Need help/advice...

[chauncey]

Well done my friend!

[Mike Buckley]

Of the last two versions, the dark background makes me think the image was captured using a flash because a flash would light only the bird and not the distant background. That's fine if you want to give that impression. Probably not if you don't.

[Bobobird]

Thanks William. You advice was one of the motivators for the fix.

Thanks Mike. I get your point.

[rpcrowe]

I selected the owl using NIK Viveza and then increased the structure (major increase), along with saturation and contrast (just a tiny bit)...

[Bobobird]

Thanks Richard. Viveza never crossed my mind here though I have it. Hmmmm

Will play around with it.