Looking Back - Red Shouldered Hawk

[Cheryl Slechta]

I had worked on this during texture theme week but didn't post it. I had used 4 different texture layers, then
Topaz Adjust, Mild Details and Color Blast but it still looked flat to me. Then I learned about Denise's technique of
adding texture using the color channel so I tried that and liked the results. Added Nik BiColor filter to enhance the
colors a little.

Thanks for looking. Comments and suggestions welcome:)

[denise ippolito]

Cheryl, This is something very different from you and I like it. The textured BG and the colors really work nicely together. I think the negative space at the left adds to the feel of the image.:)

[Indranil Sircar]

Beautiful composition, Cheryl. Love that texture. Maybe a bit de-saturated bg would have got the hawk more focus - IMHO. Still an impressive work. :)

[Nick Palmieri]

I like this a lot. I am not sure if that is a branch in front of the bird but I think it is a little distracting, but not image destroying. I really think you did a great job with the effect.

[Mark Fuge]

Nice image and application, Cheryl.

Glad you kept working it to perfection. :cool:

[Julie Kenward]

Love the textures, Cheryl! I do find myself wishing that stick (or texture?) wasn't coming right out of the bird's head...but it's still a great image.

[Kerry Perkins]

Cheryl, I think this is outstanding! It really has an artistic look and feel. Love the colors and textures as well as the composition. I do agree that the line coming out of the bird's head as well as the one on the chest could be evicted to make the image stronger. This reminds me of an illustration from a fantasy book!! :)

[Cheryl Slechta]

Thanks everyone, it was definitely a work in progress. The sticks and the light flowing things (for lack of a better word) were the tree the hawk was sitting in and shreds of bark and grapes vines hanging from the limbs.
I do think it would be better without the offending "head stick":) I'll repost tomorrow.

[Christopher Miller]

Lovely texture and color, Cheryl. Has a very nice feel. Agree with comments above on a few of the branches being a bit distracting.

[Cheryl Slechta]

I evicted the offending branch growing out of the hawk's head. Hope it looks better now.

[denise ippolito]

Cheryl, Congratulations your image has been chosen as our theme contest winner!:)