Dragon Fly

[jayne]

Anyone fancy playing with this one? I'd love to see what can be done with it. I took it yesterday, EXIF data should be intact. I've attached my edited version (which is rubbish) and the SOOC version. Thanks. :)

[Kaye]

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Hi Jayne,
I have just done a very quick edit on this. I have tried to make his wings stand out a little more.
With more time, this could be better.
Your orig on left, my edit on right.

[jayne]

Oooh, that's nice Kaye. I like that!! :D

Anyone else?

[Kaye]

Thanks Jayne,
It is difficult to edit a "small" pic.
Perhaps next time if you wish to add a thumbnail, don't donwsize too much in order to upload.
Presuming your original shot is say around 1mb+ in size, you can also post a larger version of your shots by first posting them to your gallery. Then you must copy the link from the photos "Properties" and then upload thru the Go Advanced" option.
Please ask if you have any questions. You may know all this already.

[jayne]

Thanks Jayne,
It is difficult to edit a "small" pic.
Perhaps next time if you wish to add a thumbnail, don't donwsize too much in order to upload.
Presuming your original shot is say around 1mb+ in size, you can also post a larger version of your shots by first posting them to your gallery. Then you must copy the link from the photos "Properties" and then upload thru the Go Advanced" option.
Please ask if you have any questions. You may know all this already.


I didn't think about posting it to my gallery first. I normally use Flickr, here's the URL of the original:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3548/3678170040_0677dc1885_o.jpg :)

[Pat]

Hello jayne. So I looked at it and thought, "a bit of a challenge". A bit too much of a challenge for me. As I see it, the problem is the all but disappearing wings due to the mottled background. So I crossed the ethical line from "enhancement" to "manipulation". I found a new pair of wings in Google Pictures.. Mine is no longer a "photograph", but a "depiction".

The process: First I painted a mask on the body and converted it to a selection. Inversed the selection and blurred the bkgnd slightly. Inversed the selection back to the body and adjusted shadows and highlights.
I then made a copy of the body (from the selection), pasted it back into the selection marquis (the "marching ants" that deliniate a selection)on a new layer, changed the blend mode to "overlay" and applied the "high pass" filter @ 1 pixel radius.(this is my fave sharpening method).
Next, I pasted in the new wings, selected the black filament areas of the wings and filled them with black to increase contrast, followed by a slight opacity adjustment in the layers palette.
Finally I removed a bit of the colour cast and applied an "accented edges" filter to the bkgnd.
If you don't have Photoshop, I hear Gimp is similar and can use the same types of plug-ins, and is free.

Cheers...

[Pat]

And just for the heck of it....