One thing kind of led to another in this image, which started out as an image of a cardinal in fall. I first desaturated everything except the cardinal. I then added multiple layers of falling snow using the tutorial here. Then I got the idea to add snow on the branches, and then just for the heck of it I decided to add some on the cardinal. :) Any comments and suggestions would be most appreciated!
12-08-2009, 08:06 AM
denise ippolito
Christopher, The best looking snow I've seen! Thanks for the link. The snow on the branches and bird-How did you create that? It looks very realistic. I think I would take a bit of the snow off the back of the Cardinal if it were mine-but just a bit. Very,very well done!!!
12-08-2009, 09:30 AM
Christopher Miller
1 Attachment(s)
Thanks Denise! Appreciate your input. I'll experiment a bit more with the amount of snow on the cardinal.
To create the snow on the branches and bird, I first selected the areas I wanted to be snow on the branches using the lasso tool. I then made that selection the layer mask for a white fill layer, blurred the layer mask a little, and then made a levels adjustment on the mask so that the edges were sharp but smooth. For the snow on the bird, I just used the brush tool to paint directly on the layer mask, which I found was quicker than using the lasso tool.
I then added the following layer styles to the snow layer: Bevel and Emboss, Bevel and Emboss - Texture, and Pattern Overlay. The image above shows the settings that I used for each. The shadow right around the bird was created by painting on the layer mask for a black fill layer with the snow layer as its clipping mask. I also used another black fill layer to add a little shading around the snow on the bird.
12-08-2009, 10:09 AM
denise ippolito
Christopher, Thankyou very much for sharing this. Much appreciated.Can't wait to give it a try.
12-08-2009, 10:21 AM
Jackie Schuknecht
Good work with the snow Christopher, I never would have guessed, and thanks for the tutorial.
12-08-2009, 05:05 PM
Paul Lagasi
Chris thanks for the snow link...I like the snow on the branch, snow falling, cardinal image...but can't believe cardinal would sit there for so long...:)
12-08-2009, 08:28 PM
Dave Phillips
great work sir.....the snow does seem piled a bit heavy on the cardinal, but it is rendered
with awesome shape/tonality
12-08-2009, 10:44 PM
Christopher Miller
Thanks everyone! Appreciate the comments.
12-09-2009, 08:01 PM
Cheryl Slechta
Christopher, I love the base image and the snow is so well done. Thanks a bunch for the tutorial - I can hardly
wait to practice.
12-09-2009, 09:40 PM
Christopher Miller
Thanks very much, Cheryl! Would love to see what other people can do with my snow technique :)
12-17-2009, 04:39 PM
Craig Markham
This is what can happen if you sit on your branch too long -- Your feet will get stuck, and Christopher will come along and snow on you!:D
I agree with the above comments that the snow on the bird looks a bit "heaped on". A lighter layer or a dusting of the snow would have appeared more "credible".