David, it`s Jim again, putting in my 2 cents worth. Your "Great Blue Heron" and this picture seem to have been taken at the same time and place, yet "GBH" has a more isolated subject and the subject is in sharper focus. Would it be possible to mask the subject in this photo, blur the bg a little, then invert the mask, thereby exposing the subject, then sharpening the subject using "Unsharp Mask"? I have used this method many times to bring the subject to the front, it works very well. This is just a suggestion, this is a good photo, imo a little digital "black magic" can make it a great photo. Best regards, Jim.
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