Shooter41 Loc: Wichita, KS

Sometimes things aren't exactly what they seem. In this image of a Starling hiding in the shadow of my vertical bird feeder, he seemed to think no one could see him. Unfortunately his left wing and part of his body was still in the bring sunlight. My difficulty in editing the image in Photoshop was the black head of the Starling in the shadow and the difference in exposure between the bright white fence in the background. I concluded that the blown out detail of the fence did not necessarily kill the message the image tells viewers in my estimation. Is it possible to maintain detail of both the black head of the bird in the shadow of the feeder as well as the white fence in the sunlight? If so, how would you do it when creating similar images with my physical setup and do you agree or disagree that the message the image sends is still there when I edited the image for proper exposure of the bird and the feeder?

(Download)

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Every camera has a finite dynamic range beyond which point you cannot capture detail in both the highlights and the shadows simultaneously. Shooting in raw helps give you the most detail that is possible for any given scene.

I don't believe your message has been conveyed with this edit. Would you be willing to share the original?

Quixdraw Loc: x

The only birds in the U.S. which are not protected by law are Pigeons, House Sparrows and the European Starling.

Shooter41 Loc: Wichita, KS

Dear Linda from Maine...I would be more than happy to share the original. Please feel free to edit it and show me what can be done with it to maintain the details in both the dark and light areas. (Since I took this image, I changed the exposure settings on my Sony RX10M4 from the factory settings half way between still photography and video photography to just still photography which I do more of. I am also starting to shoot in Raw with fewer exposures so as to not fill up my chip as quickly.) Thank you for your interest and help on adjusting exposure for best results.

(Download)

Shooter41 Loc: Wichita, KS

Dear quixdraw....Good information to know.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Good morning! My comment and request were related to your question about the message (bird's head in shadow = hiding). So I did not attempt to add detail to that area because it would muddy the message

This result is mostly from using Nik Color Efex brilliance/warmth filters. btw, the file number is not the same as the one you posted in your opening. The original you shared for edit is quite blurry, but I didn't attempt to address that either. Thanks much!

(Download)

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

I had a brain cramp re the file names: I think I'm looking at the UHH-assigned number. The bird seems to be in exactly the same position for the two you uploaded

.