Two Trumpeter Swans

[Jay Sheinfield]

This is an older image of mine I wanted to rework. I used Simplify Oil, light application, then Clean to get some sharpness. Added three layers for texture and then Low key for color. Hope you like it.............Comments welcome.

[Indranil Sircar]

Jay, this is beautiful and has a wonderful feel to it! I love the water color effect and colors itself. I think this may work as a pano crop too.

[Mark Fuge]

Nice image and application, Jay.

Like the feel of the colors and the pose.

[Kerry Perkins]

Really nice Jay! The style reminds me of inked watercolor, very good artistic rendering. I like the textures and colors, all nicely done. I agree that a bit of crop from the top would work also.

[denise ippolito]

Jay, I am going to go against the grain and say that I really enjoy the extra room on top. It adds to the peaceful look of this in my opinion. However if this was just a straight shot w/o texture to the BG I would probably vote for a crop too. I'm not crazy about the wing positions and would have preferred full up or down but they look like they are gliding and it adds t the peacefulness.

[Dennis Bishop]

I really like the background and the peaceful feel of this image. I also like the wing position of the upper swan. I think Denise is right about the wing positions and the peacefulness of the image.

There have been comments both ways about cropping. From the standpoint of composition, my first inclination was to crop from the top and the left. When I tried that in Photoshop, it didn't look as good as I'd anticipated. Part of that reaction could've been because part of the background had been lost in the process. So, I Topaz ReMasked the swans, compressed the background from the top and left to retain it all, and spot-healed the compressed swans with content aware fill. I think I prefer it this way, but it'll be interesting to see what others think about it.

[Jay Sheinfield]

I really like the background and the peaceful feel of this image. I also like the wing position of the upper swan. I think Denise is right about the wing positions and the peacefulness of the image.

There have been comments both ways about cropping. From the standpoint of composition, my first inclination was to crop from the top and the left. When I tried that in Photoshop, it didn't look as good as I'd anticipated. Part of that reaction could've been because part of the background had been lost in the process. So, I Topaz ReMasked the swans, compressed the background from the top and left to retain it all, and spot-healed the compressed swans with content aware fill. I think I prefer it this way, but it'll be interesting to see what others think about it.

Dennis, thanks for taking the time to present a different view. I like it. I had looked at a cropped version of the OP but thought the swans lacked detail for a larger view. Your post has caused me to re-think this possibility. Thanks..........

[Jay Sheinfield]

Jay, I am going to go against the grain and say that I really enjoy the extra room on top. It adds to the peaceful look of this in my opinion. However if this was just a straight shot w/o texture to the BG I would probably vote for a crop too. I'm not crazy about the wing positions and would have preferred full up or down but they look like they are gliding and it adds t the peacefulness.

Denise, Thanks for the feedback. I don't do a lot of bird shots, so the wing position had not occurred to me. Appreciate the feedback, I'll keep it in mind next time I'm in the field.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Jay, I love the rendering on this one also. It is very beautiful. I like the idea of a pano crop as well, but also wonder what it might look like with the swans a little higher and left in the comp.