![\"belted](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/belted-kingfisher-3046-cloned-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAs much as I try to avoid cloning elements out of my images it does tempt me occasionally. And in some cases doing so may not even be desirable.<\/p>\n
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1\/3200, f\/7.1, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n This is the female Belted Kingfisher that I photographed a couple of months ago near the Jordan River.\u00a0Here she was scanning a pond below her for\u00a0opportunities with fish. It’s not a terribly interesting image behaviorally\u00a0but it’s a close-up of a kingfisher and they’re so darned skittish that I value\u00a0each and every quality photograph I get of the species. I appreciate the simplicity of the image, the well-defined plumage patterns on the topside of the bird and the good look at that ragged double crest.<\/p>\n But this version of the image\u00a0doesn’t accurately reflect\u00a0what I saw through my viewfinder.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the unretouched photo there was a small branch in the upper left corner that kept pulling my eye away from the bird so in the previous version of the image I cloned it out. Regular readers know that this type of cloning is something that I try very hard to avoid but this is the type of image that can\u00a0sorely tempt me. If there’d been more of those branches but we still had a relatively clean look at the bird I\u00a0wouldn’t have even considered cloning. But as I was processing the image\u00a0that single, out of focus\u00a0distraction kept gnawing at me.<\/p>\n But I know me. Sometimes I become fixated on minutia more than I should so I’d appreciate some feedback from viewers to help keep me grounded. Is that branch a distraction for you? Or not? Or perhaps it’s neutral, having no positive or negative effect. It may be that the clean background without the branch is too “sterile” for some tastes. I’m quite curious about how others might\u00a0feel about that branch.<\/p>\n It isn’t my intention to start a discussion\/debate about the desirability and ethics of cloning images in nature photography. Many have strong opinions about\u00a0it and none of us are likely to change our minds. What I’m\u00a0wondering is\u00a0this: Am I stressing over doing something I don’t like to do when in this case it isn’t\u00a0necessary or even\u00a0desirable?<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As much as I try to avoid cloning elements out of my images it does tempt me occasionally. And in some cases doing so may not even be desirable.<\/p>\n![\"belted](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/belted-kingfisher-3046-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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