Was shooting for sparrows in backyard zoomed at 38mm (equivalent to about 60mm) from about 20cm (8 inches) away. Had white surface which reflected light back up and used a feeding cup to get bird there. Used fixed focus as auto wasn't working on sparrows (They are too short). Made a 20 metre extension for my remote and waited in our house. The shutter operating didn't scare the dove off like the sparrows (which were coming out blurred due to slow shutter required for good DOF). Set it up with a bush for BG and filled my 2GB card. About 250 shots in RAW. This was the best in regard to light on the face, and bird being still.
Crop, Resize, Levels, Shadows & Hilights, USM, Cloned 2 feathers coming from top of head.
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This is very well done.... especially with such a uncooperative subject. It is slightly oversharpened for my taste (strong halo) but I don't count off for that cause I know the original file was great too.
Love the details you captured in the feather. Colors are great, too, overall a really good shot. One thing I would have probably done is to clone out the reflection in the dove's eye. Other than that ... I would've left it exactly as it is :)
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