To edit or not to edit? That is the question.

[wickerprints]

So I had some moderate success with my new EF 300/4L IS, photographing a sparkling violetear. Such an incredibly beautiful bird.


Here is a 50% crop.


[img]/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.30.26/20091123_5F00_0079c.JPG[/img]


As you can see, there are some white specks on the bird's plumage. I could easily clone these out. But at the same time, I wonder if I should even do it at all, since the specks were really on the bird. Yet I do find the spots rather distracting; I feel they detract from the image, and I didn't exactly have the luxury of taking a brush and dusting him off, or running him under the kitchen sink.


So what do you think? Should I keep the white specks, or clone them out? Where would you draw the line on such things? I could just maintain two versions of course. But for me I think this is a definite gray area. Color balance, sharpening, and contrast adjustments are okay with me because the idea is to get closer to what one saw. But this feels different to me.

[Keith B]

Clone them out. Keep an unedited copy to satisfy you purist needs.

[Fast Glass]

Personally I would clone them out. Think of it as giving him a digital bird bath![]


John.

[wickerprints]

LOL. "Shower me with your pixels?" []

[Sean Setters]

I agree--clone all the way.

[bob williams]

Ditto, clone em out

[wickerprints]

Well, with all "yes" votes and no "no" votes to clone it out, I'm going ahead with it. Thanks for the feedback!


I'll post the full image at some point if anyone is interested. It really is a magnificent bird. This particular one had a penchant for chasing away any other hummers that got close to "its" feeder. Then he would sit high up in the tree and make this sharp "tick! tick! tick!" call. This species is on the large side as far as hummingbirds come, about 4-5 inches in body length.


Sadly, where I live, there isn't a whole lot of diversity in hummingbirds. Or regular birds for that matter. Or wildlife, period. The sheer biodiversity of tropical regions only becomes apparent when you can witness it firsthand.