Theme - Great egret memory

[Cheryl Slechta]

This is an older image taken at the Alligator Farm. I used a sepia effect, added a texture layer (http://www.flickr.com/photos/2780555...7609803359307/) with prose, added a copper overlay at 4% opacity, dust & scratches filter and a frame. I imagined the egret during the era when
they were all being killed for their feathers for women's hats and the writing was perhaps a letter to an
early environmentalist urging people into action to stop the killing:o My imagination is in dark places this
week.

Thanks for looking. Comments and suggestions always welcome.

[Christopher Miller]

Nice work, Cheryl! :) The toning, texture, and frame do a perfect job in capturing that old feel. I like the bird's pose, and the BG writing is a nice touch. The only thing I might change would be to remove or tone down the circular highlights.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Christopher - those are bokeh - do you think they had bokeh back then? :o I'll tone them down.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hopefully this is better.:)

[Ed Vatza]

Hi Cheryl,

I do like this image. I find it pleasing to my eye even though I too am not real fond of the spots/bokah. I find I can look beyond it in this image.

I find it fascinating (matter of fact I spoke a bit about this at our last photo club meeting) that we can work so hard to create a tack sharp image and remove all dust spots that appear and then buy filters, etc. to introduce dust spots and scratches, soft an image and so on. Seems kinda strange doesn't it?

[Barbara Kile]

Great work on this Cheryl. The lens flare/bokeh is ok with me - part of the textured bg! I like the copper toning and the wonderful detail in the feathers/wings.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Nice image and concept Cheryl. Ed, your point about taking a perfectly good image, and essentially trying to ruin it on purpose stuck me as odd the entire time I spent doing my 2 contributions.
Of course I didn't buy any plug ins for the purpose. I also think Cheryl is on the right track; not only the image surface needs to look old, but the context. regards~Bill

[Indranil Sircar]

Beautiful composition, Cheryl. I like how you have conceptualized the idea. The feathers are wonderful. So is the color and framing. Excellent work.

[Paul Lagasi]

Ok so can someone explain BOKAH, image to me is perfect example of old style way to go Cheryl, well done
Love the lettering in background, don't have my glasses is it backwards...if so really gives it a letter written on back type effect...

[denise ippolito]

Paul, Bokeh is often most visible around small background highlights, such as specular reflections and light sources, which is why it often associated with such areas. However, bokeh is not limited to highlights, as blur occurs in all out-of-focus regions of the image.

Cheryl, I really,really like this. The colors in the BG are just fantastic. I do agree the letters are backwards but the type style looks old. The specular highlights add some age IMO and I don't mind them-but either way. I love the wind swept feathers the most. The framing is nice. It does seem odd that we are working so hard to make an image look old, but I do think it is a great learning tool for us all to expand our knowledge.:)

[Cheryl Slechta]

Thanks everyone for your comments. Ed, William and Paul - I think it's totally ironic that we are undoing
everything we strive for in making a sharp, clean image. And I think there is even software to create bokah:) And everyone's eyesight is way
better than mine - I hadn't noticed the writing was backwards:o