Trumpeter in a big hurry with no where to run -- Thoughts needed on canvas extension

[Randy Stout]

Good day:

At the local bird sanctuary this AM. It was 57 degrees warmer than last weekend when I was there, and the birds were moving. Felt almost like spring was in the air, both temperature wise and because of the feisty bird activity.

The trumpeters were blasting about chasing each other. This guy was quite close and I didn't have time to move to give myself more room to frame with. But, I did like the action in the image, with flying water and striding feet, as well as the shadow of his head on the near wing. The issue of course is, too tight on the right side. I tried several of my usual techniques to expand the canvas, but wasn't happy with the result.

Would appreciate any thoughts on the subject! I can send a larger image to anyone who wants to take a crack at it.

D4 500 AFS f/6.3 1/3200s ISO 640 Handheld

Post: full frame. Toned down the whites, sharpened selectively, lightened the face a bit.


As always I appreciate your input, and esp. on the matter of the canvas extension.

Cheers

Randy

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like the action too, and the translucent wing with the face's shadow within. That can be a tough canvas extension job for the main reason that the water drops at right edge and left edge are not the same size, sharpness, and spacing pattern. The easiest way, if you have it, would be to borrow pixels from another frame of the same series.

[Randy Stout]

Thanks Daniel:

The other frames in the series vary so much that they are of no use. I agree about the drop pattern and details making it hard to borrow from the left side of this frame. I tried using content aware scale, but the small amount of canvas to borrow from on right made for an unsatisfactory result, even if I did several small sequential expansions.

A tech. That has worked in the past where I would be able to do a much wider area of content aware fill above and below the bird, and then filling in the area just in front of the bird later, showed some promise, but wasn't great, just too much detail because of all the flying drops and varied texture on the ice.

As you can guess, I didn't have much time to compose this image in the optimal way, as one minute he was standing, the next second he blasted off. None of the deliberate head bobbing they often do before take off.

Cheers

Randy

[Glennie Passier]

I am at a loose end this evening, so thought I would give this a whirl. A bit quick and dirty, but do-able. Maybe a slice off on the LHS.

[christopher galeski]

nice action,Glennie as posted a shot with more on the right,a good attempt.TFS.

[Randy Stout]

Thanks Glennie:

A very creditable job indeed. Better than my 1st couple of passes at it. It would certainly be helpful for me, and perhaps for others, to hear the techniques you used.

I appreciate you taking the time to work on it!

Randy

[Glennie Passier]

Randy, now I'm looking at this in the light of day and I can see many identical droplets that I would change now. But if you spent the time, I'm sure you could make it credible.

Added canvas, copied two slim vertical columns from just in front of the bill and pasted them side by side. I looked for other elements within the frame to try and clone out the repetition of the clone stamp. Some droplets were cloned at 100%, some with 50% and so on. Getting rid of the repetition is the key I think.

Randy, as you know, there's a hundred and one ways to skin a cat; this is just what I know.

[Randy Stout]

Thanks Glennie:

I do really appreciate it. I had tried the copy and move tech., but wasn't happy with my transitions and patterns. You did a good job making work. Yes, one can always find a few more bits to tidy up, but a very good start.

I had also done content aware scaling with and without protecting the bird during the scaling, straight transforming with various selections, etc.

It is a challenge because of the amount of detail in the background and with the drops, that have to be minded. But that is 1/2 the fun of digital photography, so I enjoy the challenge.

Thanks again!

Cheers

Randy

[Diane Miller]

Nice catch and a tough one to fix but well worth the trouble. I think Glennie is on the right track -- nice job!! After the first attempt I'd resort to removing the drops that don't fit with the Spot Healing Brush and clone in other ones.

If content-aware fill makes a mess, try just copying and pasting a slice, or several. Of course do all this on a duplicate layer so you have an out if it gets out of control.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Randy, I followed this post this morning, and I would give it a go this evening. Firstly, great action shot with the flying water, forward wing position, and the open beak. I do like the light through the wings. With regards to the added canvas, I increased the canvas in tiny increments of 0.2 cm in canvas size, and then edit-fill- content aware. I think i added 5 increments, and as the canvas had been copied, I played around with the clone tool, and added droplets from the LHS into areas of the added canvas. :w3

[Randy Stout]

Thanks Stu, Glennie and Diane for added input and effort. Nicely done, and I will def. revisit this one!

As I suspected, there is no single tech. that can handle all aspects of this job, but rather a mixture of multiple approaches.

Cheers

Randy

[Diane Miller]

Back home now on a better screen -- Stu did a good job except there are some repeats in the lighter area in front of the left wingtip. I'd clone in some of the larger splashes also.

I don't think the small amount of reflection is doing a lot for the image. I'd add even more on the right and remove some from the left. If the reflection is removed by cropping, I'd take some off the top as well.

The whites are striking, and not blown out but I wonder if a little more could be brought into them, from the raw file. Maybe it's best as presented -- just a thought to try.