This bird was shot about a day earlier than my ribbon winner in 'motion blur.' Who knows, it might even be the same bird. I had a couple of good candidates for best of 2006 but I went with this one because I was just so happy with the final result.
Dup background layer and create mask for bird, allowing adjustments to the bird and background separately. Adjusted hue to get rid of weird yellowish background the got some comments on my previous entry. Brightened overall and adjusted some color balance. Noise removal on background and sharpened bird. Resize, save for web.
Title from the poem:
The Hummingbirds
by Charlotte Smith
Minutest of the feathered kind,
Possessing every charm combined,
Nature, in forming thee, designed
A proof within how little space
She can comprise such perfect grace,
Rendering the lovely, fairy race
Statistics
Place: 84 out of 712 Avg (all users): 6.5296 Avg (commenters): 7.7917 Avg (participants): 6.4432 Avg (non-participants): 6.8171 Views since voting: 2582 Views during voting: 536 Votes: 355 Comments: 26 Favorites: 7 (view)
I am so surprised that this one of only about 4 or 5 that I gave 10's to is in 84th place. It is such a flawless photo! But a great score and finish for a challenge like this!
Wow! What a capture. I am guessing you had to bump ISO pretty high to freeze the hummingbird, hence the noise, which does not detract from the beauty of the photo. Worthy of 10
Ohmygoodness! If that isn't the most perfect hummingbird shot I've ever seen. . well. .it just is -- period! I am awestruck first. . .then incredibly jealous! National Geographic quality for sure!
WOW!!! I have to tell you, I am voting extremely tough in this challenge. Much more than I usually do because these are supposed to be photos that are people's BEST photo that they took all year, but this photo totally measures up, and in fact is the first 10 I've given in 437 votes!
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