Would you have bothered with this one?

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bajadreamer

bajadreamer

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I took this shot, almost as a "grab" shot, off our porch at the lodge we were staying at in Costa Rica. These are Orange-chinned Parakeets, acting as parakeets do-talking, arguing, cooing. They were in partial sun (bright) with a wildly spackled background.
My first question: would you have trashed this shot immediately? Would you even have pushed the shutter?
Second, if you did keep it, how would you have proceeded with PP?
I took it into ACR, masked the birds and brought up their exposure via shadows and exposure sliders. Also slightly increased saturation. Masked the BG and brought down exposure via highlights and exposure sliders.
Took into PS, masked birds and leaves; inverted to protect them, then used Clone Stamp at 35% opacity to tamp down specular highlights. Also brought up shadow on right bird slightly.

The result? Let me know your thoughts. To me the birds now look "punched out" of BG. Maybe I should have feathered mask more?
I am posting original shot and then PP shot.
Orange-chinned-Parakeet-Laguna-del-Lagarto-unedited.jpg
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Orange-chinned-Parakeet-Laguna-del-Lagarto-pr-ps-flat.jpg
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For me, I tend to take the shots almost all the time. If you don't take the shot, you will never know what you might have missed. It is only space on a card, and easy to keep or discard. With regards to your processing, in my opinion, your edits improved the shot. Toning down the backgtound and providing more separation from the birds helped. Suppressing the specular highlights also works for me. I like what you did, and do not believe you overdid the masking/separation. Photography is for fun. If you enjoyed the capture and now have a good memory to share, that is good! Again, this is all my own POV and others may have different opinions.
 
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I've always erred on the side of too many shots. You never know where that next great image will come from. Actually, I kinda like the highlights behind the bird on the left. I think it gives the birds context, that it wasn't some dark jungle but rather a brightly lit patch in the trees. I think the PP version doesn't really separate the birds, they don't appear punched out, but rather, they blend in...almost too much. Sort of like how the leaf blends in. Personally, I think the highlights add to the image. Have you tried doing the opposite and blowing out the background to make the birds stand out more? Just my 2¢ for what it's worth.
 
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JAS said:
For me, I tend to take the shots almost all the time. If you don't take the shot, you will never know what you might have missed. It is only space on a card, and easy to keep or discard. With regards to your processing, in my opinion, your edits improved the shot. Toning down the backgtound and providing more separation from the birds helped. Suppressing the specular highlights also works for me. I like what you did, and do not believe you overdid the masking/separation. Photography is for fun. If you enjoyed the capture and now have a good memory to share, that is good! Again, this is all my own POV and others may have different opinions.
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Thank you for your thoughts. I have way too many shots of this species, but I love their look, but more their personality. Hard to keep my finger off the shutter.
The problem I have is too many images to process. One like this took 25' and probably should have taken longer; if I had spent a little more time refining my selection I might have had better results.
 
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travelwitheric said:
I've always erred on the side of too many shots. You never know where that next great image will come from. Actually, I kinda like the highlights behind the bird on the left. I think it gives the birds context, that it wasn't some dark jungle but rather a brightly lit patch in the trees. I think the PP version doesn't really separate the birds, they don't appear punched out, but rather, they blend in...almost too much. Sort of like how the leaf blends in. Personally, I think the highlights add to the image. Have you tried doing the opposite and blowing out the background to make the birds stand out more? Just my 2¢ for what it's worth.
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Thank you for your thoughts. I absolutely subscribe to your philosophy of shooting-fire away and cull later. My problem is way too many images to process. One like this takes much more time than an image shot in better conditions. Oh well, we all wish for perfect conditions all the time.
Interesting thoughts about making the image more "high key". Ordinarily I am not a big fan of these, but sometimes it is necessary depending on the BG I am working with.
 
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Dancogan said:
I, too, agree with Joe. Definitely a keeper and nicely edited. I'm envious of your LR and PS abilities.
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Thank you. Kind words. What I have done with this image is not difficult. I could show you in about 5 minutes. Could show you faster than I can actually do it. Let me know if you have any interest.
 
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Yes, I do have an interest. Besides learning my Z8 I need to substantially improve my editing abilities in LR and PS. How do you propose accomplishing a demo?
 
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Yes, it was certainly worth shooting, and in fact it’s a great shot with the interaction of the birds. To me, the edit looks a tad artificial and I actually like the original better. I agree that the birds look sort of punched out in the edit. I don’t find the highlights in the background to be a distraction in this case. Actually, I think they add some “ life” to the picture, for lack of a better word. 😊
 
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I think the pose is fine but I did find the dark outline around the top of the birds distracting. I think that outline needs to be softened and lightened in order to look like it is not corrected. I probably would have simply painted over the white spots with a 15% PS brush in the same green tone.
 
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Viathelens said:
I think the pose is fine but I did find the dark outline around the top of the birds distracting. I think that outlines needs to be softened and lightened in order to look like it is not corrected. I probably would have simply painted over the white spots with a 15% PS brush in the same green tone.
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I agree with you. I have not used your method before but will try that in the future. In this image I used the Clone Tool at about 15-35% opacity and painted over the light spots. I should have also used it to blend in areas around the birds.
 
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