Bosque Dawn

[Cheryl Slechta]

This is an image that was almost sepia when I took it and had an interesting texture effect straight out of the camera. I wanted to enhance that so I duplicated the layer and used hard light blending mode at about 50% then used a texture blended at 100% overlay opacity and 50% fill to get the look I was after.

[Dennis Bishop]

Super composition, and I like the tones and textures. Nice layers, too. It's nice that the browns pretty much end at the bottom of the flock and there's a lone one below it.

I recall your reducing the fill in other images, and I know that doing that works well with certain blend modes. I should revisit that.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Thanks, Dennis. I don't know why reducing the fill works on some images and has no effect on others but I always play around with it to see what will happen

[Nancy Bell]

Lovely layers. I like how the near-blinding golden light of the foreground continues in patches into the next layer. Wonderful composition with that single crane and his complete shadow. Also nice that you can see a hint of color and shapes in the far tree line.

[Judy Howle]

Very nice image Cheryl! I love the brown tones and the glowing look.

BTW, I watched the live blend modes course at creativelive dot com recently and Lesa Snider told which blend modes work with fill and which don't. When I have time to go over my notes I'll send you a PM and if you or other moderators want to post that as a sticky it might be helpful. She really had some great creative uses for blend modes. I had no idea for some of the uses!

Thanks, Dennis. I don't know why reducing the fill works on some images and has no effect on others but I always play around with it to see what will happen

[Steve Adkins]

Love the coffee flavored tones and silhouettes, Cheryl. Intriguing blend/fill work. Bosque looks like the "land of photo opportunities".
.... just found this about blend modes :http://photoblogstop.com/photoshop/p...odes-explained
1/3 down the page, it shows which "special 8" blends are affected by fill %. Thanks for the heads up, Judy!

[denise ippolito]

Cheryl, the textures are sweet! I like the layers of light and could also see this as a pano with the top dark area cropped off-either way it's lovely.

[Maureen Allen]

Lovely image, Cheryl. Beautiful tones. I think if it were mine, I'd crop a bit off the top as Denise suggests.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Thanks, Judy for the information. I knew it didn't always work but didn't know why. Send me a PM if you have time and I'll post a sticky.

Very nice image Cheryl! I love the brown tones and the glowing look.

BTW, I watched the live blend modes course at creativelive dot com recently and Lesa Snider told which blend modes work with fill and which don't. When I have time to go over my notes I'll send you a PM and if you or other moderators want to post that as a sticky it might be helpful. She really had some great creative uses for blend modes. I had no idea for some of the uses!

[Cheryl Slechta]

Thanks, Denise and Maureen, I like it in a pano crop also

[Jay Sheinfield]

Great layers of color and light. Well controlled! The lone foreground bird make shot work well.

[Judy Howle]

Thanks, Judy for the information. I knew it didn't always work but didn't know why. Send me a PM if you have time and I'll post a sticky.

OK, I'll try to do it soon.

[Anita Bower]

You did an excellent job of capturing strong light without it being too bright. The bird in the foreground is perfectly positioned. The layers of color are lovely. That they have texture adds interest. Beautifully done! I would crop the dark top as I find it distracts me from the beauty of this image.