The usual B abd W sketch Frac blended with the orig. Darkened some areas for more depth. Thought about adding a catchlight but didn't because it was taken on a very overcast day. Upped the vibrance because I loved all the beautiful colours on the bird. Vertical shot cropped tighter. Comments Appreciated. Thanks.
You're so good at this high key process, and the subtle fract work. Great job, Jackie. Maybe a bit more contrast in the eye may give it a bit more focus:)
Jackie, another beautiful fract image! I did three small tweaks and thought I'd show you the result.
First, I used the white eye dropper in the levels adjustment to bring the whites in the upper left corner down just a touch. All I did was click in that area and it pulled out the white hot spots.
Next, I used an action called "Paint with Light" to burn/dodge the pupil just a little. It's basically setting your blend mode to soft light, your brush to 20% and then add either white or black to the area. I added a tiny bit of white to the 2 o'clock position of the pupil and then added a tiny bit of black to the center of the pupil. Last step was to barely add contrast to the selected eye to give it a little more sparkle (just like you would in a portrait.)
Finally, I cloned over the dark area at the bottom of the bill. Small changes all of them - just thought they added to an already wonderful image and thought I'd share.
Thanks Julie for taking the time for the rework, I think you version actually looks softer from toning down the whites. I always seem to have trouble with eyes. Where did you get "paint with light", action central? I think everything has improved the image. Thanks so much.
Jules rework does pop a bit more, but both versions are great. Paint with light is easily achieved without an action. Simply create new layer, set soft blend, and fill with 20% grey. Select brush. You can use default black and white to lighten or darken and experiement with the degree - 15-20%. For greater effect I sometimes eyedrop a particular color I want to enhance and depending on whether I want to lighten or darken slide the color up or down!:)
Kora's right but, yes, I did get the action at action central. Eyes ARE tough, Jackie, because we communicate with them so highly and if they look "off" they seem "fake". That said, try looking for tutorials online that talk about contrasting eyes in portraits and take some of their advice and techniques and apply them to the animals - they almost always work. Just remember that subtle changes are always best in animals whereas with people we tend to really "pop" the eyes for greater effect.
Brown Pelican High Key
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