Flicker

From Photo of the day (2009)

From Photo of the day (2009)

I spied this guy on my way into the house for a break at work - he was on the ground then went up in the tree. I didn't know if he would stick around until I got my camera, but on my return he was back to the ground. He spied me and went back up into the tree and I got some good shots, these are the best of the string. I couldn't decide which to post here so I thought - why not both? I entered the one with more white and less sticks into the DP Challenge of the week "Fauna" - a photo of animal life. We will see how it does. I never seem to get above the middle of the crowd with my shots, usually getting a 4.5 or 4.6 out of 10 (the winners get about 7.8, so its about average.)

Anyways, I played with shadows (it was a bit pale because of the backlighting), highlights, sharpened and saturated in picasa for both shots.