Using Steve's technique for 2 subjects in same image

[bajadreamer]

This is another example of using Steve's technique for having 2 subjects in the same image that are not in the same focal plane. These are Curve-billed Thrashers waiting for the sun to warm them in SE Arizona. They sat in roughly the same position for over 1 minute; enough time for me to spot focus the bird on the left and then shift the spot focus to the bird on the right. In PS I used the Clone Stamp to insert the focused bird on the right (replacing an unfocused bird) into the image with the focused bird on the left. My questions to you are two.
First, does it look "real" to you?
Second, unfortunately I could not move to my left so there is a tree in the background and further back there was a entry gate into a driveway. I attempted to darken the entry gate (the white area to the immediate left of the bird on the left) but it still appears distracting to me. I used a Curves layer and painted it on this area. Any other thoughts on how I might mitigate this?

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[bleirer]

It looks good. If you didn't tell me you cloned I might not have looked close. Looking close I believe there are a couple spots where you can see the line. Which at this point you could use the healing brush on.

If you work in layers you don't need a clone stamp. If the right bird in focus is the top layer there are ways to align the images. One way is Ctrl T which gives you free transform to drag the layer around. Just temporarily switch the blend mode of the top layer to overlay or some others that show what is below. You could then simply add a layer mask from the icon menu below the layer panel and paint the mask with a black soft round brush to hide everthing but the top bird. There are faster ways to do the mask if you want to talk about those.

 

[bleirer]

For your second question about the background, you could try to extend the lighter area with either the patch tool in content aware mode or content aware fill, followed by some touch ups with the healing brush in normal mode or simply the spot healing brush.

Edit: rereading, you thought the light area was distracting? I thought the dark was the more distracting. I enjoyed the creamy light part behind the bird.

 

[bleirer]

You might go back and look at Steve's video. Proves there are many ways to do the same thing in Photoshop. He uses layers in this one.

Game Changer: Keep Multiple Animals Sharp At The Same Time - Backcountry Gallery

Have you ever run into a situation where you had multiple animals in the frame and just couldn’t find a way to keep them all sharp at the same time – even when you stopped down? This is actually a really common problem for close and mid-range shots of small to medium-sized wildlife. In fact, […]

backcountrygallery.com

 

[Jerry G]

Very nice. Well done.