I took this image last year on a trip to western Canada, I was out walking in the prairie grasslands looking for Sharptailed Grouse or Grey Partridge. This Hawk came by for a look, in case I flushed something. It is a bit backlit. I used Topaz Spicify effect which I find does add a bit of halo around the subject....thanks for looking.
This is a nice image. I like the effect of the Spicify on the hawk, and the open sky in front of it seems fitting. I decided to see if I could eliminate the halo you mentioned without spending a lot of time on it. First step was Topaz Remask. Because you said it was backlit, I didn't worry about getting rid of all the white on the back edge of the wing. Consequently, the masking didn't take very long. Then, on the original image, I drew a large rectangular marquee around the hawk and did a content aware fill, leaving nothing on that layer but blue sky. Refining the mask on the Topaz Remask layer would get rid of more of the white if you wanted.
Very cool, Paul. Awesome detail and I really like the back lighting. The remask tip is a neat way to go for dealing with glow. Don't know if it is possible (how) but I do wish I could see the eye a bit more clearly. Maybe it's just MY eyes!
Hi Paul, Nice original capture. I like the textured effect from the filter. Dennis did a great job with the repost (thank you for sharing your technique).
Thanks Dennis, great improvement, while I did like the halo in the image.....only because it seems to be integral part of the Spicify Effect in Topaz...I really do appreciate the tutorial on how to remove the halo, I sometimes work on HDR images and will use your method
Thanks everyone for comments.......I appreciate it
BIF #2 - Ferruginous Hawk Coming in for a Look
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