Theme: Mating Royals

[Adhika Lie]

This monthly theme is very cute: The birds & the bees. I hope I am not taking this too far. Original image: here. Pretty much inspired by Wendy's post earlier. I used SEP to make a high key image of this one and reduce the beach structure to make it more minimalistic on Viveza.

[Dennis Bishop]

Very nicely done. The lines and contrast are extremely effective. I'd like to have the bill of the lower tern stand out from the background a bit more, but that's minor given everything else this has going for it.

I'm curious about how you used Viveza on the beach. Was it the Structure slider? Did you use it before the conversion in SEP?

[Adhika Lie]

Hi Dennis, thanks! I used the structure slider in Viveza and I did it after the conversion in SEP. I have to say that the control is rather imprecise with that circle mask, but it's quite easy to use. In this image, I add a control point on the UR corner, enlarge the circle size a little bit, lower the structure slider and increase the brightness slightly. I add back structure and lower the brightness on the bird, and I must have missed one on the female tern. The only thing that I hate from Viveza is that now I have to work from scratch again.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Adhika, this is a lovely high key image. The original is plenty sharp so the bill on the female must be from Viveza. You might be able to do tonal contrast sharpening just around the bill to retrieve sharpness without redoing the image. (Or maybe not)

[Wendy Kates]

Adhika, I really like this image, especially the graceful pose of the male, and the shadow of his wing on the sand. Viveza is the one plug-in from the Nik collection that I never use...I'll have to try it.

[Adhika Lie]

Cheryl & Wendy - thanks! I reworked the image a little bit to fix the female tern's bill. This shot was one of 10-ish shots that I got during this action: Not the best wing position, but the best head angle in the series.

And just for fun:

[Anita Bower]

I think your second version is my favorite, though I like the first also. The high key works very well. I like how the dark areas call for my attention, which then spreads out to the rest of the image. I especially like the shadow of the wing on the sand--a nice shape.

[Diane Miller]

All said! Gorgeous with such lovely shapes and the high key is perfect!

[gary ellwein]

The redo nicely fixes the females bill.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

The second repost is a charm. Love the outstretched wing of the male, and more definition in the female's beak. Perfect for b and w, and high key Adhika.