It’s a little unusual for goldfinches to be hanging out this time of year in my neighborhood. There haven’t been many but I have seen a few. I don’t know if the shadow is problematic.
Is this a composite: No
ISO 1000, 400+ 2X, F7 .1, 1250th, Sony alpha-1, handheld, close to full frame
Good pose and detail in the finch. Background works well and I like the curve in the perch. Quite a pleasing photo.
I caught this post before you replaced the image and downloaded your first one so I could try out some techniques using the TK8 panels. I used a color mask to isolate the blues and a black brush to make sure I didn’t pick up any color other than in the tail and some of the shadows under the bird. It’s just a down-and dirty go, but I think it works well. Your second shot looks as if you took the entire blue channel down and it muddied the greens IMO. I can work on it more since it could use some finesse, but it’s a start. What do you think? Oh and I used a little of the colorize option in the Hue/Saturation adjustment to paint in a little of the creamy buff color in place of the blue. Also lightened it. As I said, it’s just a quick adjustment and could be done more carefully.
I love the image because the winter plumage of these guys is so smolder-y. Obviously less intense than their breeding colors, but rich and distinctive from the females. Great perch and catch light and the background is so great.
Here’s another with some saturation work - used a Saturation Mask in the TK8 panel to isolate those areas with the highest sat levels and took those down. Used a black brush at about 40% opacity on the head so it wouldn’t be as heavily adjusted. Output to a Hue/Sat layer and worked the yellow channel alone and narrowed the band so it wouldn’t affect the buffy orange bits quite as much. Worked the green channel to bring down the saturation a bit and then brightened it slightly.
Very nice portrait of this goldfinch David. I prefer your original here as the colors look more realistic to me. I don’t really notice the shadow (on the tail?). Nicely composed with an interesting perch and pleasing background.
