About the Image(s)

The smoke taken with Canon R5, 24-70mm lens. F/4.5, ISO 2500, 1/100sec

Started with duplicating the smoke image and flipping one to join together. Started thinking of a monster so put eyes in I had from an old image. But more I looked at it I kept seeing a bird!! Had a photo of an owl taken good few years ago and used that to make a body using the warp tool to make it fit. I changed the outside tendrils of the smoke to a red colour to look bit like fire and changed the eye colour to match. The smoke had been taken with a black BG so kept that but changed the lower part to a lighter colour to make a base and painted in some shadow on the owls feet. Used the brush tool to tidy up some areas. Lastly I used high pass and soft light blend to sharpen the image.