Caught in the Act!

Nice save, all things considered. You've got pretty nice detail and low noise. I like the 3D effect and the way it's looking at you. Great copyright statement! -Anthony

A layer of Gaussian blur, then Crosshatch to try to salvage a

substantially cropped shot that was shot at high ISO. Comments?

Agree with Anthony on the save.... This turned out well.

Hi Kim! This is a good portrait of this handsome fellow. This is Ohio's state bird, so I am somewhat biased, but he is still look'n pretty good. I feel that a bit more contrast as well as saturation could help this. I have tried a couple of additional layers and posted the result. Regards.

Pretty bird.

fergi

He looks crisp and sharp to me, and what a perfect (and clean!) face. Gaussian blur and crosshatch? What does that do?

Kim, it gives it a painted effect. I used Gaussian blur because of the high ISO and it being somewhat grainy. I'll try and remember to post the original this evening so you can see the difference. Walter, these are such striking birds and probably my favorite, too. Thanks for playing around with it. Also thanks to everyone else who commented!

I'd love to see the difference. How much blur? I learn so much from you!

Here's the original, Kim. I used Gaussian Blur on 40.0. I then selected either overlay or hard light in the layers menu. Flattened layer, then used crosshatch in filters. Some adjustment of contrast, etc.