Last May, my kids took me to Vieques (a small Puerto Rican island) for a milestone birthday. I
was excited to shoot unknown flora and fauna with my new Canon R5 + R100-500. I shot this
lovely little Yellow-faced Grassquit (Tiaris olivaceus) from our bedroom window. It seemed to
be living in bamboo trees right below us and would flit from stalk to stalk serenading us (or
more likely trying to attract a mate).
Using Lightroom Classic, I first lightened shadows, then lifted exposure and lightened shadows
more to reveal the feather detail under the bird’s chin. Next, I ran the image through ON1
NoNoise AI 2024 to reduce noise and sharpen detail. After that, I made a series of crops to
determine my preferred size, angle and closeness, settling on a tight, horizontal crop. I also
adjusted the background a bit (shadows, whites, & contrast). Next, I tried a few vignette
options to add dimension.
Finally, I created a 3 rd Copy, horizontally flipping the image, then cropped it vertically. As you
can see, the tail feathers would be cropped unless I cloned out the stem beneath its lower foot.
Do the soft white spots in the background detract? I tried removing, but to me, it left the
background a bit too flat.
I’m very open to any and all suggestions to improve, so I’ve included my Original (As Shot) along
with both crops. Thank you!
This round’s discussion is now closed! 6 comments posted
Dr Isaac Vaisman
Grace, this is a beautiful bird which we do not see in South Florida. You gave us several options of cropping/presentation. The image is sharp. There is nothing wrong with a uniform and non distracting background, in fact is desirable. With a combination of a good selection, then inverse the selection and with the cloning tool at 0 hardness you can obtain this image. Posted: 04/06/2025 16:15:56
Kathy Buckard
I like the blurred background and feel the image you presented holds the viewers attention. If you choose to present the bird looking the other way, your eye travels to the brach and out of the picture. Thanks for sharing this beauty. Posted: 04/08/2025 00:44:08
Sarita Yeola
Grace, What a sharp image of this beautiful bird. I like your presentation this bird. Maybe another variation would be a vertical crop to show the bamboo leaves on the top and bottom to include the habitat of this bird. Great job! Posted: 04/08/2025 18:45:21
Gerhard Geldenhuys
I think this is a great sharp image with a suitable background. Well done. Posted: 04/11/2025 19:19:54
Gloria Grandolini
Grace, delightful image - very sharp bird and very pleasing color combination. I like the composition you presented over the originals. Great use of your new R5. Posted: 04/19/2025 21:57:02
Jerry Baumann
Grace, no suggestions! I think it's perfect! Posted: 04/29/2025 19:35:13
