Grungy Green-Winged Teal

[Cynthia Thayer]

This a shot I took yesterday. I loved the original, but, being creative, I decided to run it through the Fractalius filter and then Topaz Adjust. Finally, I added a texture. I would love to get some feedback on this. Does it have a grungy feel to it? Any suggestions for improvement?:bg3:

[Indranil Sircar]

Hi Cynthia, a warm welcome to OOTB! You have captured beautiful colors of the teal. I like the details too. As far as grunge, you are in the right track and I would push it even further in Topaz Adjust, if it were mine. That will allow the bg texture to come out more and reduce the impact of the color transition in the water. I would also suggest taking bit off the lower edge. Excellent processing and TFS! Looking forward to more.

[Cynthia Thayer]

Thanks for your thoughts. I'll give your suggestions a try :)

[Steve Adkins]

I like what you are doing, Cynthia. Great processing, comp and the feather detail contrasts with the soft ripples nicely. I agree with Indranil that the color/water transition is pretty sharp, but my first impression was that the duck was swimming off the watercolor paper. Sort of cool and surreal! :S3:

[Anita Bower]

Lovely capture. I love the colors--the warm colors of the duck work well against the cooler colors of the water. Nice placement of the duck in the frame. Did you remove some of the texture from some areas such as just below the reflection of the duck's head? The water looks smoother there. I like the silky look of the water behind the duck. Glad you posted!

[John Storjohann]

Beautiful image, Cynthia. My only suggestion would be to tone down the highlights just a bit...it might help with the gradations in the water and it would bring back just a bit more detail in the lighter areas of the head....overall, though, I really like the processing that was done here.

[denise ippolito]

Cynthia, Nice to see you posting in OOTB. I hope you share some of your awesome Fracts with the group. I like the painterly feel. It has a slight grunge look to it. My preference would be for a little off the bootom to bring the bird down in the frame a bit but that is just a matter of preference. Lovely work!

[Brendan Dozier]

This very nice, Cynthia. I too like how it looks as if the duck was swimming off the page. Great as is, but also like the suggestions made as different options. Nice work!

[Cynthia Thayer]

Thanks Denise :) I finally did it. I will be participating more. I would be thrilled to share some of my Fractalius images. I can't wait to get input from this group. Thanks for your comments on my image.

[Cynthia Thayer]

Wow, all great comments. Thank you everyone. :wave: