I can’t believe that it is already the fourth week of May, where did the time go?!
For my fourth submission to the One Four Challenge I have chosen a version of my image that is a combination of sketching and painting…
Week 4
As with week 3, I was trying out different ways to make the background less distracting, while still having the image have a hand sketched and painted feel.
I tried out a new brush called, “Structure Chaos” from the gps-gimp-paint-studio (click to enlarge)…
How-To
Starting with the Week 1 image, and repeating the blurring of the background like I did for Week 3, I then duplicated the color layer…
Then I used the color picker to get a pretty green and painted the background. I also painted part of the hand with a similar flesh color, and touched up a few feathers on the hummingbird with colors similar to the feathers…
I changed the blend mode to Overlay and reduced the opacity to 74%.
I also changed the opacity on the other layers:
- color overlay 76%
- hard light 46%
- burn 34%
- multiply 44%
Kind thoughts and comments are welcome. 😀
And now for the Poll…
Until next time…
~nic
I have joined a month-long photo post-processing challenge called One Four Challenge, hosted by Robyn at Captivate Me. “This challenge is about processing １ image in 4 different ways over 4 weeks.” Every Monday Robyn posts a new version of her photo and challenges us to do the same each week.
* GIMP is Open Source software that is available for all platforms (Linux, Mac, and Windows), it is a photo editor that does many (if not all) of the things you can do in Photoshop. You can download it for free here. The GIMP online manual can be found here.
Photography by Nic 
Looks like I’m in the majority this week. I liked week 3 in color because of your ability to get rid of the distracting background. What a great job!
Thanks, Emilio! 😀
Really nice to hear about the hummingbird rehab, since a gorgeous bird. I have to say, Nic, I love the original with its softness and gentle colour. Have followed your edits with interest from a technical point of view though.
Thanks, Chris! 😀 The original is nice, I agree. Since it was taken with my cell phone (while I held the bird in my other hand) the background is more distracting than I would have wished. But the detail in the feathers is pretty nice. 🙂
I really like this effect!! But all were really interesting edits. and the original is beautiful. Is the hummingbird ok?
Thanks, Cybele! 😀 As far as I know the hummingbird is ok. She had all of her feathers, and didn’t appear to be injured (only orphaned) when I gave her to the vet/sanctuary people for the hummingbird rescue to pick her up. The rescue is about an hour away and I was assured that the woman was an expert at rehabilitating hummingbirds and encouraged to leave the little bird there for her to pick up. I inquired with the vet/sanctuary later in the day and the bird was picked up soon after I left. This hummingbird rescue is the only one in the area, so they get all of the injured/orphaned hummingbirds. I have heard great things about the abilities of the woman who runs the rescue from several different sources. I think about the little bird often and hope that she has regained her strength, learned how to fly, and has been released out into the wild again.
thanks so much for sharing this lovely story Nic!! Loved your images!!
🙂
Wow Nic! You’ve had another great month of experimenting and learning. Good on you!!
I found it hard to choose again this month, but I’m going with number 3 as one of your processes and I still like the original too!
Thanks, Robyn! 😀 I like week 3 too. It was a fun month of experimenting with new brushes and ideas. 🙂
Awesome Nic 😃 Thats exactly what its about!
😀