Cardinal Card

I've created another bird card. After adjusting as well as I could in Lightroom, I used several filters including Topaz Clean, Clarity and Adjust. In between Clarity and Adjust I used SnapArt Oil Paint. Thought it was too unsharp so I used Adjust and brought back a lot of detail and sharpness with sort of an illustrated look. I like this version and think it might print well on matte.

Another big retouch was that his topknot was flat and I cloned a standing one from another bird and plopped it on his head, transformed it and used a layer mask to blend and a bit of cloning. It looks natural to me, how does it look to you?

(I would have preferred to crop some off of the top but need it to be 4 x 6 to fit on the card.) I might consider a painted-on vignette mostly on top or just darkening the top with leaf.

I think this will make a beautiful card! Wonderful composition. The Cardinal is looking in just the right direction. I like the diagonal lines of the branch and the bird. The top doesn't bother me, but, I wonder if you would prefer it if that top partial leaf were cropped out. The leaves in front of the Cardinal seem to be sharper than the Cardinal, making them just a tad distracting.
What type of printer do you use? Do you only print cards or larger prints also? I haven't ventured into printing, but it would be nice to be able to print cards.

Thanks Anita! The cardinal was sharp also, but the filter work removed some feather detail. His eye was very sharp. I wanted it a bit painterly to have the same look as the hummer. I also think that the camera didn't resolve as much detail in the feathers as it did in the eye and edges. It was made before I got the 7D which has a lot more detail than the previous models I owned. I might try cloning out the leaf.

I have an older Epson 580 printer/all in one that uses Claria archival inks. I print cards on Red River 5 x 7 matte card stock and I also print 8 x 10s and 7 x 10s. I have 6 photos in a show at the Arts Center now that goes through Dec., matted to fit 11 x 14 frames.

The colors of the leaves are wonderful with those of the cardinal and the background. The pose is great, too, and I would've had no idea you replaced the topnotch. Your thought about the top of the image has some merit, but probably isn't worth a lot of extra work. I'd be more inclined to crop a bit from the right and add some to the left to move the cardinal away from the vertical center. It does look fine as-is, however.

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Originally Posted by Judy Howle

Thanks Anita! The cardinal was sharp also, but the filter work removed some feather detail. His eye was very sharp. I wanted it a bit painterly to have the same look as the hummer. I also think that the camera didn't resolve as much detail in the feathers as it did in the eye and edges. It was made before I got the 7D which has a lot more detail than the previous models I owned. I might try cloning out the leaf.

I have an older Epson 580 printer/all in one that uses Claria archival inks. I print cards on Red River 5 x 7 matte card stock and I also print 8 x 10s and 7 x 10s. I have 6 photos in a show at the Arts Center now that goes through Dec., matted to fit 11 x 14 frames.

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Congratulations in having 6 photos in a show. What fun. Thanks for the info re. printer.

This is just gorgeous!! It might be nice to have a little more room all around so the leaves weren't quite so crowded, but that's a small issue. I have been trying to train myself to leave a little more room than I think I'll need, and not do the final crop till most of the processing is done.

My only suggestion might be to try a gradient burn from the UL corner, and maybe darken the leaf that exits the top of the frame.

For anyone looking at printers, the Epson 2000 is the one I'd look at right now, if 13 x 19 is big enough. If 17 x 22 is more appealing, the Epson 3880 is wonderful. Both can go larger with panoramic layouts, but you'll have to cut roll paper. The advantage of these printers is that they offer the best color management and paper profiles, although I can't quantify how much better they are -- that's largely a matter of what you're happy with.

Canon has some nice printers that are becoming more widely accepted for fine art printing, but I don't have experience with any of them.

Thanks Diane. I know it's too tight but I cropped it to remove leaves and branches I didn't want to include and I have already cloned out some things at this size. 4 x 6 was not optimal for the photo and I didn't want to spend a lot more time on it. I'm not expecting to sell a lot of cards as our arts center doesn't get much traffic or have many sales (small town in Mississippi and little interest in art or photography), unfortunately. I hope average people looking to purchase the cards won't be too picky! I might try selling some to friends like on Facebook. I have a few local friends who have been bugging me to do some bird and flower cards. :S3:

I think it will make a great card Judy. The colour of the bird looks spot on. Never would of guessed that you added on the top feathers. Great post work.

I don't think I said what a good job you did on the crest -- I never would have known! Frustrating about art in small towns, but in big ones you're competing with the artistic equivalent of the demented high-fashion industry.

Thanks again Diane! I have so many cardinal photos I thought I might find one that would work. None of them have as nice a setting as this one with the colorful leaves, just bare branches and sky mainly.

Yes it is frustrating. If I sell one photo in an exhibit I am happy; more than one, overjoyed.

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Originally Posted by Diane Miller

I don't think I said what a good job you did on the crest -- I never would have known! Frustrating about art in small towns, but in big ones you're competing with the artistic equivalent of the demented high-fashion industry.

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Beautiful photo, Judy! I love the bright colors and sharp detail. I never would have guessed you changed the crest.

I know what you mean about art in small towns. I used to sell photo notecards at our local farmers' market. Quite a few people would look at them but very few would actually buy one, and selling more than one was cause for celebration.

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Originally Posted by Judy Howle

I have an older Epson 580 printer/all in one that uses Claria archival inks. I print cards on Red River 5 x 7 matte card stock and I also print 8 x 10s and 7 x 10s. I have 6 photos in a show at the Arts Center now that goes through Dec., matted to fit 11 x 14 frames.

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I'd like to buy a printer for printing cards, but I know nothing about printers. I have seen some Epson 580 printers on sale on eBay. Would you recommend that printer? Or, do you know of another printer that you would recommend?

For cards and most printing uses, an 8.5 x 11 printer is much less expensive than the higher end printers that are now (at least for Epson) in 13" wide minimum sizes. I haven't kept up with those models, but I wouldn't buy anything with moving or electronic parts on eBay. There are just too many ripoffs around. It's become almost impossible to get anything that works on the legit market.