Into the Light

[Bob Miller]

Just starting to play with compositing....a sunset and a blurred wing bird photo ......with refine edge... and used Color efex color range.
All comments welcome! Size and position of bird?

[Jay Sheinfield]

Bob, I really like the concept here. The bird feels a bit large, especially in a vertical frame. I might try reducing its size and nudge to the right, just to see how that looks. There is some halo around the wings that you might consider working on. Love the sky...........Good for you, trying out this stuff. Makes we want to give it a try.

[Mitch Carucci]

Bob,
Very dramatic! I do see Jay's point. Perhaps a little more area around the bird, with the bird pushed a bit to the right. It would be easy to stretch the background, and leave the bird the same size. But also like it as it is.

M.

[Paul Lagasi]

Bob, agree with above comments, wish the bird was a bit smaller. Sky is great, keep working on this one and you'll have a winner.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Bob, this has a lot of potential - I really like the sky and the drama. I might crop a little off the bottom and reduce the size of the bird a little. :S3:

[John Storjohann]

Hey, Bob, looking good...the sky is fantastic. With the large dark column of clouds on the left, I'd make the bird smaller...and position it beneath the bit of dark cloud on the RHS...but above the bright spot in the frame on that side. I'd be tempted to take a bit off the top as well (as Cheryl mentioned), to just above the bank of clouds. It won't take much to put this over the top!

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Bob, composite work is fairly difficult and it takes some practice to get really good at it. I think you've done a good job with this one and agree with comments above. If the bird were an eagle or turkey vulture, it might make sense to be that big in the frame, but the bird geek in me thinks that this small bird (finch?) looks our of proportion to the rest of the scene. I would also suggest removing the cyan color cast from the bird so that it matches the colors and tones of the bg.

[denise ippolito]

Bob, Nice first attempt! I agree w/ the above comments. I wonder if you have more orange sky if you darken the bird a silhouette look might work too.:S3:

[Bob Miller]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and comments ! In this repost I have made the bird smaller and took Kerry's suggestion to have the bird blend more with the bg so I used Color Efex warmth and brilliance on the bird layer instead of Color Range Contrast That gave the bird the cyan color. What do you think?

[Bob Miller]

Sorry here is the repost!

[Arthur Morris]

A cool image and a good try but the lighting does not make sense to my brain.... A SILH as suggested by Denise makes sense.

How did you capture the flight image?

[Bob Miller]

Artie.....I can see what you are saying...a sillouette would make the most sense lighting wise....so i tried it! What do you think?
Denise- Thanks for the suggestion!
The flight image
Nikon D-300
1/1000 sec at f9
ISO 800
200-400mm @ at 340mm

[denise ippolito]

Bob, I like this one best. The size of the bird looks better and the darker bird seems more natural. I might try to clean up the wing tip on the left just a hair more if it were mine.:S3: I wish my first composite image came out this good!

[Arthur Morris]

I like it much better and it makes sense to my brain. And I love the light coming through the wings. Way cool. But the idea was Lady D's.