I was visiting my Mom at the convalescent care home she is in and thought I would snap a fast shot of one of the house mascots, a cockatiel, I think?...I don't know birds that well. So I got in close opened the aperture and though I was able to get in-between the cage bars. Here is the result:

K20D, DA 35Ltd, f2.8, 1/125th, ISO 1600


Not what I was hoping for...still looked like I might be able to get the head shot I was after. Here is the crop with a few adjustments:



Still not worth the effort to try and sharpen it enough to print for their wall and one for Mom. Soooo, I decided to experiment in PS to see what i could learn. After a few layers, some artistic filters, adjusting opacity I came up with a result that actually looks very nice in print:



I know it is not a 'photo' and it is far from perfect (the slight halo effect on the left side of the beaky part and crown of the head I missed in post), but after printing then applying a light spray coat with a clear Krylon matte paint to give it some texture, it really looks nice matted and mounted in a cheap Walmart frame.

This is the sort of thing I have the camera for...to give the folks there, who are at least somewhat lucid most days, a sense of the world around them and bring inside some of the outside. We live in a small town and well, so many of the residents I have know my whole life.

[MRRiley]

Perhaps try a simple dark vignette. This could disguise the light area caused bu the out of focus crossbar.

Mike

[brecklundin]

Thanks...I never considered a vignette...thanks I'll give it a try later today.

[mie17]

your experiment on Photoshop doesnt look bad! nice try

[brecklundin]

your experiment on Photoshop doesnt look bad! nice try

Thanks so much. It was fun trying the various filters, each on their own layer then adjusting the opacity (transparity) of the individual layers. I also found the order I stacked the layers can somewhat alter the way the final image appears.

MRRiley: I did try out the vignetting and in the middle of the process I remembered that if you look, right between the leetle fella's eye and beaky part there is the slightest hint of one of the bars on the cage which just can't be removed by my skill set with PS. Also, the vignetting really did not help, in fact in this case it was distracting from the shot, to my eye. Still I will fiddle with it from time to time and see what I can learn from using it.