Silk purse and sow's ear comes to mind ...

[Clicker]

I have rarely had a Magpie sit long enough to allow my meagre skills to capture it in  a pose that did it justice so when this chap at least allowed me time to  get him in the frame before he took off, I was very disappointed to find  not only had I failed to get all of his tail in  but my camera was still using 16:9 letterbox format setting !! Doh ..... 

So i have played and manipulated it a lot . ...  using an average blur to  get rid of  the distracting  vegetation; adding  more photo where there wasn't any  to his left using Content aware  ... even added bokeh trying to fool myself on one version... Well  yer gorra give  it a try   'aint cha  ? 

Here  as it came out of the Lumix Panasonixc FZ 1000 Bridge  camera...

#ORIGINAL

 

#edit 1

 

edit #2

 

 

 

[Ryewolf]

I think I prefer the second of the two. They're very flighty birds are Magpies, I have a couple that come for the worms I put out, but if they see so much as a twitch of the curtain they're off.

[Clicker]

i  know they are so hard to catch  Rye.... I would normally have binned an image with so many faults but   I can count on one hand the   most decent pics of magpies I have taken (..probably on three fingers!) so I felt obliged to try and retrieve something from   this dog's dinner ...lol 

[JamesT]

There does seem to be an inverse correlation between size and skittishness for birds in the garden. When I was in New Mexico, the hummingbirds would be on the feeder before I'd finished hanging it up, but corvids on both side of the pond are very jumpy (well they are supposed to be among the most intelligent birds).

I think I agree with Rye about number two.

[Ryewolf]

We have a famous Magpie locally in Sabden called Magpie Mike (& Boo the dog).

[Ryewolf]

11 minutes ago, JamesT said:

hey are supposed to be among the most intelligent birds

Magpies are also mimics

Check out Magpie Mike saying Merry Christmas...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-lancashire-46320375/the-magpie-that-says-merry-christmas

He has his own twitter page: https://twitter.com/MagpieMike3

 

[johntwo]

It is a pity about the tail but it is a nice bit of processing.  The tail almost doesn't matter.  They normally go around in pairs. Isn't some superstition about only seeing one being bad luck (or some such)?

[Ryewolf]

8 minutes ago, johntwo said:

Isn't some superstition about only seeing one being bad luck

One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret,
Never to be told.
Eight for a wish,
Nine for a kiss,
Ten for a bird,
You must not miss.

It has it's origins in that Magpies were considered birds of ill omen.

[Hatter]

15 minutes ago, Ryewolf said:

One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret,
Never to be told.
Eight for a wish,
Nine for a kiss,
Ten for a bird,
You must not miss.

They were the words to the theme song for "Magpie" - Thames Television's attempt to copy Blue Peter in the late 1960s/1970s.

That really is some incredible Photoshop work, Polly.  I prefer the 2nd version.

[Ryewolf]

The earliest version from 1780 went:

One for sorrow,
Two for mirth,
Three for a funeral
And four for birth

[Clicker]

 I think the extra space I added to the left of Mr Magpie makes a big difference to the composition Gareth.

 My mum always told me to say , “ Good day to you Mr Magpie” if ever I saw one on its own .. to ensure no ill  would befall me. Where did that superstition come from ???

Thanks for your observations gang ...  it does feel like I have cheated using so much manipulation to get rid of the really messy background  but hey ... I did shout good morning to him as he flew off ! 

 

[Kobione]

Your Magpies are a bit different to ours Clicker, nice to see though and I like the second the best too - you did a good job!

[Korky]

That really is a splendid bit of Photoshoperization, Mrs C - some clever twiddling indeed.

Rye - That vid of Boo & Mike brightened my day. Ta!

Korky

[johntwo]

9 hours ago, Clicker said:

 .........................................................  it does feel like I have cheated using so much manipulation to get rid of the really messy background  but hey ... ........................................

Might be a problem if your intent was an outright record but if you are in the business of creating an image,  where's the cheat?   BTW, love to know how you added the circular bokeh.

[Monomania]

The first version for me. Your intent was to create an attractive image, and you succeeded. Absolutely no cheating involved unless you claim that it was the photo as taken (which obviously you do not). All of my photos have been manipulated to obtain the result that I want.

[Clicker]

Thanks  for the comments peeps... You are  correct MM in thinking all I require from a photo is  a pleasing  image ... and  normally I would just wait  to get another suitable  capture  but  magpies are so  skittish I felt I had to try and make the most of this particular one  ... as  a decent one  with all the elements present was about as rare as hen's teeth for me.

As for the bokeh John ... it really was the easiest part of the makeover ... 

Add a duplicate layer  ... then blur it using one of the options most suitable from the blur filter ... I used average   and you can use the slider to determine  just how much blur you require in the background  (I have got an alternative  to that which I posted that  had more colours present in the BG... See final image below)

Then I just used the dodge tool with varying sizes and at a low opacity... 22% over the area where  there may have been bushes in the background. overlapping some in some places and  varying the hardness of the edge of the  dodge  brush ( circular is the best option )    Just by  clicking once twice or three times  gave varing opacities .   

Then  I used a masking layer  and  painted the magpie back into the picture .. I   used a slight  blur tool around the edges of the magpie, after  flattening the layers,  just to stop the selection looking too much like a cut-out. It's the first time I have tried to experiment to replicate the bokeh I get with my 56 mm and 35 mm primes  so I am  quite pleased with the result. I hope this explains  for you John ... I know you are  a photoshoppper  so I haven't  explained in detail how to use the masking layer  to select  the magpie  but if any further help is required by anyone I will  run up a tutorial l to post in the  before and after  forum .

http://www.tipf.co.uk/forums/forum/68-before-and-after/

This is one of the three other  pics that I have managed to get at that time and  I have just done a quick makeover  with an average blur  reduced  opacity to still show a little form to the background bushes .

 

[CMunzel]

Thank you for sharing your processing, Polly. I like the last one you shared best: the background is about right and the angle of the shot shows the bird’s eye better - it’s nice and sharp. 

Australian magpies are ubiquitous: commonly seen wherever you go in the city, desert, bush etc. As a keen bird photographer it’s always interesting to learn about the differences between the birds of the same species in the UK and Australia.

[Clicker]

Thanks Cheryl...  that last edit was a bit rushed and I’m not happy with the  blue colours reproduced in  the wing really ... I’m always happy to show and share my methods of processing ... I am always learning from others so if anything I  do helps anyone  to try out a new process , then  that’s a bonus for me .