The Tango

I can't seem to stop fracting. I added the glow 100 to these two and then masked back in the eyes. I have two versions. The orig. and the 2nd one w/ a bit more canvas all around-Please let me know which you prefer.:)Thanks.

Or this one #2

Denise, I like the second top and the first bottom:) And I love the title and the fract. work.

This is beautiful, Denise. I like the second one.

Ditto what Cheryl said. I like the room at the top on the second one, but some of the good stuff at the bottom is cut off on the second one. Great job on the fracting. Beautiful image!

You know if you're calling it The Tango, you have to put a rose in one of those bills. :D

Thanks guys for the help! Much appreciated.
Patti, A rose would be a cool idea.:)

I like the first one. I love the eyes. Great piece of art. The image lends itself nicely to this filter.

I like the second one. This is one of those images that changes after you look at for a few minutes. Look at the eye on the right, initially (IMO) it looks distorted, then the head sort of comes into shape. Not sure if you intended to do this but I really like that effect.

Thanks guys. I appreciate it.:)

Very cool image

William, Thank you very much. Did you have an opinion as to which one you preferred more? I can use all the help I can get deciding on this one.:)

Vote for the second, very romantic image D. Really like it.

Thanks Jackie, I appreciate it.:)

I definitely like the repost better but also wonder what it would look like with only their necks - no lower feathers at all? I feel the feathers are so cut off that they aren't really necessary as the eyes and beaks command all the attention here. The interaction between the two herons is beautiful!

I like both equally. Most of the time I start with a 16bit saved image, and convert to 8bit to apply Fractalius(I wish it was a 16bit app). Then convert back to 16 bit and use the history brush, with soft edges, on the parts in the original I still want. There won't be any sharp mask edges, regards~Bill

Bill, Thanks. I appreciate the feedback. I was told that once you convert to 8bit going back to 16bit does not provide any advantages. I have been thinking about this: duplicating my images and changing only one layer to 8bit applying the filter and masking back in from the 16bit layer. If this doesn't sound right let me know. Also I never tried using the history brush w/ soft edges on parts of the original but I will give it a try, it sounds like a great idea. :)

Jules, Thanks for the input.I appreciate it.

denise. The only problem is that when I have to convert to 8bit, due to different bit depth, the history brush wont work. Thats the only reason I go back to 16bit, so it works again. Other than that there is no advantage at all. If you start with an 8bit base image, there is no problem, but you have less digital information than the original 16bit (dynamic range, etc.) to work with. I wasn't aware different layers can have different bit depths--I didn't think so. In any case I try to do everything in 16bit, if possible.
I thought I might add the workflow I've been using. The 16 base image isopened, touched up, perhaps use Topaz Detail, etc. Then saved. This open image is converted to 8bit, Fractalius applied, convert back to 16 bit, history brush usedon eyes, etc., then saved with Frax added to same name as the base. Then I open the base back again, I have two images, Base and Frax. The Frax image has layer duped, then slid over on top of the base image, basically cut and paste, The frax is the upper layer now, the base image the bottom. Then opacity, merge, etc is performed. regards~Bill

regards~Bill

Bill, Now I understand what you were saying. You only convert it back so the history brush works. I wish all the filters would work w/ 16 bit. I'm not sure about the different bit modes on different layers but I will try to find out. Thanks for getting back to me.

Bill, I am doing something very similar when I feel the image will benefit from the 16 bit. Thanks for sharing your workflow.