Post your best bird shots!

[bob williams]

Sandhill Crane from my guided tour of the Bosque in Jan 2012, courtesy of Bob Williams......looking forward to a return visit soon

Yep, the cranes are beginning to fly in now, I have seen several flocks this last week. I may have to go on a little recon mission before December, just to see what's out there.

[ahab1372]

Bob,
I agree, you should go. We all need you out there.

[bob williams]

Thanks Ahab. I watched a video the other day that motivated me to get in and do some photoshop work. So as a test run I took one of my HB shots from this summer and tried some of that artsy stuff that Joel and Denise are famous for.

Opened The pic in Lightroom
Desaturated, removed contrast and shadow
Opened in CS6 as a smart object
Copied to a new layer as smart object
Then opened new layer Smart Object in ACR and put all color and contrast back in
Merged the two layers and blended in overlay mode, adjusted opacity a little and tweaked the sliders to taste
flattened the image
then applied the "oil paint" filter and tweaked those sliders to taste

Here is the result: (note--it looks much better on a black background)



What do you think?

Here is the original:

[ahab1372]

I like the original a lot, but the edit rocks.
Btw I also like the somewhat unusual and extreme position of the bird. You posted a few others with unusual poses at the end of your season that I really liked.

[Joel Eade]

Thanks Ahab. I watched a video the other day that motivated me to get in and do some photoshop work. So as a test run I took one of my HB shots from this summer and tried some of that artsy stuff that Joel and Denise are famous for.

Opened The pic in Lightroom
Desaturated, removed contrast and shadow
Opened in CS6 as a smart object
Copied to a new layer as smart object
Then opened new layer Smart Object in ACR and put all color and contrast back in
Merged the two layers and blended in overlay mode, adjusted opacity a little and tweaked the sliders to taste
flattened the image
then applied the "oil paint" filter and tweaked those sliders to taste

Here is the result: (note--it looks much better on a black background)



What do you think?

Love it! We'll get you out of LR eventually...."to resist is futile"

PS I agree....a BDA recon mission is in order

[Joel Eade]

Beautiful photo, Joel! I have not photographed birds in a long time! Your photo is making miss it!

Thanks...I'm sure you'll get back to it...you've been just a little busy

[bob williams]

Love it! We'll get you out of LR eventually...."to resist is futile"

Never---Although, I have been using LR much like you use ACR. Make basic adjustments LR (Same engine as ACR), then open in PS for sharpening, backgrounds, layers etc.

I do have a question for one of you PS guru's. When you open a smart object in PS, how do you unlink the image from the original?


Bob

[Joel Eade]

Here's one from this afternoon

1D MKIV
500mm
ISO 1000
f/4
1/250

[Dave Throgmartin]

Wow, amazing woodpecker image Joel!

Dave

[Joel Eade]

Thanks Dave!