Great Blue Heron

[NorthernFocus]

Great stuff, Christina. The first version was a tad dark which your last edit took care of. Careful with the highlights. And yes a bit of headroom improves the image. Rather than cloning the extra space, try making a layer copy and stretching it. Then use varying opacity eraser brushes to blend it in. That will avoid any hard transitions from lighter/darker patches. Nice job overall.

As the old monk said to Grasshoppa, "time for you to leave..." If you're too young to have watched Kung Fu on TV, someone can explain

[terrib]

...

As the old monk said to Grasshoppa, "time for you to leave..." If you're too young to have watched Kung Fu on TV, someone can explain

Alas, I am not too young...

[Brownbear]

Thank you Dan.

I too prefer the lighter versions.

Thank you so much for advising on a different way to add to the canvas. I managed a better job of it by combining the 3 images in layers. Post to follow this one. I just realized that I missed your advice to stretch the canvas (new to me) but I will try this too, as the images need to look perfect full size and they are almost but not quite there.

I looked it up... a beautiful and wise saying

As the old monk said to Grasshoppa, "time for you to leave..." If you're too young to have watched Kung Fu on TV, someone can explain

While I was on planet earth back then I was likely watching cartoons. So not so young and hopefully I will not be "long in the tooth" before I learn how to manage PP like this.

Great stuff, Christina. The first version was a tad dark which your last edit took care of. Careful with the highlights. And yes a bit of headroom improves the image. Rather than cloning the extra space, try making a layer copy and stretching it. Then use varying opacity eraser brushes to blend it in. That will avoid any hard transitions from lighter/darker patches. Nice job overall.

As the old monk said to Grasshoppa, "time for you to leave..." If you're too young to have watched Kung Fu on TV, someone can explain

[Brownbear]

Thank you Binnur and Terri, and a belated thank you to Chauncey!

Grahame... I have no doubt that you will capture a beautiful image of a heron if you set your mind to it. If you are out by the ocean during the early morning hours a heron encounter is inevitable.

Terri... Thank you for your encouraging words. Viewing your images and heeding your advice has made a difference to my photography.

Binnur... Yes, I can see why one might prefer this image. I'm kind of emotionally attached to the first image because of the magic of the water droplets and reflections.

And a special thank you to Dan for showing me a different way to expand the canvas.

Original Image with more water...

I expanded the canvas added the other two images as layers; moved these to position for water on the top and the right of the image. And erased everything but the water. I'm happy with the expansion on the top of the image but the right hand side still needs work... faintly discernible.. ripples are pretty but impossibly difficult to work with.



Binnur's image

Processed as above using the 3rd image which had more water on the bottom...



Thank you to everyone for your help. This was far easier than cloning, and I can advise that for future reflection images I will be doubly careful to ensure that there is enough room for the bird to move!

[Mike Buckley]

The last image makes so much sense to me. I suppose that for people who know the feeding habits of birds or maybe this species in particular, the image above it is interesting. However, if you want the image to appeal to more people including those such as me who are ignorant about those details, consider that for those people the last image is easy to understand and the one above it is very confusing.

[Brownbear]

Thank you for sharing. Indeed I can see that, and it is very helpful to know. Indeed, as much as I love water ripples and their reflections the resulting images are sometimes a little strange.


Thank you!

The last image makes so much sense to me. I suppose that for people who know the feeding habits of birds or maybe this species in particular, the image above it is interesting. However, if you want the image to appeal to more people including those such as me who are ignorant about those details, consider that for those people the last image is easy to understand and the one above it is very confusing.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Christina, I really like 'before' image with more water at the bottom. As a last step, I would clone out the tiny dots around the bird and its reflection for a cleaner look. For me this is the best of the series

[Brownbear]

Thank you Binnur,

I will do just that when I work on the final image. Likely an errant feather and its reflection.

Hi Christina, I really like 'before' image with more water at the bottom. As a last step, I would clone out the tiny dots around the bird and its reflection for a cleaner look. For me this is the best of the series