BIF #9 - Gannet Over Rough Waters

Totally fabricated image (Thanks Mitch, for inspiration). The Gannet from a trip to Cape May and while crossing on the ferry to Lewes, Delaware... there must have been a thousand of these birds at the back of the boat, feeding on what the propellers were churning up. Well worth the 40 dollars for the round trip..a poor mans pelagic trip.

The water I took on a pelagic trip, not many birds, lots or rain and rough seas :tinysmile_shy_t: the water was rough.

Use Fotosketcher for the frame and Nik's Color Effects to get the colors I wanted....

Thanks for looking

This is a well conceived, well executed image...great job of masking to my eye...beautiful lighting on the gannet...my only comment is that I think the red of the matte around the photo is distracting, but that may just be me. You did a wonderful job with your processing...hope to see more.

Paul, Great idea and image design. I think the grey on the wing edges is a bit too strong IMHO. Beautiful head angle and pose!

Hi Paul, love the creativity. The pose is nice and the rough water works well for this composite.

I agree with all John's comments. Consistent lighting is important in composites, and you did a good job with that. I wonder if one of the water tones or a variation on one of them would work better than the red.

Well done, Paul. I agree with Denise that the grey is a little strong on the wings. I'm conflicted on the matte color, perhaps the bluish-gray that they have on their bills?

Great background. It creates a dark and glowering mood to highlight the gannet against. (Took that ferry year's ago - 20 or so- in early spring and it was a pretty rough crossing. I like ferries. They can be real annoying if you are on a schedule, but they are always an adventure).

I tried to address most of the problems as you saw them...I think its a stronger image now...I tried the bil color and water color samples as matte colors but they fought the image as much as the red...so I took the matte out. Brushed on some of the yellow from the head at 40% opacity to yellow the gray a bit.

Thanks for the input

Paul, I think it does look better:S3:

Paul, nice job on the repost...and Denise was right (good eye!), the touch-up on the wing color makes a surprising difference!