Painted Anhinga-Project Creativity

[Ken Lassman]

Hi Fabs...
Looks like I may be the first to take the leap into the creativity project and join the fun. I used the various paint brushes and colors and experimented. I did not write down what I did and therefore probably couldn't duplicate this...but it was fun playing around and I am sure I spent way too much time on this....

What is even more interesting is the fact (so I have been told), is that this particular action of the Anhinga flipping and catching a twig is their way of practicing for when they catch and flip the little fish after the dive.

Original Photo:
Nikon D300
Nikon 300/2.8 VR lense
ISO 400
f.4 @ 1/1600
Manual, Hand Held

[Robert Amoruso]

Interesting info on the twig tossing - did not know that one.

Also interesting interpretation of the anhinga as well. I am surprised that the noise in the BG is so accentuated here for ISO 400. I do find that distracting. If you ran noise reduction on the BG in the original, that would smooth out the BG.

[Alfred Forns]

This should be in OOTB Moving over !!

Creativity in Avian should be in camera !

[denise ippolito]

Ken, Very creative and the colors are beautiful. I agree w/ Robert regarding the noise and I od wish for a better HA. That said you did a great job w/ the paint brushes and the color. Nice action captured. Welcome to OOTB;):)

[Ken Lassman]

Thanks Robert and Denise. The original picture was kind of blah...it was windy (note the neck and back feathers). The water background had waves from the wind and parts were not in focus. Never thought of running NR which I am sure would have smoothed the BG out but would have done the same to the details on the Anhinga. I misinterpreted the parameters on Fabs' Sticky so Al moved it here...sorry about that. The good news is that, as a newcomer, I could fool around in PS and cover up the imperfections in the original...I kind of like this ;)

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Ken, welcome to OOTB! This is a great place to let your creativity stretch out and learn new ways of looking at things. I like your treatment and agree with Robert's comment about noise. You could select the bird (Topaz Remask is great at this) and run NR only on the BG for this one. Might also be worth looking into what part of the process was responsible for the halo around the bird.

One word of caution - the HAP are active here also but you might get a pass for a behavior! ;)

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Neat thing to witness Ken. Hope to see more of your posts.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Ken, welcome to OOTB! Interesting behavior and the colors are really nice:) I agree about the noise.