Brad Ashbrook
April 2021 - Carolina Wren
Original
About the Image(s)
This was photographed a couple of weeks ago at a nature park in Lakeland FL. After some basic raw adjustments and a crop in Capture One, the image was opened in Photoshop. Several NIK filters were applied to help separate the bird from the background. Then the face was lightened a little bit more with a dodge layer and finally a little twig shortening.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
7 comments posted
You have separated the wren well from the background, and have shortened any twigs that were intruding in to the important part of the image. It looks to me as if the lighting was coming from high on the left behind the bird , which has made the lightening up of the face and some of the separation of the background necessary.
I would have preferred to se the bird with more frontal lighting.
Posted: 04/10/2021 05:15:15
I would have preferred to se the bird with more frontal lighting.
Posted: 04/10/2021 05:15:15
I like the positioning of the bird in the frame with its facing from left to right. Great job post processing.
I wonder if you could "burn" his eye and head area, a skill out of my league.
The removal of the distracting elements enhanced the photo greatly. Posted: 04/11/2021 10:17:38
I wonder if you could "burn" his eye and head area, a skill out of my league.
The removal of the distracting elements enhanced the photo greatly. Posted: 04/11/2021 10:17:38
I did lighten up his face with a dodge/burn layer. Sometimes the challenge is not going to far where it no longer looks realistic. Perhaps I could have gone further. This layer is pretty easy, just create a new layer, soft light blend mode and check the fill 50% gray box, and use either white brush to lighten or black brush to darken. A very handy tool! Posted: 04/11/2021 12:48:25
oooh, soft blend layer...hum. I never get it to look right as I go waaaay overboard but I might need to use the soft blending layer and hey, yes let's do only 50%. I'll try that. Great suggestion! Posted: 04/11/2021 17:04:57
The bird is very well done. Instead of lighting up the face somewhat as suggested, maybe darken the background a bit as I find it a bit too bright, distracting. Posted: 04/12/2021 14:01:47
Ditto to above. I think the background feels bright because the bird's face is not lit well. If you dodged a bit more on the face then the background behind it could be darker.
I really like the tones on the background, and you did a great job post processing this! Posted: 04/12/2021 16:56:06
I really like the tones on the background, and you did a great job post processing this! Posted: 04/12/2021 16:56:06
The overall setting of this scene is very appealing. The background adds mood and feel. The positioning at the end of the branch looking to the right into lots of space works well. Posted: 04/28/2021 05:15:47