Cardinal @ 30,000 feet

[Mitch Carucci]

Just remask & simplify.

[Paul Lagasi]

Very nice, what's not to like. Cardinal is captured well with wings both down and head is slightly turned our way....Nice work

[Nancy Bell]

Migration can be tough!

[Bob Miller]

Mitch...I like the concept and the blurred wing is super! You might consider lightening the clouds just a touch! TFS

[Clyde Hopper]

Hi Mitch , I have really enjoyed your work posted on here . One Question , Do you make a color cast of the Bgs and place it over the subjects when doing your composites ? If this doesn't make sense I will elaborate..........

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Mitch, cardinals are feeding babies all over my place and they are one of my favorite birds. This looks like a happy one

[Anita Bower]

That is one amazing cardinal. Glorious colors. This image has your signature style.

[Mitch Carucci]

Love your quip. Gave me a smile.

M.

[Mitch Carucci]

Clyde,

Thanks for the question. This was a real simple composite. I just masked the cardinal (it was one of those shots where the bird was almost out of the frame. A micro-second later and I would have lost the beak), and placed it in front of a cloud pic taken from the air. I then ran topaz simplify on the cloud layer and in addition to simplifying, I played with the color in the editor. I then ran simplify again on the layer with the cardinal with different settings, and did some blending.

Please elaborate on making a color cast. I'm always interested in learning new techniques!

M.

[Mitch Carucci]

Thanks Paul, Nancy, Bob, Clyde, Cheryl, and Anita!

[Clyde Hopper]

Mitch, The technique is used to fool the eye , Lets say you are at the point where you have 3 layers . Bottom layer is the Bg ,in your case the clouds. next layer up will be the subject layer with a layer mask ,third layer ,the composite layer . Here is where we start . Make a selection copy of the subject by Control Clicking the layer mask . then click on the Bg layer, make a copy (New layer Via copy) =(Ctrl+J). next we need to move that new layer to the top . Your composite will now look like the original Bg layer, except the marching ants , resembles your subject . Now change the blend mode to color and lower the opacity WAY down (20 or so ) this will cause the subject to have a similar look to the Bg kind of like a color cast . In some cases , before changing the blend mode I will also go to ..Filter>blur> Average ,Then change the blend mode to color, and lower the opacity . Hope this helps ,It's a deferent method to play with anyway . If for some reason this doesn't make sense I can look up the youtube tut and send /post the link.