The "Clouds" brush

[Fabs Forns]

I've been playing with adding colors and clouds to drab BGs and used PS's Filter>Render>Clouds with soft light as a blending mode in this post:

http://birdphotographers.net/forums/...ad.php?t=56300

I workeed this sky in the posting size, and unfortunately noticed (duhhhhh) that if you tried this on the full size image, you'd get very small clouds on a repeating pattern. In my quest to find a solution, I came across this site:

http://www.brusheezy.com/brush/473-Cloud-Brushes

where someone generously shares his cloud brushes for free. You can increase or decrease the size of the brush according to your needs. I though it was pretty cool. Brushes are supposed to go up to 1600 pixels but I went larger and they were fine. I did it over the bird, thinking of masking it afterward but in general liked the lighter look so I created a layer mask and painted black at a low opacity to keep the look without showing clouds.
What do you guys think????

Model: Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
Lens (mm): 370
ISO: 500
Aperture: 7.1
Shutter: 1/1000
Program: Manual

[Harold Davis]

that is really cool!!! love the light on the bird. there's just enough of a pinkish hue in the lower left to make it look natural.

gonna check out those brushes now. thanks for the info!!!

[Aiden Blake]

I like the idea behind this, and the bird itself is fantastic, but the grey unsaturated clouds don't suit the light that is on the bird.

[Fabs Forns]

I like the idea behind this, and the bird itself is fantastic, but the grey unsaturated clouds don't suit the light that is on the bird.

Thanks, Aiden. Interestingly enough, the clouds are white, the gray is the actual color of the sky at the time of capture.

[Jay Gould]

Fabs, the bird is heaven!

However, the background perhaps through the technique appears like it has a lot of noise or perhaps it is just the texture that I am not used to.

[Fabs Forns]

Jay, it may be the text of the brush, some selective noise reduct should take care of that. Thanks for pointing it out!

[Steve Maxson]

This is an interesting treatment, Fabs. I would agree with Jay about the "graininess" of the clouds. The light on the bird is wonderful and the pose and sharpness are also first rate. I may be an old stick-in-the-mud, but I think I prefer the original. :) :) Different strokes, I guess.

[Aiden Blake]

Thanks, Aiden. Interestingly enough, the clouds are white, the gray is the actual color of the sky at the time of capture.

Hmm, that's cool. I like your original too.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Good exercise!
I like the result and would like to give it try once I have more spare time available.

[Morkel Erasmus]

yes I do like the result Fabs! has spiced up the original nicely...