Editing: Crop; adjustment layers for levels, curves, hue/sat & contrast; flatten; use lasso to select bird - then inverse - then do noise reduction using helicon noise filter on background only; clone some bark onto a little bare spot on the branch that stood out; resize; smart sharpen; use sharpen tool on bird set to normal; use sharpen tool on eye set to luminosity; use burn tool on beak, then sharpen tool; use burn tool on neck feathers and a bit on head feathers; clone out a bright white spot on the wing; save for web.
This little hummingbird kept dive bombing me when we went to take pictures of climbers at Penitene Canyon for the rope challenge. It was a bold little thing and seemed quite perturbed with me. It finally landed, giving me a dirty look, and I got some pictures of it being still. You can see that it looks cranky!
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I love this shot. I like the diagonal line created by the branch and the way it leads the viewer to the well placed subject. Color is good. It seems like the bird is on the edge of sharpness for the aperture you've selected here. Look at the branch - it's sharp in front of the birds feet, yet a little fuzzy to the right of the birds head. Not terrible mind you, just seems like the birds head could be a little sharper. Of course, it could be my glasses need cleaning or something. ;^) Best of luck to you in the challenge.
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