Editing photos, The difference.

[The Kooky Kiwi]

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I actually quite like this photo.. The focus is on the roos face and your attention wants to rest there. I like the color of the bark and leaves - they allow his feathers and comb to stand out nicely. I find the other two hens and background barns to be a little bit of a distraction so I would suggest cropping your picture to remove those hens and a little of the left side too to put your rooster in the center third of the picture. I like that you adjusted the brightness and color but perhaps bring it back a wee bit. You want "just enough" to make your comb *pop* without losing that lovely softness of this breast feathers.

Here's a real quick crop & brightness/color adjust for you.. majestic young man!!

 

[Weeg]

 

[The Kooky Kiwi]

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[cluckmecoop7]

Tell me when you make it!

OK

 

[alwaysthere4chickens]

Tell me what you think.
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[Lacy Duckwing]

I'm liking ALL of the photo's previously pictured... and I will prefix my next comment with my belief that the correct amount of photo editing is the amount that results in the picture that YOU like to look at That being said - to "my eyes" I find that many of the previous photo's have had their colour oversaturated and the pictures, while vibrant, no longer look natural. Depends on what you are trying to achieve with your picture though!

Some handy and "general" tips for taking photos of your birds:

Use the rule of thirds - it's not an "absolute must" but it works well to balance your picture.

Practice your focusing skills - your eye is often drawn to a part of the photo that is most in focus and a blurry photo may not showcase your subject in the way you want. For a headshot it's often effective to aim to have the eye in focus.

Get up close and/or fill your frame with your subject - a bird in the distance gets lost in the picture and their features are less visible when far away.

Try to avoid things that distract from your subject - For example brightly colored or odd items in the background can draw the eye away from your subject.

Example of an "ok" photo: Lacy here is placed in the middle third of the picture frame, takes up about one third of the picture, the focus is on her brow (I wanted to show her comb and ear so focused in between the two), and my daughter wore a plain and non distracting jumper.
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Example of a photo that is "ok" but could be improved: Nugget here is placed in the middle third of the picture frame (ok) but only takes up about a quarter of the picture, she kind of gets lost in all that green grass and I also find my daughters gumboots to be a bit of a distraction - they draw my attention away from Nugget. I would suggest a combination of getting closer, using my camera's zoom features and/or cropping the picture.
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Number one rule = Have Fun!!

Thanks for sharing the advice! I've been doing chicken phototherapy for years. When I do editing to one of my pictures, I do it to my liking, but yes, I have realized that some of my pictures come out to vibrant, too, and stops looking natural. There is a filter that is preferred in Murray McMurray Hatchery's photo contests that gives a cool hue to the pictures. I haven't discovered how this is accomplished, but I'd like to learn. Also, working with the flock on certain days helps accomplish what I'm looking for. For instance, my Cuckoo Maran Maisy. In my personal opinion, the Marans aren't your prettiest birds, and it can be hard for Maisy to look good in pictures. But, I've discovered that she looks the best on cloudy days with the trees bare. All the colors go great together. Another thing, even though chickens don't smile, try taking pictures of them when they are happy. You can see their moods through a picture.

 

[alwaysthere4chickens]

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[Weeg]

Tell me what you think.
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That is great! It was a pretty dark photo, I was hoping you could brighten it up! You did exactly what I wanted!

 

[Weeg]

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Perfect!

 

[alwaysthere4chickens]

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