Here's a question that probably has no solution, but maybe it's worth a try.
I was filming shorebirds the other day, trying to be as low to the ground as possible. When I got home to a big screen, I saw the unfocused blade of grass waving in from of the subject. I didn't even see it in the viewfinder (having an eye infection at the time didn't help). Does anyone know of a way to remove or at least minimize this artifact?

Steve, a blade of grass isn't an artifact it's an object. You can either blow up the frame so that you don't see the blade of grass (assuming it's off to the side) or go in in frame by frame paint it out while painting in the background it was covering. Other than that you just need to be more careful in the future

May I butt in for a second just to check that Rick means what he says ...

To follow your suggestion Rick: Question: Should it be possible (never mind smart or not) for me to finish a clip with a zoom in on a bright brown eye (of an eagle) lifted from another clip and pasted into the last 50 frames of the eagle featured in the clip (whose eye happened to be less sharp & dull)?

I use Premiere Elements 4.0 (but only to capture and cut) but there are loads of Effects & Transitions which I have not looked at.

Brendan, depends. If you can pull it off and the effect appears seamless or is not objectionable to you why not. However, it you are digitally zooming or expanding the picture in your NLE then it's going to look like cocka. Try it.

Thanks Rick.

I had forgotten that zooming in post would have to be digital and therefore result in loss of image quality. Thank you for raising the question Steve and I now butt out.