Great Egret in Flight

[Maureen Allen]

Great egrets are very common here. I think they're majestic.

[Steve Adkins]

Wow! Beautiful PC image, Maureen. Love the monochrome/ Black BG/ and those fantastic white loops!

[Richard Lovison]

Maureen,

I like the hoops created by the effect as well. Love the drama created by the curves and contrast of black and white. Nicely done.

Richard

[denise ippolito]

Maureen, I like this a lot. The thinner white lines add nicely to the composition. I do see what looks like an added canvas strip at the bottom. Nice wing up position-lovely!

[Maureen Allen]

Thanks for the comments!

Denise: Yikes -- thanks for pointing that out. I guess I really do need to wear those glasses :eek:

[Indranil Sircar]

wow.. lovely composition with that wing-up position. The white line definitely adds to the image. Very creative!

[Christopher Miller]

Beautiful image, Maureen! I love the raised-wings pose, and the white curves and black BG really give an elegant feel. Well done.

[Maureen Allen]

Thanks for the comments, Indranil and Christopher!

Here's a version without the little smudgies and line at the bottom -

[denise ippolito]

Maureen, Looks great!!

[Kerry Perkins]

This is really cool Maureen! Looks like he is conducting an orchestra or waving some sort of lariat around. I like the inclusion of both real and graphic elements. Nice one!

[Cheryl Slechta]

Maureen, I really like the b&w treatment. It has very elegant lines. Would you mind sharing your workflow?

[Maureen Allen]

Hi Cheryl! I don't mind at all, I should have done that in the first place.

This was a late night project, so forgive me if I'm a bit foggy on all the details

Here's what I remember:

The egret is a cut and paste from another image that had a nasty looking background. I placed him/her on a black background, using a slight outer glow. I added clouds, and used free transform/skew to drag the clouds to cover the area on the right hand side where I thought I wanted them, then duplicated the layer and flipped horizontally. I blurred the edges to get rid of the obvious overlap. I lowered the opacity to give the clouds a wispy sort of feel. Next, I drew in the lines using the elliptical marquee tool and applied free transform to get the lines the way I wanted them, then gave them a little glow. I erased the areas where the lines crossed in front of the egret's body. I converted the image to B&W, masking the birds beak, lore and eye. I flattened the image, selected the bird and used levels to get him/her a bit brighter. After that, I applied polar coordinates.

I had to add some canvas at the bottom after I was finished to position the egret correctly.

[Maureen Allen]

Thanks Denise and Kerry!

[Cheryl Slechta]

Thanks so much, Maureen - I couldn't figure out the lines They really add a lot to the image. I haven't used the marquee tool much - will have to give it a whirl.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks so much, Maureen - I couldn't figure out the lines

Same here!! Maureen, thanks for your workflow details - those lines add alot visually to your creation. Well done!