Problem
Real life photography often means capturing a scene with problem lighting and background. In this case the rookery made the background complex and the lighting was harsh.

Solution
This image involved intricate work to manipulate the keep, delete and blend masks to eliminate as much blending as possible. This made it possible to reduce traces of background that might “stick” to the transparent white feathers. This required, at times, a pixel by pixel adjustment to clean up the masks. I’ve tried feathers before, but find Fluid Mask 3 is much more flexible and easier to use for complex jobs like this one. I never could have gotten results like this without it.