Posted by Daniel Loomis on April 14, 2009 at 8:59 PM
The background on this image was incredibly tangled and busy. I used quick mask to select the background and then applied Gaussian Blur. I was just curious to see if I could do it, but now I am afraid it looks contrived, or worse, unnatural. Critical comments welcome.
Before and after images can be viewed at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/revcurmudgeon/
Posted by Wayne Rhodus on April 14, 2009 at 9:41 PM
Oh my, you've been hard at work and the results show the dividends being paid. I absolutely love this! The selection looks great and the background looks very complimentary without being unbelieveable.
I would just touch up a few areas of the lower portion of the branch to remove the dark shadows and print this large! BTW, nice eye!
Wow, this is really nice Daniel! Your post processing looks great to me - the background looks quite natural. I would never have thought you did anything if you hadn't mentioned it. Beautiful shot!
Posted by Brad Mangas on April 15, 2009 at 9:17 AM
The hawk is great Daniel. I understand your concerns with the background. I have done some blurring of background with certain shots using Gaussian blur and I get the same feeling. Like it just doesn't seem natural. You have a very nice shot here and the background really looks ok. Sometimes one can play with the amount of blurring, give or take and get a result that is more as you may prefer.
This is definitely a top notch shot and worth any time you may devote to it.
Posted by Barry Southon on April 15, 2009 at 7:03 PM
Daniel
Great subject with exceptional detail. I think the back ground enhances the photo.
Nice work, if you hadn't of mentioned anything I wouldn't have noticed anything wrong with the background. I wonder if you applied a bit of blurring to the ends of the branch the hawk is sitting on if it would appear a bit more natural? The branch (to me) appears to run in front of and behind the bird and I would expect with a really shallow DOF that perhaps bits of the branch would have started to blur out, but not the same degree as the background? Just a minor thing though and not sure if it would add anything to the shot to try that.
Discussion
5 repliesBefore and after images can be viewed at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/revcurmudgeon/
I would just touch up a few areas of the lower portion of the branch to remove the dark shadows and print this large! BTW, nice eye!
Great work Daniel!
This is definitely a top notch shot and worth any time you may devote to it.
Great subject with exceptional detail. I think the back ground enhances the photo.