MP4 Crow Cleanup video

After entering my 5D Mark IV/ISO 400 recipe, the only thing that I did of consequence during the RAW conversion in DPP 4 was to move the Shadow slider to +2. Once the converted TIFF file was in Photoshop I had lots of work to do. First I moved the bird back in the frame using techniques from APTATS II. Then, working large, I did lots of image clean-up work on the beach using my usual cadre of tools, the Spot Healing Brush, the Patch Tool, Content Aware Fill, the Clone Stamp Tool, and a small Quick Mask or two. Next note the plethora of specular highlights on and near the base I the bill — they were a result of a slightly wet bill and the perfect head angle. I eliminated all but a few those specular highlights, again by working large and using all of the tools and techniques noted above. 

Cleaning up the disturbed mud, especially where I added canvas on the right, was the most difficult task. Lastly, learn to use a Gaussian Blur to smooth out splotchy clean-up work. All in all I spent about 30 minutes on this image. But, good images of American or Fish Crows are very difficult to obtain despite the fact that crows are among the most abundant and widespread birds on the continent. In addition to the basics above, the new video includes comments on my filing system, how I get the images from Photo Mechanic to DPP 4 to Photoshop, my extensive use of keyboard shortcuts, pseudo-selective sharpening with a Contrast Mask, using the Quick Selection Tool, and — even though I did not need it for this image — expanding canvas with the Crop Tool in the unframed view.