Through the window

I was working in my study the other day and saw this guy outside the window. I wanted to open the window since it was pretty dirty but it wouldn't budge, so I shot through it. I don't think it turned out that bad. Oh it's a pretty good sized crop too.

f4 @ 200mm, ISO 400

Mike,

Did a great job on hiding the fact that you shot through a window. Absolutely could not tell. The "catch" is a good one too - that is, the bird isn't just sitting there. He is in an interesting pose.

Couple things, though: First, the crop seems like it would be more effective it it were a little bit tighter. However, I am not going to edit that - how you want to frame is your call. The other thing is this: At least to my eyes, the color cast you chose to go with does not seem to compliment the subject. Too cold - too much cyan.

With this edit I altered the color cast by using Curves/Set Grey Point and setting an area of the white wing. I then bumped the contrast and density by duplicating the layer and blended it at Soft Light. The background seemed a smidgen grainy, so I selected the background and Gaussian Blurred it only 2 pixels. Just enough to smear out the grain - without adding any bokeh. Wile I had it selected, I desaturated it about 35%, to help focus attention on the bird.

I hope that I did not kill your intent in doing so, but, as a viewer this is easier on the eyes than yours.

Rad

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I don't know whose rendition is truer to life, but Rad's looks real good to me! The colors are much warmer! However, the bright area in the upper background is also brighter and a little more distracting.

Thanks!

Not at all Rad, I like yours much better. For some reason looking at mine now makes me want to put on a jacket

I'll have a go at it in PS, I'm slooowly getting better with the program.

Mr. Lay has a good point as well, but I still think Rad's looks a lot nicer. And if I give it a tighter crop it might do away with some of the light in the upper portion of the photo as well.

Thanks again