Mallard

[vicphotog]

I took this photo of a mallard because he swam into my frame while I was adjusting aperture for another shot and stared at me until I did... a pretty dull photo that is sharper at the tail than on the eyes and head so I decided to crop and add a texture and some tones, but wanted to keep as much of the bright green of his head as I could.... C&C is welcome

[jiro]

This one is for keeps. It looks like a painting. Very nice! The soft focus adds to the beauty of the image. I really like it.

[mythlady]

I like this a lot, Rachel -- the composition is good and I really like the texture(s?) you used. The only thing I personally would do is take some of the texture off the duck to bring him into a little sharper focus. Very nice!

[vicphotog]

thank you both, I really do like the overall image as well..... Elise, I'm very new to this art of using textures (this is only one, it's an old vintage wallpaper) so I don't quite know yet how to reduce how much of it shows on the subject... tips or tricks for that? Many thanks!

[mythlady]

Are you using Photoshop? You have to be able to do layers and layer masks, and I'm not sure whether Elements can do that yet.

If you're in Photoshop, have the layer with the texture active. Then click the mask button at the bottom of the Layers palette. This will put a rectangle in the texture layer; be sure you're clicked on that, then get the brush tool from the left tool panel. Up at the top you'll see a box that says "Opacity" -- that's how much of the texture you'll be leaving, so start with something like 80% and start brushing the texture away from the main subject. That will take 20% of the texture off. If it's still too much, then set the opacity lower and brush again. I hope that helps.

[vicphotog]

that's great, thank you so much! I'll give it a try then post the pic again after

Are you using Photoshop? You have to be able to do layers and layer masks, and I'm not sure whether Elements can do that yet.

If you're in Photoshop, have the layer with the texture active. Then click the mask button at the bottom of the Layers palette. This will put a rectangle in the texture layer; be sure you're clicked on that, then get the brush tool from the left tool panel. Up at the top you'll see a box that says "Opacity" -- that's how much of the texture you'll be leaving, so start with something like 80% and start brushing the texture away from the main subject. That will take 20% of the texture off. If it's still too much, then set the opacity lower and brush again. I hope that helps.