Sentry

Gallery: Photo ArtPosted July 11, 2011104 views7 comments

This image is based upon a shot taken in Dec. 2010 in the Gov. Michael Gore Bird Sanctuary, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands and posted in the Avian Gallery. Especially because of the haunting look of the marsh, this image always reminded me of a picture in some children’s fairy tale book.

As a Photo Art topic I decided to try to make the marsh even more haunting. Most of the work was done using Corel Painter 12 using both "autopainting" for the boring parts and manual painting for the more interesting, more detailed parts of the image. I tried a wide variety of brushes. The last part of the image was completed with the help of Color Efex Pro in Photoshop, notably the fog filter followed up by a standard canvas texture.

All comments very welcome.

In accord with this month's challenge, I've posted the original photo below.
Here are the details for it.

EOS 7D, EF 100-400mm: ISO 640, 400 MM, 1/1250 S, F/8.0 Image is 3771x2914 pixels (=11 MP or 61% of the 18 MP of the 7D)

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on July 11, 2011 at 9:53 PM

Here is the original photograph.

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments

Comment posted by Carol Hyman on July 11, 2011 at 11:00 PM

Steve, I think you have succeeded quite well in creating a haunting version of the marsh. Well done. The only element I can't make up my mind about is the the diagonal branch fragment in the upper left corner. Really can't decide whether it contributes to the framing of the marsh or whether it detracts from the bird. The beak and the other diagonal branch point to it and it does help direct the eye around; maybe the solution is to desaturate that branch even more and keep it. I just can't decide.

But I do like this haunting version of a swamp.

Carol

PS Steve, the most interesting thing is that the thumbnail provides absolutely no hint of the image, per se.

Registered on January 18, 2007, 597 Posts, 8062 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on July 12, 2011 at 10:46 PM

Thank you very much for your comment, Carol. You're not alone in your uncertainty regarding the suitability of that upper branch. You can see the original photo had a complete upper branch. My first version (not posted) cropped it out entirely. I finally decided on a compromise partial branch version to post! To be continued......!

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments

Comment posted by David W. Kelly on July 13, 2011 at 3:44 PM

You have achieved a really nice result Steve. Nice image.

Registered on October 7, 2005, 883 Posts, 6590 Comments

Comment posted by Bruce King on July 14, 2011 at 12:50 PM

Nice effects Steve. this is only a comment not a criticism since I think it works well regardless, but the canvas texture seems far less apparent in the URC. I don't know if it would be an improvement if it was.....I'm just sayin'.

Registered on January 14, 2010, 276 Posts, 2212 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on July 14, 2011 at 3:12 PM

Thank you, David and Bruce. I much appreciated you both taking the time to make comments. Bruce, I returned to the original and I think I understand what happened. In the URC I used an impasto brush and more paint. I think it conceals the canvas texture and yet we don't see the brush marks in a three dimensional way in the posted jpeg nearly as well as in the original psd file. Curious.....I'm going to have a harder look at this aspect. It may not help me on this one but should on the next!

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on July 17, 2011 at 3:00 PM

Somehow missed this one earlier. Great job in the haunting of the image! The post is nicely mysterious. Yes, that diagonal branch in the UL doesn't fit very well, but you already know that. Neat treatment.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments