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.
That's a very nice phone camera! That, or I've an even poorer phone camera than I thought (on the grounds of having a full-body camera). You can probably find free apps for your phone that do simple RAW edits, but I can't offer any advice. Dedicated cameras tend to come with software of varying quality (Canon is quite good!).
Nice capture of the wing feathers. Have you tried playing with your editor packages's histogram tool (especially if you have a RAW format image) to see if you can recover more of the colour of the bird? This scenario of dark bird against bright sky always sees me tweaking things, often resulting in over-exposing the sky, which I don't care about, to see more colour in the shadows of the bird (it's what I was doing in my recently posted "Kite Seeking Kompany").
Sitting up in a tree in Prospect Park, Reading, UK, calling away. Overcast day, so not as sharp as I'd like.
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.
Reading, UK. Canon R6 + 800mm, 1/1000s, ISO12800 (AKA overcast and slightly misty as befits Halloween).
First time seeing a pair together (and not often seen at all) - though its possible both of these are females, none of my photos show the distinctive orange in the crest of the male.
Across the pond you might call them one of the Kinglet family, but to be precise, Regulus Regulus.
Oh, and in case you just want a classic shot of this clown of a male bird:
Mandarin Duck, Reading, UK One of a group of at least a Baker's Dozen of them on a small pond., so I guess some will be off before the Spring. Canon R6 + 800mm, 1/1000s, ISO 5000, F9
Today's shots near the Yew tree got me this Redwing flying off - though I started pressing the shutter when I thought it was still.
Reading, UK, Canon R6 + 800mm, 1/1000s
I know what you mean, but yew is more church graveyard than crown of thorns and/or pagan rituals!
Reading, UK Canon R6 + 800mm, F9, 1/800s, ISO16000 An overcast autumn day is not the time for fast speeds and low ISOs, alas.
I'm reasonably sure this is a song thrush, but if someone wants to tell me its a mistle thrush go for it!
This is a very popular yew tree with birds and squirrels, but alas, no good places to sit with a clear view of the current feeding sites.
Yet another good scratch from, today's walk
Reading, UK Canon R6 + 800mm. Grey day, so only 1/800s, ISO4000
It always amuses me that once there were the Wren and Redbreast. Then there were Jenny Wren and Robin Redbreast (who famously got married). But then we ended with the commonest names being Wren and Robin. Tom Tit, and Maggie Pie are more of the same types of naming.
Oh, and a bonus
Patience and luck :)
It's autumn, the light is not great, and so the sharpness suffers, but this still amused me.
Robin, Reading, UK Canon R6 + 800mm,1/1000s, ISO3200, F9
For all its flying away from me, I was quite pleased with this. I saw what might be a jay land in uncut grass where I could barely see it. But I could also see a runner coming along the path and knowing the local Jays, it would fly off in ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... click!
Reading, UK Canon R6 + 800mm
Thanks, though here it's more "taking what I get" than deliberately setting up a cool angle!
Reading, UK, Canon R6 + 800mm
It didn't seem at all sure of itself!
If it didn't face down, you'd be looking at a tree creeper :)
Oh they are indeed. Previous years I've seen them tucking into large thistle heads (so about head height) in sunshine which is an utter delight - alas, this years weather or something has denied me of that pleasure. The following is from 2022:
Just to go over the rules again...
But do you Goldfinches listen? No you don't!
Absolutely delighted to see the parents and brood of pretty much adults on a town park pond. I'd not seen any of them for a while, and feared for their safety.
Reading, UK
Canon R6 + 311mm (yay, zoom), f7.1, 1/1250s, ISO1250
Reading, UK
What can I say? It creeps round trees, I rarely see it, and just look at those claws!
Canon R6 + RF800mm, ISO10000 (c.f. creeps round trees!), 1/1250s, F9
Lovely! What were you using to take the photo?