Forsythe Reserve Tern

[Randall Farhy]

It's been a while since I've posted to this forum, though I have been lurking. (The creative muse gave up and went into hiding.) I must say, there have been some creative works posted recently!

The original image was taken on a rather dreary overcast day. I wanted to create something that had a Maxwell Parish feel to it, somewhere along the way it changed direction and took on a darker tone. Topaz Clarity, adjust and Detail blended on multiple layers and modes, one Shadowhouse texture (blujerry), LR5 Tweaks (mainly HSL) and ouput. C&C and suggestions most appreciated.

[Dennis Bishop]

I like what you ended up with after changing direction. The capture of the tern is wonderful; its wings make a very nice, graceful diagonal. It contrasts nicely with the background. I like the background a lot, but -- even though I like how it works with the other colors -- I'd like to see the blue subdued some so my eye didn't keep going there.

[Randall Farhy]

... a Maxwell Parish feel....

Edit-"Maxfield Parrish"....

Thanks Dennis- I do see what you mean, I'll play with it some more. Another thing I want to try is extending the canvas to the left using a flip.

[Nancy Bell]

The watercolor bkgd is very cool! For this image I would consider cropping some of the bottom off having just a bit of the blue and darker greens entering into the image. This puts more emphasis on the graceful tern flying through the image.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Randall, a beautiful image - love the pose of the tern and the background you chose. I'm not sure I'd crop but I would tone down the blue just a bit (a very little bit). Creative muses are funny things, aren't they - one minute you're a creative fireball and the next you've crashed and burned. (I didn't mean you in particular but the generic "you"). It happens to me all the time.

[Randall Farhy]

Nancy/ Cheryl- Thanks a bunch, I'd really like to learn how to use the simplify/clean more effectively. Here's a cropped version along with toned down blues and a flatter tone curve. I hesitate to crop this tight as the image is now just below 50% of the original, I also prefer to leave some space around the bird. Creativity-I'm not sure if it's a mindset or something that's affected by the phase of the moon, but there is an on/off switch in there somewhere.

[Diane Miller]

I think creativity is affected most by the leisure time available. Get busy and it's gone. I've been lurking here (and everywhere else) with too much busy stuff, but don't ask me what I've been accomplishing -- wheel spinning, mostly. But I have to start commenting on a few, and might even post one just to get my money's worth.

I really like the bottom of the frame in the OP -- it's nicely grounded by what looks like abstract trees. But the blue could be darkened. Would be nice if "one of the trees" could be carried over to the right corner.

The BG is wonderful and the bird has a great pose. Love it! More on the left would be good. A good candidate for a flip, with any obvious symmetries cloned out.

[Christopher Miller]

Very nice, Dennis! The pose of the tern is so beautiful and graceful. I love the colorful texture in the BG. I really like the cropped version.

[Anita Bower]

Wonderful feel to this image. I can almost feel myself gliding through the air with the graceful Tern. The bird's position in the frame is excellent. I like the uncropped version slightly better. The background is beautiful, and though bright, does not overpower the tern. The orange feet (?) are a nice touch. Like others, the blue corner distracts me. I also wonder about adding just a touch of brightness to the eye. I did a quick cloning job to eliminate the blue area, and brighted the eye a bit.
Re. creative muse--one just needs to keep plodding on.

[Randall Farhy]

Thanks Anita, you did a wonderful job with the eye and making the large clones blend in-something I'm still wrestling with. The eyes on Terns are problematic, I know some photographers will clone dark ones with those from another shot. The next time I make a session with them I will use flash with a Better Beamer to (hopefully) obtain better results in camera. When I re-do this image I will keep this in mind and remove the gray outline that is an artifact from removing a chromatic aberration.

[Diane Miller]

I love Anita's RP -- she planted the "trees" just right!

[Mitch Carucci]

Isn't it great when we can take an image that would have been discarded and make something of it. This is great. Bright with beautiful background texture and colors. The flight angle is just right. A very appealing image.