The Heron and the Moon
The background is a combination blend of two images on two separate layers. The one is an image of a blue sky and clouds and the other is of the moon taken during the day through a 500mm refractor telescope. The heron was extracted using Topaz ReMask and then pasted in the background image.
copyright © reserved 2011, Richard Lovison
Richard, I think the extraction looks great and the clouds in the sky are lovely. Very nice placement of the moon. I wonder if you could soften the transition of the moon on the right side of it a bit w/ some white. The texture on the moon is incredible. Nice work!!
Denise,
I took a white layer and masked in a bit of white to the entire upper left corner so now the upper and lower corners more closely match. Does this address your concern?
copyright © reserved 2011, Richard Lovison
Richard, I was thinking more like this. I used a duplicate layer and the transform tool to move it a little bit over the moon then a layer mask to finish it off. I also took a sliver off the bottom edge.
Denise,
Thanks for sharing your idea and technique. I see what you mean now and like what you've done. A full moon might have worked better here.
Richard
Richard, I do like the idea of the partial moon very much and think it is more artistic than the full moon. This is a wonderful image and you did a great job designing it.
Richard,
Greetings. Very cool! The extraction and composition are outstanding. I'd be inclined to make the moon a tad smaller. The edginess (local contrast) on the right side of the moon in the OP is natural (longer shadows at twilight make for the contrast of the craters) and I find myself missing it in Denise's repost (ymmv).
I, too. like the gibbous moon, but it should be a waxing gibbous rather than a waning gibbous given the lighting on the bird (the sun would be on the same side for the moon and the bird).
Cheers,
-Michael-
Michael, I disagree. It doesn't have an edginess at all -it looks more like a smeared brush stroke and that is what I was referring to.Originally Posted by Michael Gerald-Yamasaki
Denise, ah, your mileage does vary
I was referring to the edginess of the craters in the twilight region. I don't see what you're referring too. Or if I am, it doesn't bother me.
Cheers,
-Michael-
I like the texture in the moon also but that was not the area that I was trying to address in my repost-which I did say he could do a cleaner job with.
Richard, I really like your image. But there's something about the lighting that's bothering me. I don't know enough about moon phases to know how it would look naturally with the lighting you have on the bird, but maybe as Michael suggested, that's something to look at. Overall, though, I love the concept and the work you did on this
LOL... picky, picky, picky.Richard,
I, too. like the gibbous moon, but it should be a waxing gibbous rather than a waning gibbous given the lighting on the bird (the sun would be on the same side for the moon and the bird
-Michael-Actually I'm embarrassed I didn't catch that. So here's another re-post with a slightly different color sky... couldn't remember all my settings and I had to start from scratch. BTW, the moon was captured on 8/25/2005 at 13:30:30 eastern time.
copyright © reserved 2011, Richard Lovison
Very nice composite, Richard. The moon, sky, and heron go well together, and I like the composition. I like the second repost, but I think I'd prefer it with the heron on the right side as in the OP and with the moon moved a little more towards the corner. Just my personal opinion...there are lots of possibilities for this one.
All is right with the world.
I just love this concept and your application. Well done.
Hi Richard, I'm a little late to the party, but I like the repost in pane #12 best.
Thanks to everyone for your comments and helpful suggestions. Much appreciated.
Richard
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