Dirty Mouths...er...beaks-

Continue in my quest for higher quality Hummingbird images. Don't know where this girl(s) was sticking her nose-maybe nest building or maintenance-but kept coming up w/ debris. As you can see, lot of varying light conditions that I, honestly, handled more in pp than during shooting. Hope I did better w/ the noise this time.

And you've got some serious clone stamping issues in at least 3 & 4, Rog.
Al

OK, that's just plain embarrassing!! Do not understand why I didn't see that, particularly #3. My apologies to my fellow members who viewed these. Back to my cave. And I'll repost. Sorry.

I'll see if I can redeem myself a bit-going to try to upload corrected(hopefully improved)copies of 3 of these shots.

And the other 1 that was so bad! Looks better.

Very nice Rog. I would avoid using clone stanp unless absolutely necessary. Use masking instead and then adjust the background with noise reduction and then sharpen the picture as a whole.

2n10 wrote in post #16943111
Very nice Rog. I would avoid using clone stanp unless absolutely necessary. Use masking instead and then adjust the background with noise reduction and then sharpen the picture as a whole.

Masking will remove a feeder?? In Elements?

And redeemed you shall be my son!
You're right about dirty beaks, but in a couple from both sets it actually looks like a bug or spider or something. No telling about the rest.
The 2nd set is much better for a lot of reasons Rog. I especially like the 1st and 3rd from that set. I think the wing position and blurring are the most pleasing in those 2 also. The 4th is interesting because you obviously caught her maneuvering. Love the wing twist and flared tail feathers!
You've controlled the noise better overall, although the 4th image could be taken a little farther in noise control. The psychedelic backgrounds are interesting.....pine tree I know. The reflection of the red feeder into the hummer continues, and now that Ted has brought it up it should be on your radar too.
Good luck and keep `em coming my friend!

CamFan01 wrote in post #16946343
And redeemed you shall be my son!
You're right about dirty beaks, but in a couple from both sets it actually looks like a bug or spider or something. No telling about the rest.
The 2nd set is much better for a lot of reasons Rog. I especially like the 1st and 3rd from that set. I think the wing position and blurring are the most pleasing in those 2 also. The 4th is interesting because you obviously caught her maneuvering. Love the wing twist and flared tail feathers!
You've controlled the noise better overall, although the 4th image could be taken a little farther in noise control. The psychedelic backgrounds are interesting.....pine tree I know. The reflection of the red feeder into the hummer continues, and now that Ted has brought it up it should be on your radar too.

Thanks much, Steve. And you didn't even mention that again, I have just females!?! But I have seen a male at a second feeder twice-there're just few and very far between. I, too, liked the patterns from the pines in the bg-may have distracted me from the bad cloning. By 4th image, are you referring to the 1 w/ the feeder? Did see the noise there. As for that red, sure that's pretty much a lost cause-do not see it and probably will never pick up on it down the road. Will try to remember to put that extra step for similar shots in my pp.
Dirty beaks-wait until you see what I got today!(That ought to pique your interest.)
Thanks again, buddy. Always good to hear from you.

The first and third one in the second set are my favorites too. A little flash might help you or move your feeders to an area with better light.

Rog,
Here's a couple of versions of your captures above in which I've de-saturated the red. I hope you can see the differences when you get a chance to compare directly to your original versions. Again, I've changed the file name so you won't overwrite the originals on your computer. The difference is more obvious in the 2nd image posted here.

IMAGE LINK: http://s407.photobucke​t.com …d-2b_zpse4b16877.jpg.htm​l

IMAGE LINK: http://s407.photobucke​t.com …d-3b_zpse250b449.jpg.htm​l

Very nice Rog. Love 2,3 and 4 the most.

The repost are much better Rog! I do think your females are building a nest, so be in a look out for nest

Steve did a fine job balancing the colors, well done Steve.

butterfly2937 wrote in post #16947510
The first and third one in the second set are my favorites too. A little flash might help you or move your feeders to an area with better light.

Thank you for looking in, B'fly. Went out among thr gnats today w/ the flash. Some look decent in the camera-we'll see. Oh, and the feeder is in direct sun, so...

Peter2516 wrote in post #16947883
Very nice Rog. Love 2,3 and 4 the most.

Thanks, Peter Appreciate your support.

jodelak wrote in post #16948985
The repost are much better Rog! I do think your females are building a nest, so be in a look out for nest

Steve did a fine job balancing the colors, well done Steve.

Yeah, Jode, kinda went to school the last couple of days. Currently negotiating w/ Steve for the "Editor-in Chief" position.
Spotted a very small nest in a mostly barren tree around the corner the other day, but if there was any activity in my pines, would be hard to spot. Also, last 2 days there has been a female w/ a "string of debris" from her butt. Wonder if it is from egg laying(I'm thinking avian umbilical cord thing). Think maybe I have a shot decent enough to post, hopefully later tonite.

Lookin much better my friend, maybe a bit much saturation but I'm lovein that bg, that's fantastic!