Great Egret

[Diane Miller]

I've gotten in a B/W mindset from recent posts in the Landscape forum, and realized I hadn't posted this old image -- or at least I hope I haven't. I try to pull each post into a folder so I have a record, but I could miss some.

It was shot six years ago at Lake Martin, outside Lafayette, LA, and probably worked up not long after. (The egrets there have much prettier threes than ours do.) It was "filtered" in Corel Painter -- all by hand with their wonderfully realistic brushes. I haven't done one in quite a while and need to get back to it -- I'm afraid I've probably lost my chops. The style I use is very quick and freehand, with luck being my best strategy.

[Dennis Bishop]

If I had seen this, I'm sure I would've remembered it. It's beautiful in black & white, and I like the way the egret is cradled by the branch its on and the one on the right. Corel Painter . . . I've played with it a little but not enough. Looking at this moves it up higher in my to-do list.

[Diane Miller]

Thanks, Dennis! I think I did a tutorial for Adorama on my fairly simple method for using Painter. I'll see if I can dig it out and post it on my web site. They have redesigned their web site (and its objectives) several times and if it's still there there aren't any links.

[Dennis Bishop]

Thank you, Diane. I'll take a look.

[Anita Bower]

This is an excellent example of how a busy bg can be edited to allow the main subject to stand out. Very nicely done. I'm wondering if I can do it without Corel. I'll experiment. I like the frame and the position of the Egret.

[Diane Miller]

Thanks Anita! I don't think a filter could replicate Painter's brush strokes, which (with my method) use "clone painting" to pull out detail from the source image and spread it along your brush stroke according to the parameters of the brush. But there are certainly ways to blur BGs, and then mask the blur selectively. And with all the textures, you should have some good tools for exploration. Would love to see what anyone comes up with. Busy BGs are the curse of us all.

I got the tutorial posted. I think there is a less-pricey and more basic version of Painter but no time to check now.

[Anita Bower]

Thanks Anita! I don't think a filter could replicate Painter's brush strokes, which (with my method) use "clone painting" to pull out detail from the source image and spread it along your brush stroke according to the parameters of the brush. But there are certainly ways to blur BGs, and then mask the blur selectively. And with all the textures, you should have some good tools for exploration. Would love to see what anyone comes up with. Busy BGs are the curse of us all.

I got the tutorial posted. I think there is a less-pricey and more basic version of Painter but no time to check now.

Diane: Thanks for explaining how Painter works. Using detail from the source image must be one of the things that makes it look so natural. I'm wondering about using brushes. I'm working my way towards learning how to create and use them.

[Diane Miller]

There are painting brushes in Photoshop but as far as I know they are just for painting colors, and don't have clone properties. One of the many things I haven't had time to look into.

[Mitch Carucci]

The B&W glows. Glad you reminded us how nice bird photos can be done this way!

[Cheryl Slechta]

Diane, I'm very late commenting but his is one gorgeous image! It has a haunting quality and is perfect in black and white

[Diane Miller]

Thanks everyone! I need to get back to painting.