Broad-billed Hummingbird Sketch

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi Folk
Sorta had an artistic block this morning so I decided to use this BB Hummer as an example of Richard Peter's (which I prefer) "extending background" instead of using "content aware scaling."
For Richard's version search "Extending canvas" on BPN for complete tutorial link'

Here's how I did it.
Opened CS4
Opened original photo, had about 3/8" of canvas in front of beak
Clicked on crop tool
Use blank crop measurements
Drag crop tool around outside of original
Drag right side center mark to width of extending I wanted
Hit enter (Shows complete original and extended portion as bg color, doesn't matter what color it is)
Click retangular marquee tool (top left of tool palette with dotted line around it)
Select area in front of bird from top to bottom.
(Copy) Ctrl+C then (Paste) Ctrl+V, you won't see anything except in layers display
Click Edit>Free Transform or Ctrl+T
The selection will now have 6 little boxes around it, I dragged the middle right side to size I wanted
Hit enter
Flatten
Crop to size if necessary

I saved it and then used a combination of AKVIS, CS4, & MS Digital Image Suite 9

A tip, I have used a few programs for edges & Frames, and wanted one program to get them all from. The popular program was over $150. i had remembered that MS Digital Image had 100's of frames and edges in it and easy color selection for edges with one click. So I went on the WEB and picked up a copy of MS Digital Image Suite 9 in as new condition for $15.00, and was as described

CC's welcome

Uncle Gus

[denise ippolito]

Gus, Thanks for sharing your technique. Much appreciated. I like the colors of the BG. I wish the sketch look was only on the Hummer or completely on the BG.:)

[Cindy Mead]

I really like the sketch effect on the hummer Gus.. and like Denise, I think I'd to see the effect a bit more consistent across the bg area. Thanks for sharing your technique (and tip) :)

[Julie Kenward]

I find the breast of the HB to be too black in contrast to how bright the BG is near his head. I do like the overall image, though...just would love to see more detail on the bird and less harshness to the BG.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

I like the sketch effect Gus and thanks for sharing your workflow. I like all the lines iminating from the bird, it makes it very dynamic.