly.

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[Doc Murdock]

Nice capture of the Waxwings! I liked the natural background in 2412 - 221-T-2-2.jpg. It shows their natural environment. Perhaps consider a tighter crop of just the bottom 2 Waxwings?

 

[ElenaH]

I think, you need to leave more space on the left because the birds need to have place to look into.
In this case even the original image would work if you crop it to 1:1 and let more space on the left side.
The tree must not have so much weight, a bit of it is ok but not the separate leaves but a bit more (with brunches) otherwise it looks like ... hmm bitten? Or take it entirely away.
The sky replacement is not so bad but I think you need to pay attention that the cloud is not in the middle but rather on 1/3 otherwise it draws attention too much.
Just my subjective opinion or how I would do it.