Badlands Muley Watercolor

I have a tendency to hang on to horribly OOF, blurred, or otherwise stunning examples of my generally not being on the ball, IF they have some redeeming feature. This usually results in me trying to mess with them in PS or some other program (Paint, for one) to try and salvage something from the moment.
This Mule Deer buck was one of a pair I happened across well before dawn last September at Badlands National Park in SD. Of course I shot first and asked questions later....specifically shutter speed and ISO setting.

I cropped it to one animal, jacked up the exposure, hit it with the watercolor filter a couple of times, and then added a texture layer of washed wc paper set to soft light mode. I created a white layer beneath and then using a mask, removed some of the image layer with a watercolor brush around the edges. Then I stuck my big pretentious artsy sig on it and flattened it.

I kinda like it, but I'm admittedly weird.

John, Where have you been hiding? We need more images like this to inspire us.Great job w/ the post processing.Very nice soft watercolored look. Just lovely. PS-I like your big artsy sig. it adds to the painted look.

Thanks for the kind words, Denise! I've been lurking for months, waiting to strike....;)

John, Nice pose and capture. I like the soft water colored look too. The colors are very nice.This has an "out west " look to it. Great work.

This one looks a bit overdone to me (as far as the watercolor effect). What's up with the right side of the animal's neck??? I do like the framing/crop.

John, welcome to OOTB! I like the water color effect and appreciate your workflow. Nice work:)

Hi John, Lovely piece of work! Beautiful colors and watercolor effect. There's a spot on the deer's back where it appears to merge with the BG that I would fix, and might want to add a catchlight in the eyes. Relatively minor points. Well done!

Beautiful image and composition. I like the watercolor effect. TFS.

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Originally Posted by Arthur Morris

This one looks a bit overdone to me (as far as the watercolor effect). What's up with the right side of the animal's neck??? I do like the framing/crop.

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I think that is just the white ruff on the mule deers throat.

I love the end product, it sounds like it was a lot of work. The finish texture is very pretty.

I like the pastel palette and the placement of the buck in the frame. I think a bit of an outline would delineate the edge of the neck a bit more. Lovely BG.

Like it as presented...thanks for sharing. John, I'm a sucker for deer. I'd definitely work on this one a bit more, to get the most out of it. Try different techniques and effects, play with the sliders.

p.s. Try downloading fotosketcher, a free program..you can do oils, watercolors and sketches... http://www.fotosketcher.com/download.htm