Goldfinch

[hb1944]

Caught this one sitting on a green briar. Liked the colors. Let me know what you'all think, please

[hb1944]

Did not like the white area on top of wing and PSed it out. Is this too much? Do you think I have crossed the line with this? Obviously it looks better to me now, but am I faking it?

Horace
Best

[mjs1973]

I like the pose and the OOF background really helps to highlight your subject.

As far as the cloning out of the white area on the wing, it's not something I would have done. As a nature photographer I know that not all of my subjects are going to be "perfect" and that is fine with me. It's natural. The white area on the wing tells a different story than the image with it cloned out. Is the bird molting or injured? It gives the viewer a different perspective of your subject. Don't get me wrong, I love to photography critters that look "perfect" but there is something to be said about showing the ones that aren't too.

On a more technical side, I think the cloning takes away from the image because now that area seems soft. In the original image the white area on the wing is sharp with lots of detail. In the cloned image is seems much softer.

I'm not against cloning things out of my photos to make them better, but sometimes that can take more away from the image than it adds.

[Grandpaw]

I think on both of them are soft and you can get more detail in the photo. I would lighten up the shadows a little and add some detail and contrast to make it stand out. Doing this will help separate the subject from the background more. Would you mind if I show you what I'm talking about? Jeff

[hb1944]

Go for it!

[DGK*CRONE]

The first one looks like it has more attitude than the second, imo. great picture.

[Greg McCary]

I like the first one as well. Maybe dodge around the dark areas of the head and eyes slightly, but not much. That is a very beautiful bird.

[Grandpaw]

This is my attempt. By making the background a little lighter the bird stands out more from the background. I added a little contrast and sharpened it some which allows more detail to show in the feathers, Jeff

My picture looked as described above when I viewed it on my screen but after I downloaded it to the site it came out almost identical to yours. I liked it until it was posted here so I just deleted it, Jeff

[frog4gators]

You can def tell the pic was altered in the second. I agree with mjs that your subject is never going to be perfect. Great color contrast but just a tad grainy. That's just being super nit-picky!