From a Sow's ear to a Silk Purse

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi Folks;

Took this picture of a Gambel's Quail in our garden yesterday, and decided i would like to gussy (play on words) it up.

So, here is the complete original with all its warts. Resized for BPN only.

Gus

[Gus Hallgren]

Now to create the Silk purse.

First opened in LR3, minimal processing

Open in CS5 and crop as desired.
Resize to BPN specification

Ctrl+J for duplicate Layer copy
Go to color picker press "D" to change defaults B/W press "X"
Chose forground & background 2 shades of gray (Can use any color for gradient)

Press "G" for Gradient & Paint Bucket, Right click & choose Gradient

Go to top center of image, hold down left mouse button & drag straight down to bottom of image

Shucks, I see nothing but gradient. Image now under gradient.

Go to bottom of Layer window, click on "Add Layer Mask", it is gray square with hole in center.

Press "D" for default color picker. Black will be default foreground

Press "B" for brush & choose soft about 40 to start (resize by using square brackets [ smaller ] larger

Check to see that FG color is black. We are going to paint with black over gradient to reveal Quail. You want to paint over edge of Quail slightly so you can paint white (To replace gradient) on portions over the edge so you can match the edge perfectly. I like to have it zoomed from 300 - 500% when finishing up. Remember, Black removes gradient, White replaces gradient (Works same way when you sharpen complete image first & then selectively remove sharpening where you don't want it. Also, if you blur complete image first, black will reveal the subject and leave you with a blurred BG)

When finished I first save as a TIF to retain layers before flattening.

With minor editing I finished off with very light LAB sharpening

CC's always welcome & appreciated.

Warm regards

Gus

[Steve Bein]

really impressive and beautiful. I did a paste on a background and it was not easy. This is great and I appreciate your listing how it was done.

[Steve Adkins]

Very nicely done, Gus! Super pose and processing. Love the gradient BG. Might be a slight smudge to the right of tail and right of top-top notch. Thanks so much for sharing your steps.

[Gus Hallgren]

For fun I used the presets for Ruddy Duck minimal fractilus on the Silk purse

[Cheryl Slechta]

Gus, I love the final result! I just upgraded from Elements to CS5 today and this will be a good tutorial to start with. Thanks for your workflow PS - I really like the fracted quail also

[denise ippolito]

Both are very, very good Gus! I like pane #2 with a few of the smudges by the tail cleaned up. Excellent tutorial, Kerry will probably want to post it on the board.

[Brendan Dozier]

That looks great, Gus! Amazing transformation, and thank you very much for sharing your workflow. I think I also like the first transformation (pane #2) best. Nice job, and keep it up with your clever word play!

[Cheryl Flory]

Great job, Gus. And really appreciate your workflow!
I like the 2nd pane, but add just a bit of the 3rd version except to the head.
very nice.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Lovely work Gus, I love both versions. Thanks for the workflow on this too!

[Christopher Miller]

Very, very good save, Gus! I love the gradient BG on pane #2. Nice work!

[Mark T Helm]

For fun I used the presets for Ruddy Duck minimal fractilus on the Silk purse

Just really like this effect Gus would make wonderful card image. You mentioned a pre set is it available someplace?

[Paul Lagasi]

Well done Gus, Thanks for workflow....Love the frac version, TFS

[Kerry Perkins]

Gus, excellent tutorial and images. I did indeed add it to the workflow sticky!