Bird Shots - Still learning

[pnodrog]

Be careful when you blur backgrounds to not end up with the items you do not want to blur being included in the blur process.
For maximum control and versatility I usually copy the image twice onto separate layers.
Then with the top layer form a layer mask for the parts I do not want to blur. From that layer mask I form a selection .
Turn off the top layer then dropping down a layer I then use this selection to help me quickly clone out the parts that contrast strongly with the background and will cause bleed into the blur (in this case the bird and the branch ended up looking mostly like sky. I apply what ever blur or changes I wish to make to the background on this layer.
Go back to the top layer turn on and make any fine adjustments to layer mask. You can adjust the transparency and blending mode of the adjusted background layer in relation to the unchanged bottom layer until you get the result you want.

When doing all this I turn layers on and off as required to see what I am doing. A bit more painstaking than some methods but it gives absolute control and the option of fine tuning when needed. Did a quick edit on your photograph to demo. The main advantage is no odd strange blur around the bird or branch regardless of what blur method is employed. Needs a bit of a tidy up but the size file did not warrant being as fussy as I usually am.

[Brownbear]

Thank you everyone for your replies and helpful advice. I will experiment with all of them and hang on to that magpie jay and reflection photo for the day I get my editing skills up to par. Mike, I did not know about that tool, thank you for letting me know.

Bud, Sorry to disappoint but the Black-throated Magpie Jay photos are not from Vancouver but from Mexico, photographed in Los Ayala, Nayarit. They are one of the most beautiful birds I've ever seen and even though they were impossible to take a photo of, I just kept trying. I hope to return one day and try again.

From Wikipedia
This species is 58.5 to 76.5 cm (23 to 30 inches) long, more than half of which is the tail, and weight is 225-251 grams (8-9 oz.).[2] Only a very few corvids, including the Black-billed Magpie, the Red-billed Blue Magpie and the closely related White-throated Magpie-Jay, have a comparable tail length. The upperparts are blue with white tips to the tail feathers; the underparts are white. The bill, legs, head, and conspicuous crest are black except for a pale blue crescent over the eyes and a patch under the eye. In juveniles, the crest has a white tip and the patch below the eye is smaller and darker blue than in adults. In most birds, the throat and chest are also black, but some in the southern part of the range have various amounts of white there.[3]

The calls are varied, loud, raucous, sometimes parrot-like.[3]
Range and habitat

This species occurs in pairs or small groups in woodland, except for humid woodland, and partially open areas on the Pacific Slope of Mexico from southern Sonora south to Jalisco and northwestern Colima,[3] for a total of 160,000 km2. As of 1993 there was some evidence of a population decline.[1]

Someone else's photos... check out the one in flight
http://www.pbase.com/dancinec/black_throated_magpie_jay

[Brownbear]

Thank you L.Paul... very helpful.. Your edit looks great, thank you for taking the time to do this. I have a lot to learn and learning so much from this forum and the members.

Here is my jay shot, warmed up the temp as suggested and I think it helped



And here it is using that little button on the curves in LR that I did not know about... An amazing difference on just the jpeg, later I will try it on the raw file. HUGE



And here is the duck reflection edited and centered... I think it is a little to noisy, and has lost some of the quality... Also for some reason I could not clone out the foot of the real duck without it looking obvious, ie; bad circle marks



And I tried it on another shot, as well as increasing the temp but noisy


Thanks a million!