Kissing Under the Moon

[Wendy Kates]

This image is a composite of Anhingas perched at sunset, and the full moon, which rose just before the sunset (but two days earlier than I took the Anhinga photo). I combined them with a lot of layering, masking, etc. Then I converted it into black and white, using an underexposed preset in Nik Silver Efex Pro. Does this look totally unrealistic? And even if it does, does it matter? Be honest! My husband doesn't really like it, but then, he isn't an OOTB person...plus he is concentrating seriously on the Superbowl! Critiques welcome!

[Paul Lagasi]

I like it, maybe a slight rotation right is needed or am I just bent out of shape that the Patriots won....love the crossed swords over the moon....

[Dennis Bishop]

Great idea and execution. I really like it. And it looks realistic to me. The underexposure preset worked very convincingly while leaving a good amount of detail.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Wendy, I thought the same as Paul when I saw the thumbnail - I think you could do a very slight clockwise rotation. Very creative

[Nancy Bell]

Hey, never interfere with a serious Super Bowl watcher ! That ending belongs on the RidicuList of Anderson Cooper! But, back to the image... I agree with the great juxtaposition of the crossed bills in front of the moon! I also agree with the slight rotation needed. I like the dark underexposure of the birds as silhouettes with the brighter moon. I do see the thin bright edges around the birds where you masked them. You might take a dark brush to remove that.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Neat effect Wendy. Did you use a texture for the BG? I am seeing something funky around the moon in places. I would love to see detail from the cormy on the right, and the tail (if you have it).

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Wendy,

Greetings. I like the composition and the idea. Not totally unrealistic. But where the light comes from is an unanswered question (such as the bright highlights on the right while none on the left) it's a subtle thing. I'd be interested in a version for the theme where the moon was red ;-) Thanks for posting.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Wendy Kates]

Thanks, all! Once you mentioned it, I noticed the need for a slight rotation immediately. I can try to lighten up the bird on the right...I'm not sure why that happened since the light seemed equivalent in the original image. Nancy...thanks for the suggestion of using a brush to correct the effect of masking...I had tried cloning before I posted, but it didn't work. As far as the funny stuff around the moon: the image was pretty noisy, so I cleaned it up but may have missed a few sections. Michael: I had the same thought: a harvest moon would fit in perfectly with the theme! By the way, I meant to tell all of you that I originally conceived of this image for the biweekly theme of double exposure that we had a few months ago. I started working on it, and then came up with another idea so put this one aside temporarily. I'm glad I revisited it.

[Wendy Kates]

Just wondered what you think of the color version of this image (compared to the B&W)? It still has the problem of the outline from the masking that Nancy mentioned, but I wanted to get your input overall before taking the time to fix it.

[Dennis Bishop]

I like it in black & white, but the complementary colors is a good reason to do a color version. It may even have more appeal.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

I like the colour version Wendy, the lighting is much more dynamic

[Anita Bower]

I like this image you created. The crossed bills are perfect with the moon behind. Beautiful shapes. I prefer the color version, in part because I like color, and in part because the bg of the B&W seems noisy to me. It probably is supposed to look that way. Good creative work!