this week i feature a photo which was rather disappointing considering the birds. cattle egrets Bubulcus ibis are rather common and easily overlooked until breeding season arrives. when the males change their plumage to a dashing orange they sometimes completely lose their heads in the heat of the moment- which is a sight to behold.
in our area of india breeding season coincides with the onset of the monsoon so the lighting of the photo is likely to be challenging.
here is the original
if the background is a gray rainy sky there is not much help in editing the photo. it will always be dull. but if the background is dark and the image is reasonably well focused it is possible to adjust the contrast and clarity and then increase the saturation to a far superior result as below
while i was satisfied with the improvements, since this is an editing contest i went to deep dream generator and applied some moderate settings maintaining the original colors and general shape.
with deep dream you never know what the result will look like so it is hit or miss. i was satisfied with the overall appearance but wanted to make it more exciting and colorful. for that i reopened the image in adobe photoshop express (the free version is sufficient for my use) and played around until i got this final result.
