Time freeze!

[Indranil Sircar]

With excellent weather here in Bay Area, I had couple of days of nice photography! This snowy was close by and while getting its share of fishes and invertebrates was completely oblivious of human presence . As I watched it, i got the idea of freezing the frame as it entered water. After twenty odd tries I got few that were close to what I was looking for. The backlit ones came out nicer as the setting sun illuminated the edges nicely. For processing, I applied fractalius on a different layer and then changed opacity. Applied usm on the final web version. Hope you like it...

[Cheryl Slechta]

Indranil, this is spectacular. The light and slight fractalius gives this a very magical look. I think the gray funnel cloud cutting through the dark below the egret might be brushed over a bit so it's not so prounounced but that's just my opinion and think it's marvelous the way it is.:)

[denise ippolito]

Spectacular is right! I love this one. It is my new favorite of yours. The back lighting and the fractalius combine to make a wonderful look. Beautiful Indranil!!!

[Julie Kenward]

And that makes three! That backlighting worked very well and it takes this image over the top. Just the right amount of fract and the water is so dreamy!

[Keith Carver]

Just stunning, Indranil! The back light and stop-motion and filtering work beautifully together in this image. I agree with toning down the cone of light at the bottom but that's a very minor nit. Superb!

[Brendan Dozier]

That is stunning and magical. Beautiful light. Great use of effects to enhance an excellent action shot - both on the water and bird. Agree on toning down the shadow around bill area.
Nice work!

[Indranil Sircar]

Thank you all. Appreciate it a lot. Here is a repost with the shadows lightened...

[denise ippolito]

Sweet! I like them both!!

[Andrew McLachlan]

Indranil, stunning! love both posts. Love how the water turned out with the fract filter. Wonderful Work!

[Richard Lovison]

Indranil,

That is just unbelievably beautiful. Love the composition, the overall dreamy look as well as the captured action. The back lit areas around the neck take it over the top.

I'm on the fence about the reflection. The original didn't bother me that much though the re-post possibly has the shadow too close to the color and density of the water... seems to disrupt the overall balance of the water.

One thing I noticed about Fractalius is that it often puts dark outlines around subjects. It's most noticeable in your image above the the head, neck and wing of the bird. If it were mine I would tone down that outline a bit.

Well done.

Richard

[Richard Lovison]

Indranil,

If it were mine I would tone down that outline a bit.

Actually, that should read lighten up or clone out. :)

Richard

[Indranil Sircar]

Thanks all for the kind comments. Appreciate it a lot.

Actually, that should read lighten up or clone out. :)

Richard

Thank you Richard. I see your point and I fix the black outline and the shadow. TFS.