Nighthawk

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Sony A700~Sony 70-400G@400mm~ ISO400~F8~1/800sec~5-16-09~Surfside,Texas
I often use plugins to enhance aspects of images. Here: enhancing repeating patterns with CS4 and Topaz Clean2. comments and critique welcomed. regards~Bill

[Cheryl Slechta]

Bill - nice! It looks like a woodblock print or an etching.

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Cheryl

[denise ippolito]

William, This is a really neat effect! I like it alot. The BG is lovely. I think I'd take a slice off the right and add some canvas to the left. Not sure if it was the filters but I might tone down the hot spot. Really love the way the feathers and beak look!!

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Denise: I agree about the crop. I didn't spend much time thinking about it, a problem with me. I have a different opinion about the hot spot. I did think about it earlier, but although I would agree if this was strictly a photograph it would be a major flaw. However, to me at least, although originated from a photograph, this is a graphic image, and a hot spot in photography could be thought of an area of flat white in a graphic image. Now the placement and inclusion of it is open to debate; it it could be though as emphasizing the black area of the eye for example. The goal here is not realism;photographs are more than adequate for that, but an exploration of shapes and patterns. regards~Bill

[denise ippolito]

William, I see your point -as I often leave hot spots in my altered images and feel they are acceptable. I just felt it was something that caught my attention for a bit,and thought it should be mentioned. I do love the piece and it does not keep me from liking it-just trying to help.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

denise: I of course think you are trying to help, and your point is well taken...the truth is I could go either way on it. Not speaking about this image in particular, but I do find invaluable members here pointing out things that I should have paid attention to, yet mysteriously overlooked. Often, once pointed out, it seems so obvious I wonder how I could possibly missed it in the first place. Anyway, I'm glad you liked it, and even if you didn't, I appreciate getting your point of view. regards~Bill

[denise ippolito]

Bill, I do like it and am interested in seeing more. I think it is quite creative!!And well done.

[Fabs Forns]

Good points made by Denise, I'd love to see the original also.

[Dave Mills]

I do agree with Denise, The white area is dominant in the image and is a bit distracting. As stated the image could use more canvas on the left.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

When I first examined the original, the white area didn't seem blown, but doesn't have alot of detail either. Meanwhile, I was wondering why this area is white in the bird itself, and I could see the point that it was distracting. It may very well be distracting in this image because evolution has found that this "distraction" may have survival benifits. Perhaps something similar to eyespots. I really don't know. So don't blame me, blame evolution!
In any case, the fact that it is distracting may very well not be the problem. The fact is that in this image there is little detail in the area. This may be a result of Clean2's smoothing, or unrecoverable blown out whites in the original. I'm not sure at this point. Anyway, I've included the original.
regards~Bill

[Fabs Forns]

Bill, thanks for posting the original, very nice portrait. I downloaded it and checked the whites and the whites have areas from 248 to 255, the latter being solid white, so there are blown whites. Some monitors cannot display whites over 240, so it may seem even worse to some people. If you use Color range to select the whites, feather your selection and make a layer of it, use multiply as blending mode and adjust the opacity to recoup some texture to the white that are not solid 255.

[Arthur Morris]

Good suggestions by Fabs but for one small error: if there are whites at 255 nothing can save them. They need to be saved either at capture or during conversion. There are several great threads in ER. Thanks for posting the ORIG; that is one amazingly sharped eye.

I do like the creation but for the too-bright white patch so count me in with Denise; there is a difference in bright white with detail and overexposed white with no detail.

[Fabs Forns]

Maestro, that's what I said, to the whites that are not solid 255.

[Arthur Morris]

Sorry Fabs, I must have been too tired....