Terns In The Mist III

[Randall Farhy]

Another from an overcast day at the Forsythe Reserve, October 2012. For this one, I wanted to create an image with the essence of a light fog starting to lift. The goal was to use OOTB techniques to noticeably alter an image while maintaining a realistic appearance, thus no textures were used.


This was created using Topaz Denoise, Clarity and a BW toned preset (WengeII) blended on separate layers at varying opacity and modes. A black and royal blue gradient layer was then used to lift the bird out of the low contrast BG, then sent to LR5 for minor tweaks, sharps and local brushes on the birds head and feet, then cropped. > PS for an additional layer of adjust for a bit of color infusion and a 5% linear mode layer to tone down the highlights. 55% frame intact (original is landscape orientation).

C&C always welcome and appreciated. (Future possibility for this one is a reflection flip as soon as I learn how.)

[Paul Lagasi]

Another beauty, like the placement in the frame, if anything i might have rotated the bird a bit to HIS right....Well Done

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Randall,

Greetings. The head on shot is, well, right on. I particularly like the color which separates the tern from the bg and the placement in the darker part of the bg. Thanks for posting.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Nancy Bell]

You did a great job on creating a soft, beautifully blended 3-layer bkgd. Add the tern with gracefully arched wings and spread out tail, and in soft grayish/white tones and you have a very lovely, gentle-on-the-mind image.

[Wendy Kates]

What a beautiful background to contrast the tern....very nice use of the gradient.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Randall, finer points have been covered above. Lovely, peaceful view - I love the perspective.

[Anita Bower]

You did a fabulous job making the bird stand out from the beautiful and soft bg. I like the wings up and the head down. I think you achieved your goal of using OOTB techniques to create a realistic looking image. Soft and lovely. What is "BW toned preset (WengeII)?"

[Randall Farhy]

Thanks for the responses everyone, they help!

Paul, I see what you mean-As I was tracking horizontal flight, this one turned in at an angle-ending up at the left side of the frame. I neglected to mention a CW rotation was used to straighten the horizon, I'm afraid leveling the wingtips (if that's your reference) would cause the BG to look tilted :(

Michael, Nancy, Wendy, Cheryl- placement and perspective are the result of using a 6' portable ladder. Because the sky was grey, I chose to go for images with the natural BG. Without the ladder, the horizon would have split the frame in many shots.

Anita- Wenge Dynamic is one of the Presets in the Topaz Labs BW Effects 2 filter pack, in the Vandyke series. (I relabeled my tweaks as "Wenge II") I used it to control tones and enhance the darker area (mid frame) on the BG. I never know where to post images processed like this, here or in the main critique forum.

[Anita Bower]

Thanks for the responses everyone, they help!

Paul, I see what you mean-As I was tracking horizontal flight, this one turned in at an angle-ending up at the left side of the frame. I neglected to mention a CW rotation was used to straighten the horizon, I'm afraid leveling the wingtips (if that's your reference) would cause the BG to look tilted :(

Michael, Nancy, Wendy, Cheryl- placement and perspective are the result of using a 6' portable ladder. Because the sky was grey, I chose to go for images with the natural BG. Without the ladder, the horizon would have split the frame in many shots.

Anita- Wenge Dynamic is one of the Presets in the Topaz Labs BW Effects 2 filter pack, in the Vandyke series. (I relabeled my tweaks as "Wenge II") I used it to control tones and enhance the darker area (mid frame) on the BG. I never know where to post images processed like this, here or in the main critique forum.

Thanks for your response re. wenge dynamic.
Using a ladder is brilliant. I trust you didn't have to carry it far.
You could post in both forums.

[Randall Farhy]

Anita-YW. There's a scenic drive dirt road through this part of the reserve which is wide enough to pull to the side and park. I keep the ladder in the vehicle most of the time as it can be helpful for shooting over natural barriers (tall grasses) fences or for changing perspective. I also noted that the Terns weren't put off at all, they approached closer to my position then when I was standing on the road.

[Anita Bower]

Anita-YW. There's a scenic drive dirt road through this part of the reserve which is wide enough to pull to the side and park. I keep the ladder in the vehicle most of the time as it can be helpful for shooting over natural barriers (tall grasses) fences or for changing perspective. I also noted that the Terns weren't put off at all, they approached closer to my position then when I was standing on the road.

Thanks for the explanation. Good thinking.