Bald eagle photo for auction

Hey everyone, I have a post in birds about a picture I have that is going to be auctioned at a bull roast for a young boys medical bills. I want the picture to be just right before I print and frame. They sent me over here for help. The problem is the blown out head, I am so new to photography and even newer to post work that I just dont know what to do. Here is the original

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/24434373@N07/5​508042104/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/24434373@N07/5​507150687/

Was the original shot in RAW? If so, can you post a link for that? There may not be a ton more that can be done, depending on just how blown the area is, if the original is JPEG. But to be honest, unless you're auctioning this to a bunch of other photogs, it looks like your edit there is likely to be fine

I think your edit looks great. If you want to add some detail to the blown out area atop the head and neck, then use the patch tool or the clone tool in Photoshop to add some detail from the lower neck. I made a quick pass at it.

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With respect to Qbx's time and effort, I like it better with the head "blown out". Sometimes things that are white are OK white.

That being said, your crop is a little too tight, especially on top. Assuming that the purchaser will want to frame it, the matting will cut into the wingtips.

Rad

Thanks guys. Unfortunately I didnt shoot in RAW at the time. I am still new at this. Thanks for the insight on everything. The crop is tight for an 11x14 print format. I have a better shot of this with more area around the bird, I just dont know how to resize that one without getting the bars around it when it is printed.

You will want to crop it with the particular print size in mind, or, if the customer is going to do the print order without your assistance, crop it in the original dimensions, allowing some extra space in the longer/wider dimension so that the cropping can happen without cutting into the eagle.