I was trying to get a portrait shot of one of my parrots and wanted a 'painting' like image. This is what I've come up with so far. Slightly out of focus with sharpening and pp of the beak area and work on levels. Can I have your thoughts please.

[Ash]

The focus is quite off. Where were you trying to put focus on?
Do try again to get a sharper image.
I like the idea of a portrait painting.

The focus was on the beak area, and the bird was shaking his head. I was trying to capture the effect with the camera ran than using pp for that. I plan to add some motion blur.

[ftpaddict]

I'm sorry, I can't even find the point of focus in the image.
And you've used the built-in flash or a light source behind the camera.

[Buddha Jones]

General rule for animal shots is to focus on the eyes. Not sure what lens you were using but for a shot that close, something wider than f/5.6 would be good to get more in focus, don't take that shot with a FA50 f/1.4 wide open, results wont be favorable.

Gary, you have been so helpful with tips for me lately that I want to help here. But I am not sure I understand exactly what you are trying to do. A paint-like effect out of camera using DOF and motion blur? If that is part of it, I think a more profiled angle would help keep part of the beak and an eye in the plane of focus then dof/bokeh blur out to where the body is just color... am I close?

[mel]

It kind of hurts my eyes.

I'd go for a head slightly turned (yeah I know, as if you can control the bird), like mabye a 3/4 angle, since they see more from the sides of their heads instead of with the binocular vision we have, focus on the eye closest, with a slightly greater dof. That way the bird is looking back.

Just my thoughts for what they're worth, but I can't even get a human in focus.

Looks like a cool bird. What kind of parrot is it?

This is a bit closer to the sort of thing I was trying to achieve. Thank you for the comments, I hadn't focused on the eyes because I was trying to get a different perspective. PP is so new to me, I'm just trying to figure out how things work and to find out how photographs (in focus and out of) can be worked on. Thanks for the comments guys, I know it's not a great shot. I definitely will try and get a more focused image and I have listened to your suggestions about the profile.
I don't know how to download it so that you can view it bigger but when it is displayed on my screen you can see the crosshatching in the image and it looks a lot better.

Mel, it's a Senegal Parrot.

Here is a more focused profile. Would this be a better one to work with?

[mel]

You know I looked at this new bird and the old bird (first one) only partially, before scrolling down all the way, before the green kicked in, and I liked it a lot better. Maybe tone down the green a bit? That way the eye doesn't wander down to the flourescentness of the body and stays with the head. There's such a contrast between the head color and the body color that it almost looks like the head is floating in space.

Desaturate just the green so maybe the body blends into the head a little more, making the body recede into space where it actually is. Depending on how you look at it it's almost like the body is in front of the head.

A thought only.

I like the profile one better. It's almost like mr. parrot (ms?) is looking back at us. And there's not as much of the green body to distract.

[mithrandir]

I took a little license with your photo and did some post processing. Added brush strokes and noise in Paint.Net. Is this what you were trying to achieve or am I way off?

Best regards

Rob

You know I looked at this new bird and the old bird (first one) only partially, before scrolling down all the way, before the green kicked in, and I liked it a lot better. Maybe tone down the green a bit? That way the eye doesn't wander down to the flourescentness of the body and stays with the head. There's such a contrast between the head color and the body color that it almost looks like the head is floating in space.

Desaturate just the green so maybe the body blends into the head a little more, making the body recede into space where it actually is. Depending on how you look at it it's almost like the body is in front of the head.

A thought only.

Thanks for your thought Mel. I'll give the green a try.
Gary

I took a little license with your photo and did some post processing. Added brush strokes and noise in Paint.Net. Is this what you were trying to achieve or am I way off?

Best regards

Rob

Thanks for taking the time Rob. I think what I want to achieve is somewhere between what my last attempt and yours.
Gary

[mithrandir]

Also used Paint.Net on your second shot. See if this is to your liking.

Rob

[daacon]

Not sure I am sure what is you want to achieve Gary but I think your second shot would make a better baseline for sure.

How is this? I quite like the way the beak is in sharper focus than the rest of the image.