Terns At Forsythe IV

Another from the Forsythe Reserve in Brigantine NJ, October 2012. This is among my favorite poses for Terns in flight. The original file shows the bird close to the bottom and left of frame requiring canvas extension in both directions.

This started out as a simple experiment to improve my skill set and turned into an all out filter, texture, mode and layers binge-too many to list. A majority of the work was done in PS, LR5 used only for clarity pop and the export file. C&C always welcome and appreciated.

I really like the lines of the bird Randall as it plunges downward. The texture and split background works extremely well. This one is a prime candidate for cover art and I can easily see it in a childrens book about shorebirds.

Very nice Randall! Great capture of the tern! I wish I lived closer to the Gulf Coast so I could photograph all the birds and beaches there.

Hi, Randall, all the work you put into this really paid off. I agree with Rob - I can see this as a cover on a children's book. There is a slight halo around parts of the top wing - very slight.
I love the pose and the texture effects on the water. Nice one:S3:

I love the pencil-sketch look here, obviously done with much more sophistication than a canned filter.

The coloration giving a plunge into the water effect is great! What would you think about masking the blue off the wing? Or would that be too obvious and lose some of the artistic quality? I'm undecided....

This is so very creative & well done! Great execution of all the layers, filters, textures, and so on. It has a lithographic quality that I really like. Maybe it is the rough textures coming through, especially the blacks in the blue layer and on the tern. Just a tiny thing, that heaviest bit of black right on the left edge at the border of the blue & pale layer. It pulls my eye away from the bird as I follow the dramatic plunge. Maybe just extend the blur that is next to it, so there is just a gentle flow of color that goes out to the edge. Well chosen & effective palette of limited colors.

Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting. This style is something that I would like to develop further as I've always been drawn to pencil sketches and watercolors, thanks to this forum I've been learning how to achieve some of these effects.

Rob, Judy- much appreciated. Rob, I'm really enjoying your Harlequin series-you have some nice captures there! I'm hoping to spend more time closer to the water in the hours before work, the weekends tend to be crowded in some spots.

Cheryl, Missed the Halo, easily fixed via clone tracing, I will address this and re-post it.

Diane, I'll give it a go though I'd have to start from the grayscale version as the Orange and Blue gradients do not overlap in that area. A mask would take the lower wing back to greyscale. Perhaps a light pass with a desaturation sponge?

Nancy, I do see what you mean about that left edge-I'll work on that as well for the re-post.

Great pose on the tern and lovely texture work. Really well done.

Nice work Randall, I really like the pose, action, and texture work. Good comments above, and I think the sponge tool would be your best bet for the wing area. You might need to dodge the midtones a bit after that too. Well done!