This the first time all winter she/he has been close enough to photograph. I had a ball. Now it is your turn. Have fun with this swan. Change the colors on the dull background. Make it classy or funky. Your choice.

Janet

Here's a quick try.

...on the rocks. Used Pano's Action Rainy Day and Irfanview's Raindrop filter for the condensed water effect. Used Embossworks White Ice for the initial etched cup conversion. :)

A mixture of
Smoothing
Lucis
Diffuse
Poster edges
Blur
Curves
Colour Balance
Masking

Nice Pic but had to crop, my feet where getting wet with all that water.

Peter

Similar to the last one but simplified instead of poster edges.

Peter

peter,

i really like that second one except for one thing; the swan's head is almost blending with the background and therefore not very distinct. otherwise, superb!

peter,

i really like that second one except for one thing; the swan's head is almost blending with the background and therefore not very distinct. otherwise, superb!


Good call Craig your right (again). I must concentrate more.

Peter

Beautiful pictures - thanks Janet. Reminds me of a song by Leonard Cohen which starts.."Now the swan, she floated on the English river..."
MargaretM

Thank you Janet for the photo's, Out of interest did you know that all swans in the uk belong to the Queen, and so are protected ( dont know what happens when they go to different climates )

I split them into two different catergories one i done a painting using impessionist and the other i practiced a bit of photo skill on ( that maybe open to debate ) :lol: :lol:

Palms

VERY nice Palms. I especially like number 1. I had such a hard time getting rid of the dark that I decided to keep it. Yours makes me wish I had taken the extra time. Kudos.

Janet

Lovely, Palms!

Great photo, Margaret! Had fun with this.

Color pencil clone in painter, then back to photoshop to clean up. The swan's head got lost in the dark background so I made a selection of it and set that with a Screen blend mode and merged down.

Very nice Swampy, a copy should be sent to Her Majesty ! ! ! ! !

Palms

This swan lost its mate to a predator a few weeks ago. Your classy contribution is very nice Swampy. Thank you.

Janet

Thank you, Palms and Janet.

Years ago, my dad bought a pair of swans and they seemed to love the lake in our back yard, but first one disappeared then the other. We always assumed that an alligator got them. :-) They were such a joy to watch from the dining room window over a cup of coffee in the waking hours of dawn on a mirror smooth lake reflecting the sunrise glow.

Years ago, my dad bought a pair of swans and they seemed to love the lake in our back yard, but first one disappeared then the other. We always assumed that an alligator got them. :-) They were such a joy to watch from the dining room window over a cup of coffee in the waking hours of dawn on a mirror smooth lake reflecting the sunrise glow.

You have a lake in your back YARD, with alligators!!!!!

Must a really big yard!!!!

Envy you.

Peter

Here's a portion of the view from my back yard. I am very lucky!

so we could call that a 'swampy lake', then, right? (oh come on, you were all thinking it :) )

LOL, Craig. Actually it's Lake Grassy, but Lake Swampy is fine with me.

Saves on the grass cutting I suppose having all that water in the way.



Peter

Nice photo captured and some original renditions posted.

Awesome Lqqker. You managed to put a lot of detail in there.

Janet

ahhh, lqqker, i was wondering if you would post (and glad you did). very, very lovely!

Lqqker. Very very nice.
The bars been raised here!!
NO Craig you can't order a drink, not that sort of bar.
Peter

Janet, thank you for the photo...
Swampy, I take it that swimming in the lake may not be all that healthy...

Ooooo, Pavel! That is gorgeous! How'd you do it?

Not many swimmers, but lots of folks on skidos and tubes. LOL

Swampy, thank you,
Sort of quick painting job. Selective blur followed by watercolor in Photoshop, brought it to Panter, tinting brushes to add grain, texture in Painter, sharpening and vinette in Photoshop.

More painterly interpretation this time. Similar to a recent post, attached is a low quality crop and here (http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/3631/swannw8.jpg)'s the signed version. :)

this first one is a simple touch-up in Paint Shop Pro. nothing really fancy. i just wanted to make a new base image for working in filter forge.

the rest are all with a new filter i just made called 'dark framing'. not really crazy about the name of the filter yet, but i do like some of the results coming out of it.

Pavel, very nice. Very masterful. Very painterly. Well done.

Lyle, you are into the fabric thing quite heavily it seems. Your pieces remind me of the cloth I used to see from the 40s and 50s.

Craig, WOW, you have been busy. Can't say I like the dark burgundy type one; but the others are terrific.

I wish the roads weren't icy and I'd go out this morning and take more elk and swan shots before 1. the elk loses his antlers and 2. the swans migrate back to where they live in the summer.

Have a great day ya'll.

Janet

Yes Craig i would say you are back on top form with filter forge,
the burgundy is a strange one but i do like how the swan looks like copper,and then last one would be my favorite except for the facial features they have disappeared a bit !

How about Fantasia of frames ( as they are not all dark )


Palms

janet, thanks :)

yes, been busy again now that my computer has settled down a bit.

the real work is in making the filters. once that's done and i've set up a bunch of pre-sets, it almost becomes a one-click operation to crank these things out. so, the creative side comes in the filter making and not as much in the filter using.

and yes, i was hesitant about including the burgundy, coppery one, but i threw it in anyways just for a bit of contrast and to show off the abilities of the filter. filter forge still amazes me in it's combination of power and simplicity of use.

palms, thank you :)

yes, i like the last one the best also. and i also noticed a bit of loss there. i'll have to work on that. there is a vingnetting that goes on in that filter and it may be extending too far and that may be what caused the loss.

and like i said to janet, the coppery one just struck me as kind of an interesting effect and not so much one that i normally display by itself, even though i do like the odd here and there :)

as for the name, hmmm.... fantasia... i'll give it some thought. there are quite a few 'frame' filters now in the filter forge library. i'll have to do some checking.

Janet...

Love your swan pics and by the look of all the beautiful art work done on your photos...so does everyone else...I took some swan photos last week...got a few in upright position but most of the time it was bottoms up as they must have been fishing!!!!

I really like all the different renditions you have all done...a real pleasure to view.... :thumbsup:

I used the cut out filter for mine and framed with an action...

Glad your computer is behaving Craig!!!

Patricia...