I quite enjoy doing light post-processing on my photos, but yes, it involves setting time aside for it, and the discipline not to spend more time on a photo than it is worth.

Amusing effect, suiting the subject. If you had the patience, some of the yellow on the building to the left presumably ought to be possible to mask out from having any colour.

Nice shot, and interesting to see a Jackdaw with such odd feathers (given they “ought” to be black and a bit of a darker gray around the head). Also, was this taken inside a food court or similar?

Because you presumably post here to share something you think others might like/be informed/be enlightened by and this doesn’t appear to be doing that at the moment. However, if not posting for that reason, I suppose I can go hunting for the Block User option.

While I share the question “Why?” I might hazard a guess that there’s almost an echo of the colours of the Sainsbury’s sign with the colours of the tarmac and its white and yellow lines, or even of the pale blue car and the sky - I could almost imagine a “I like it but I don’t know why” mood.

But then, same poster as “11 miles to the city” two days ago.

Ummm … not sure of your goal with this photo and title. Perhaps viewing the bollards as an 11 in their own right, but even then I don’t get “to the city”.

Photos of reflections can do wonderful things, as here!

Nice shot, but seems a little dark. Were you by any chance trying to deal with some over-exposed white in post processing (I know that’s what would happen to me for this sort of shot!)? You might find playing with the levels/histogram tools, or even just shadows sliders gives a better result while keeping the bird from just being a white blob.

If you took a RAW format version of that, did you try recovering the over-exposed white, in a histogram or levels tool? You can’t work miracles, but if the white is only a little over-exposed you might get somewhere.

Over-exposing white birds (is this an egret?) is of course something that just happens unless you know a few minutes in advance your next subject is white! Better to get the action shot than no shot at all. But if your lens has a ring set up for exposure compensation, do use it if you get the chance.

Stronger blur removal in a third party tool might also help (e.g. Topaz AI) - but is very hit and miss.

Might I suggest either simply darkening the photo or in a levels/histogram tool moving the centre point to the right? This rather nice photo is a little spoiled by looking a bit washed out to me.

I for one would be happy to read more such stories. Alas, my own experiences don’t really lend themselves to extended writeups - more just the slightly stunned “That’s not a thrush/blue tit/sparrow/pigeon/whatever!” moments when I realised I’m seeing something rather special rather close (wheatears, firecrests, goldcrests, etc.).

I’m glad to bring back good memories: it remains pretty good for birds as long as you aren’t hoping for the seriously rare (and in particular, not birds too put off by dog walkers!).

I’m curious as to why you chose this photo to post. Personally, I’d have waited or arranged for the bird to be facing me, or ideally, facing a bit past my left or right shoulder, and then I’d have crouched down to its level for a shot. Bonus points if the sun is behind you when you take the shot. Most mallards I encounter are near tame, so I’d also have tried to get closer for a sharper result if this is the result of cropping or digital zoom.

Nice shot anyway - but you might like the result of editing that in a tool with a “Levels” or “Histogram” feature, and pulling the centre point to the right (preferably the RAW version) - I’ve found it a good way of dealing with photos that look slightly faded or washed out. Slightly different effect to playing with highlights/shadows sliders.