(If backgrounds have been removed, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
Canon R5, 100-500 + 1.4X at 700, ISO 2000, f/10 (wide open), 1/1600 sec, cropped to 20% of the full frame. Boring sky replaced with one I shot several years ago. Only a slight exposure increase in LR, into PS for Topaz Denoise AI (with no sharpening), then a layer with Topaz Sharpen AI. Masked out at partial opacity a few areas that got a little crunchy. Made a composite layer and selected the sky and masked it out. Dropped another sky in under the bird and sized and moved to taste. Minor tweaks on the mask as needed.
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Really a pleasure to see the detail and color of this hawk looking for groceries.
For me, the blue seemed a bit eye catching, so I preferred to warm the image, which enhanced the bird’s colors a bit, and cropped to take it off center and let it be soaring into a bit of space
HI Diane
You did a great job in photos shop with layering ad masking. By the way the Red-tail looks really great, with a 80% drop in pixels. The coloring and detail are vary nice.
Peter
Very nice, Diane. When I first looked at it I was going to congratulate you on getting the bird so well lined up with the cloud. Excellent job on the processing. I don’t see much difference in Dick’s blues, but I do like his crop a little better.
Diane a really nice photo of the redtail. It is sharp with lots of detail. I also like your choice of sky. I prefer the hawk’s position in Dick’s repost and do think his repost brings out a bit more red in tail. Well done.
When I first opened this image, my very first reaction to it was that the sky had been replaced. This was even before I read what you did. Not making a judgement on replacing the sky, just sharing my reaction. Technically it looks like you did a good job. It still looks like the sky was pasted in to my eyes.
Thanks guys! I do agree that Dick’s repost is an improvement and I will make the changes to the file. When I replace a sky I often go for a dramatic, graphic look. I’m usually thinking, what would a painter do?
