Ghostly Egret

[Keith Carver]

This Great Egret was bringing a stick to its nest at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm, April 2010. I wanted to achieve a high-key foggy ghostly image.

Post:

repaired the RH wing-tip, which was originally clipped
NR with DFine2
subtle vignetting using Nik ColorEfex 4
tweaked saturation of yellows and greens in eyes and lores
Alien Skins Snap Art 3 - oil paint portrait, at 50% opacity
back in PS, Division blend to give foggy ghostly look
back in ColorEfex 4, used Fog filter for further white-washing

C&C greatly appreciated, as always.

[Mark Fuge]

Nice image and application, Keith.

Looks like it could use a little noice reduction, but otherwise very nice.

[Dennis Bishop]

Wow. Great job in all respects. The strong diagonals make for a good composition. You certainly achieved an effective foggy look with the colors present but nicely subdued. I can't tell if the background is actually lighter in front of the wings than it is behind or if that's an optical illusion. In either case, it helps to move the eye in the direction of flight. A really wonderful image.

[Keith Carver]

Wow. Great job in all respects. The strong diagonals make for a good composition. You certainly achieved an effective foggy look with the colors present but nicely subdued. I can't tell if the background is actually lighter in front of the wings than it is behind or if that's an optical illusion. In either case, it helps to move the eye in the direction of flight. A really wonderful image.

Thanks, Dennis, especially comments about the eye. In the attached repost, I punched up the iris and lores just SLIGHTLY, so hopefully a subtle increase in local contrast. I've found with these, a little goes a long way...

[Keith Carver]

Nice image and application, Keith.

Looks like it could use a little noice reduction, but otherwise very nice.

Thanks, Mark. Actually the noise is canvas texture introduced by the Snap Art oil paint filter. Maybe I should have made the paint strokes a little more obvious...

[denise ippolito]

Keith, the repost is superb! I love the high key, the pose and the framing. The background texture is perfect and the nesting material puts this over the top!

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Keith, very nice high-key egret capture and pose!

[Paul Lagasi]

Nicely done Keith, I like the composition and high key look, repost takes it to the top...well done

[Cheryl Slechta]

Keith, they're both really nice but the repost is just wonderful. Beautifully done. I love the high key painterly look.