Dreaming of Flight

Hello to everyone,

It has been a while since I've posted an image at BFN and I've let my membership lapse. After being inspired by some of Denise's recent work I thought I'd try participating in the forums once again.

The following image was taken in June of 2006 at a remote location in the hills of Berkshire County, Massachusetts. I stumbled upon a Heron Rookery during one of my hikes and then returned many times to try and capture some images. The nests were located about 30 feet high in dead trees located in the middle of a pond. I was shooting from within a camouflaged tent on the shoreline about 40 feet from the base of the tree holding the nest.

Equipment:
Olympus E-1
Takahashi FC60 500mm, f8 Refractor (1000mm equivalent with the E-1)
1/1600 sec
iso 800
tripod
cable release

The post processing used in this image was an experiment using Fractalius where the Fractalius layer was blended with the original shot at about 50% opacity. Then a layer mask was used to bring out more detail in the eye. Denise's fine tutorial on Fractalius helped a great deal in this experiment.

The image was cropped a bit and a large branch in front of the bird was cloned out.

Looking forward to any thoughts, comments or critiques.

Richard

http://www.richardlovison.com/photos...experiment.jpg
Copyright reserved 2006-2011, Richard Lovison

Richard, It's nice to see you posting again. I love the Fractalius filter and you really did a great job blending the filter w/ the details. I might add a touch of canvas to the top if it were mine. Interesting perch and nest!! Welcome back:)

PS-Thank you for the very kind words...

Hi Richard, Beautiful image, and perfect use of the fractalius filter! I love the pose. I kind of wish you had been just a little more to the left so that the bird wasn't merging with the tree, but that's not a big deal.

Yeah, Denise will do that to you.... This one took my breath away with its beauty. I could go for a bit more room on the left and a bit of a crop from the bottom. And I think that the loverly look could be improved by lightening the midtones a bit. The nest, the tree, and the pose are all wonderful and the effect was added perfectly; I just love the look that you came up with.

Hi Richard, very nice work. Love the effect here! Agree with a little more room on the left.

Richard, a superb fractalius! I love the pose and the effect. I hope we see more of your work:)

Thanks to everyone for your warm welcome, kind words, comments and suggestions. I'm going to spend some time later today bringing up the mid-tones and trying the crops suggested. As fate would have it, I have more room in the original image available to the right than the left though I can easily clone more space to the left.

Artie... your critique meant more to me than you probably know. Thanks for taking the time to look at my work.


Richard

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Richard Lovison

Artie... your critique meant more to me than you probably know. Thanks for taking the time to look at my work. Richard

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YAW. It is good to have you back. Do you remember which FRACT pre-set you started with?

As for "fate," it would have been best to compose this in camera with more room in front of the bird.... As I say often on my IPTs, "Nobody gives a rat's *** what happening behind the bird...." :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Arthur Morris

YAW. It is good to have you back. Do you remember which FRACT pre-set you started with?

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Thanks. :)
Yes, Impression 1 with the following settings:

First set

Sharpness 11
Line Width 25
Radius 69
Diffusion -05
Depth 13

Second Set

Sharpness 18
Line Width 10
Radius 27
Diffusion 08
Depth 02

Brightness -26
Saturation -10
Scale 25

I believe these were the settings Denise recommended in her tutorial.

The opacity was somewhere around 50% and then I had to lighten up the shadows using the Shadow/Highlight function in CS2.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Arthur Morris

As for "fate," it would have been best to compose this in camera with more room in front of the bird.... As I say often on my IPTs, "Nobody gives a rat's *** what happening behind the bird...." :)

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I agree Artie, especially with a camera body that only had a 5 megapixel sensor that left limited options for cropping. The original shot had the main tree trunk just right of center... not the best composition.

Richard

Here is a re-make with Artie's suggestions applied. Next time I'll make a better composition in-camera. :)
I like the brighter mid-tones though this attempt at cloning the left side doesn't work for me. The greenish blob becomes a distraction.

Attachment 86208
copyright reserved 2006-2011, Richard Lovison

Thanks for the Impressions 1 info. The repost is even better. Again, this one floats my boat. I love that the nest is so different from the Brazilian pepper nests at the Venice Rookery.