New look for a Spotted Owlet

[laurie golden]

This little spotted owlet landed near me for a few seconds and made a very nice photo with great background, unusual perch and looked right at me in good light. I could not resist trying to change it with my limited out of the box skills. I mostly used Topaz including Bold Detail, Clean Stylize, Lens Effect Fisheye and Adjust Color Pop. I also added a little Liquify to enhance the curve of his head.

The original was taken with Nikon D3S, 500mm plus 1.4 converter, ISO800, f7.1, 1/200sec.

I would like suggestions on what other effects I could use.

[Dennis Bishop]

Very, very nice. I like that the detail effect is somewhat constrained and doesn't extend into the background. The background is certainly an important element in this image. Its color works nicely with the subject, and I really like the circle echoing the curve of the tree.

Suggestions on other effects . . . That's a tough one to answer with specifics. To me, at least, the Photoshop filters and plug-ins as well as certain standalone programs are just tools used to achieve the look you want (rather than being an end in themselves). Over time, I've found some good clues in the threads of this forum. Ultimately, though, it's when I download a trial version and see if the tool does what I want, that I know if I've found a good one. What's good for one isn't necessarily good for all.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Laurie, this looks great with the filtering you applied to it. I love it! At first I thought you used Pixel Bender, which I have yet to try myself. If it were mine I would have used Fractalius...but I use that for just about everything...it is addictive

[Julie Kenward]

Laurie, I think you did an outstanding job on this! He has so much character and the limb and background really pull the whole thing together. You added just enough texture and "zip" IMO. I really think this is special!

[Cheryl Slechta]

Laurie, your use of filters looks perfect to me. And it must have been a very nice base image! The fisheye effect goes well with the overall look. Nice job.

[John Storjohann]

Laurie, I think you're selling your skill in post processing short...you did a really nice job with this one. If it were mine, I may not have left the owl so centered...I might have extended that beautifully toned background to the left a bit more...but I really like the image overall. I'm with Andrew...as soon as I saw this image I thought, "This would be a spectacular image for Fractalius!"...you did a really nice job on your own without it as well!

[denise ippolito]

Laurie, I love the end result and to me that is what counts- that you can achieve the look you want for the image. Great original capture, the natural perch along with the composition make this special. Nice work and great suggestions above!

[laurie golden]

Thank you all for your comments. I do want to try new things and find that when I see a filer that I would like to try it is not available for MAC. I will keep looking.

[Anita Bower]

Stunning. I love the detail, and those big, yellow eyes looking straight at me. The perch is perfect, as is the bg. Excellent work!

[Indranil Sircar]

This is outstanding, Laurie. Excellent base image to start with... love the pose and the look. Your processing certainly added a lot to the image. Nicely done.