Terns at Forsythe V

[Randall Farhy]

Another from the October 2012 series. For this one I wanted to capture a warmer feeling with a Southwestern flavor in the tones. 3 Shadowhouse textures and various topaz filters were applied to the base image which was taken on a variable overcast day.

[Wendy Kates]

Randall, the textures are very effective: they produce a subtle, warm glow. Very nice work.

[Nancy Bell]

Beautiful effect with the layers of textures! I agree that the colors have warm southwestern tones. Great capture of the tern twisting in for a dive and having the eye so clear and "eye-catching"!

[Diane Miller]

I love the palette and textures here! Great pose on the bird and the FG is very interesting; I love the lighter area of water in the LL.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Randall, I really like what the textures did on this one. Beautiful background

[Anita Bower]

You have some beautiful Tern photos. I love the pose (?) of the bird. The minimalist bg works perfectly for me. The color of the feet is nicely picked up with the ground (or whatever it is). Excellent texture work. I wonder about making the catch light in the eye just a tad brighter? Excellent image.

[Randall Farhy]

Thanks for your thoughts everyone. Terns are amongst my favorite birds to photograph, this day in October 2012 provided an amazing opportunity as a feeding frenzy was underway. At one point there were 50+ birds in the area and the action seemed non-stop for well over an hour. It's amazing how textures and layer modes can transform a bland gray sky into something more interesting. The foreground is part of the original though of a different color.


Diane- I almost cloned out that area, upon stepping back the FG looked more like a desert so I decided to leave it alone.

Nancy/Anita-The eye's on these are near impossible to get "just right", I'm happy when I can get even a little definition out of them. They always appear black (blowing the exposure out 4+ stop shows that they are actually brown with a darker center.) -Anita-I actually cloned the highlight down a touch while I was working on the bill, perhaps too much :(.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Beautiful pose and lovely earth-tone abstract. I have tried to capture these guys, and boy do I need practice!