GBH

[Judy Howle]

Another Pixel Bender image. This was one of my favorites of the PB images I did. I used a light touch on it and masked back the eye.
Judy

[denise ippolito]

Judy, I really like the effect on the foliage and vines. I might tone down the whites on the head a little(probably from the light effect) I'm thinking if the Heron were more to the left of the frame it might look good too. Nice job masking back the eye.

[Katherine Enns]

This is really pretty, l love the twisty bits in the magrove foliage that are there to the naked eye, but seem to dissapear in an image. And the wood grain and water is really lovely.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

This is nice Judy, and I like the effect. If it were mine I would be tempted to take the branch out on front of the face. Really like this filter.

[Judy Howle]

Thanks Jackie. You guys are really trying to make me work! :) I didn't really notice that branch and it is distracting. That's why more eyes are a good thing.

[Judy Howle]

Thanks Denise. The image was overexposed for the whites even though it was not long before sunset as the sun was very bright (and very hot!). Since it was shot from a moving boat I couldn't examine the shot and change settings. It wasn't that great of an image so other than toning it down in Lr without spending a lot of time that was the best I could do. But with this filter the foliage that looked bad now looks good so it would be worth a do-over to see if it can be improved. Any suggestions for fixing the blown highlights? I could try using multiply and a layer mask or painting in some color at low opacity. Or stacking two versions of raw processing if I can get any color back with drastically lowering the exposure.

[denise ippolito]

Judy, Fabs posted this in her blog on BPN. You might find it helpful.
http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...rsh-quot-light

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Judy, great use of filter - the BG almost looks like a wood carving - definitely has a fairy-tale feel :)

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Denise. The image was overexposed for the whites even though it was not long before sunset as the sun was very bright (and very hot!). Since it was shot from a moving boat I couldn't examine the shot and change settings. It wasn't that great of an image so other than toning it down in Lr without spending a lot of time that was the best I could do. But with this filter the foliage that looked bad now looks good so it would be worth a do-over to see if it can be improved. Any suggestions for fixing the blown highlights? I could try using multiply and a layer mask or painting in some color at low opacity. Or stacking two versions of raw processing if I can get any color back with drastically lowering the exposure.

Bird with a small white chin against a pretty much all dark BKGR. The meter is gonna see all the dark and open up, burning the whites.... You needed to subtract some light. No need to guess or check the histogram if you understand EXP theory. Best way to learn, the ABP (Exposure Theory)/ABP II (Exposure Simplified) package.

Did you try recovering the whites during conversion? What do you use to convert? There is tons on saving the whites in the ER.

All that said I love the log and I love the mangroves. Can you tell us about Pixel Bender? (I am a filter dummy :) )

[Susan Candelario]

Great advice already given. I too love the effect on the log and the mangroves. Here is some info on Pixel Bender: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/pixelbender/
Its a bit buggy, but it seemed to work ok for me in 8bit mode and with only CS5 open.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Judy, I really like the effect you're getting with PB. Agree about evicting the little branch in front.

[Kerry Perkins]

Quite nice Judy and I like that effect you are using. I think it's only available for CS5 so I guess I'm going to have to upgrade. I really like the twisty, woody background. I have to add my vote to the "evict the branch in front" movement. ;)