Mottled Ducks transported.

[Bill Dix]

Not very far OOTB, but too much to post on Avian.

Back in January, my wife and I noticed some unfamiliar ducks in Harns Marsh in SW Florida - familiar as Mottled Ducks to you Florida folks, but not to us. They were too far away to photograph, although I did get some shots of a Sandhill Crane looking out over his habitat.

A few days later I was standing hip-deep in Tampa Bay with Capt. James, waiting in the fading light for the spoonies to land on the mudflats. A pair of ducks flew over, and I reactively cranked the ISO to 2500 and grabbed a quick shot. I forgot about it for 6 months, since I didn't like the hazy white bg of the image.

I came across it the other day, and remembered the Harns Marsh habitat, thinking how the ducks might look nice there. Picking one of the Sandhill Crane images, I deleted the crane, introduced the ducks, and applied just a hint of Palette Knife filter. It might have looked interesting with the Oil Paint filter if I had been able to find such a thing in CS5. As an infrequent OOTB visitor, I'm curious to know how this resonates.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Bill, I think it's a lovely image and think you did a great job with the merger. I love the bands of soft color in the background. You can go to the Adobe website and download Pixel Bender for free - it has an Oil Paint filter that seems to be pretty similar to the Oil Paint filter in CS6. I assume they still have the plug-in - I downloaded mine before CS6 was introduced. Thanks for sharing

[Judy Howle]

I think you did a great job with the composite! I like the background and it works well with the ducks.

[John Storjohann]

Bill, I echo Cheryl's sentiments about the background...it adds a wonderful sense of depth, and the splash of blue from the water compliments the lines from the foreground and the subtle tones of the behind the water. Love the position of the wings...nicely done composite image.

[denise ippolito]

Bill, Nice work with the composite. I love the softness and colors of the background. Also nice to get one up and one down on the wing strokes. I might evict the dark smudge in the background right center if it were mine. Welcome to OOTB and beautiful first post. I hope we see more from you. Cheryl is right about PB. Here is the link. http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/pixelbenderplugin.html

[Bill Dix]

Thanks everyone for the comments. Particular thanks to Cheryl and Denise for the Pixel Bender tip. Here's a repost with just a modest application of the Oil Paint filter. I'll need to experiment some to get more familiar with PB.

[denise ippolito]

Bill, It is nice too but I really love the softness of the original background. Have fun with PB and post here more often!

[Bill Dix]

Bill, It is nice too but I really love the softness of the original background. Have fun with PB and post here more often!

Thanks Denise. I agree, but thought it was worth a try.

[Paul Lagasi]

I like the original, also...sometimes images shot from the hip (in a hurry with no time to think) are the best. I like the position of the birds and the composition, well done Bill

[Indranil Sircar]

Bill, very nice composition. I too like the softness of the original. Thanks for sharing!