Coot Chick Pair

Took this back in April at the local lake. Loved the wild feathers and coloring and watching their sweet interactions. Both ugly and cute at the same time, if that's possible! :bg3:
CS5, darkened BG and FG, PB Oil, and smart sharpening.

Brendan, all I can say is wow! I have never seen a chick other than the ones you posted earlier. I really like the composition with the posture and those popping eyes. The colors and the feathers are wild and so is the effect. Excellent work!

Woooooahh! That's so cool. Love the head positions, great eye contact and the posing is wonderful. The processing, is, what can I say, over the top! PB works so well with the rumpled feathers of the chicks..........Excellent!

I also love the look! I would suggest trying to bring out as much detail in the eye of the chick on the left as the chick on the right. The left one's eye looks a little soft and less interesting than the other eye...maybe a fake catch light would do it? Love the rest, though!!!

Wow, Brendan! The colors and processing are very eye-catching! The chicks look so cute snuggled together like that. :S3: Only thing I would change would be to bring out some more detail in the left one's eye as Jules mentioned. Well done!

Thanks very much you guys!
Jules & Chris, I agree about the eye - Here's the repost:

Brendan, This is better than the huge-crop post in Avian but only by 10,000 times. Educate me; what is PB Oil? The effect here is just luscious.

Marvelous processing! Great original capture and the PB effect is perfect to make the feathers stand out!

Well done Brendan, I like everything about the image! Lots of impact!!

Thanks very much, Artie, Judy, & Dave!

Artie, Pixel Bender (PB) is a free Photoshop filter plug-in you can download from Adobe Labs.
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/pixelbenderplugin/
It has a variety of different settings to allow you to distort & transform images.
The "Oil" setting (PB Oil) is what I used here, and is very popular at the OOTB forum. As with Topaz and other filters, just move the sliders around until you get the desired effect and look you want.

I touched up a few more spots I saw in the BG:

Repost looks great, Brendan. Nice work! :S3:

Thanks Brendan, I gotta get one at that price!

Thanks Christopher!

Artie, enjoy PB and enjoy your trip!

Brendan, this is fantastic. The repost is perfect. I've never seen coot chicks - they're amazing little critters:S3:

Thanks, Cheryl! I had never seen coot chicks before either. Real special to see them in person, making their little peeps, and tiny little wing flaps, while mama was busy trying to feed them all. :S3:

Brendan, Nice job with the filtering and the original capture! The repost looks great.:S3:

Brendan, a little late to the party, but this one is killer. My favorite of your PB images so far!:S3:

Thanks very much, Denise & Andrew! :S3: