Junco on My Deck (Graphic Novel filter)

This little Junco landed on my deck, and I grabbed my camera and was able to capture a few frames before it flew away. I processed the RAW image file with Photoshop Elements. I took the file through the Graphic Novel filter, slightly tweaking the setting. Then I went over to Paintshop Pro to crop the image (I like Paintshop's crop tool better than Photoshop's). And there you go! Thanks for stopping by and looking at my picture! :)

Fish and Turtle (Dry Brush, Graphic Novel filters)

I've just about reached the end of my zoo/aquarium photos. This photo of fish and a turtle (sorry, these images may not be reused) was in a tunnel where the fish could swim overhead, so I was able to catch an "underwater" view from inside the tunnel looking up. Thanks for stopping by!

Clown Fish (Dry Brush, Graphic Novel filters)

No, they weren't funny... This is a zoo/aquarium photo of a school of clownfish (sorry, these images may not be reused.) Combining these active fish with a dark environment made for extremely difficult picture conditions, however, except for a little bit of fringing in the color image, I am pleased with the end result. Thanks for stopping by and looking at my pictures! :)

Sea Horse at the Aquarium (Graphic Novel filter)

This is a zoo/aquarium photo (sorry, these images may not be reused) of a sea horse! I have included both the color original and the graphic novel filtered version. Thanks for stopping by and looking at my pictures!

Sea Creature (Dry Brush filter)

This is a zoo/aquarium photo (sorry, these images may not be reused) of... I'm not really sure what this is. It was somewhere near the sea horses, but I'm pretty sure it's not a sea horse. Thanks for stopping by!

Sea Anemone (Graphic Novel filter)

This is a zoo/aquarium photo (sorry, these images may not be reused) of a sea anemone. The base of the sea anemone reminds me of some kind of colorful glove or sock. Taking this underwater photo through glass, I was surprised at how well it turned out. The top image is my HDR version. The middle is my graphic novel filter in black and white. And finally, the colorized graphic novel filter. Thanks for stopping by and looking at my pictures! :)

Dark Turtles (Dry Brush, Graphic Novel filters)

This is a zoo/aquarium photo (sorry, this image may not be reused) of several turtles. I didn't really even know that there was more than one turtle in this image until I ran it through the HDR processing in Photomatix, when the two turtles in the dark background showed up. What can I say; this was a very difficult image. The setting was extremely dark, so I went with a higher ISO (800) and dropped my exposure bias -2.

First is my original without the HDR.

Next is the HDR processed version, filtered with a dry brush and the graphic novel filter.

Finally, I layered my original above into the dry brush/graphic novel filtered version.

Thanks for stopping by and looking at my pictures!

Stingray (Dry Brush, Graphic Novel filter)

This is a zoo/aquarium photo (sorry, this image may not be reused) of a stingray, which made for an interesting challenge of trying to create an image of an animal that was in more or less constant motion in moving water. My solution? Take lots of pictures, realizing that most of them are going to be no good. (Did I mention that lighting conditions are awful? Low light, and then special lights that reflect off the surface of the water...) Here's what I came up with for today's image. Thanks for stopping by!

Chipping Sparrow: Three Strikes? (Dry Brush and Graphic Novel filters)

So, maybe this is a three strikes post. The first strike is the first image, a chipping sparrow in the grass. I really like the chipping sparrow, but some of the grass around it was a little hazy. So, I doctored things up for my second image by first running the image through the Dry Brush filter before running it through the Graphic Novel filter. Result? A very sad looking sparrow. Strike 2. Liking the Dry Brush background somewhat better than the original (ie, the haziness has been blurred over,) I clipped the sparrow out of the first image and pasted it over top of the sad looking sparrow in the second image. Did it work? Or is it strike three? Thanks for stopping by and looking at my pictures! :)

Junco, Dark and Light (Dry Brush and Graphic Novel filters)

Here are my color and black-and-white versions of an image of a junco in the grass in my yard. The Junco came out really dark, but the grass (especially in front of it) came out really light. The colorized version shows the grass in front at a lighter shade, while the grass surrounding the Junco is rather dark. Thanks for stopping by and looking at my pictures! :)

Snow and Trees (Graphic Novel filter)

More of the same, or maybe something a little bit different? Sometimes, you have to go digging back through the archives, and this photo (with a fish-eye, no less) was what came up.

Thanks for stopping by!

Junco in the Grass (Dry Brush, Graphic Novel filters)

This Junco image was out of focus, so I ran the Dry Brush filter over it to make it a little less dizzying, and then I ran it through the Graphic Novel filter for the effect that I like. Thanks for stopping by and looking at my picture! :)

Dark-Eyed Junco, tilted (Graphic Novel filter)

I tilted this image in order to crop out a hideous eye-sore that draped itself across the upper right quarter of the image. Doing so gives quite the image quite a visual alteration, so that the angle has a disoriented feeling to it. It probably also adds a little bit of visual interest, more so than you would have with yet another straight-on shot of a Dark-Eyed Junco. Thanks for stopping by!

Birds in the Grass (Graphic Novel filter)

There were lots of different birds out picking through the grass. Thanks for stopping by and looking at my pictures!

Junco Eating a Little Ball (Graphic Novel filter)

This Junco was picking around in the ground underneath of an evergreen tree and came up with some kind of little green ball in its beak, probably a seed. Of the three processed images today, my favorite is the black and white graphic novel filtered version on the top. The third picture, the "original" HDR, has a little too much shading, and the Graphic Novel filter lightened the effect, so that even though it is still darker than the rest of the image, the darkness is not particularly overpowering. Thanks for stopping by and looking at my pictures! :)

Chipping Sparrow in the Grass (Graphic Novel filter)

Here is a chipping sparrow in the grass, processed with the graphic novel filter and then colorized via layering. In the black and white version of this image, the chipping sparrow is slightly difficult to pick out. With only a slight hint of color, it is easier to find in the second image. Thanks for stopping by!

Dark-Eyed Junco Looking at You (Graphic Novel filter)

Thanks for stopping by and looking at my pictures!

Dark-Eyed Junco (Graphic Novel filter)

The Dark-Eyed Junco is one of my favorite birds of the early spring and late fall. For some reason, I never see them around during the summer time. (They must go somewhere else!) Thanks for stopping by and looking at my pictures! :)

Squirrel in Motion (Graphic Novel filter)

My "squirrel in motion" picture here was nothing really special. In many ways, this is a technically imperfect image. (Having the squirrel in better focus would have made the background blurring cool, but with everything blurry...) Still, I liked the pose that I caught here, which reminded me something of a kangaroo. After processing the image for HDR, I also passed it through Photoshop's Graphic Novel filter. Thanks for stopping by!

Robin in the Grass (Graphic Novel filter)

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Trees, Trees, and... (Graphic Novel filter)

More trees.

Actually, living in Minnesota, it is quite common to see trees. Lots of them. Even more than what you see pictured here in this photo. ;)

Thanks for stopping by!

Trees and Water (Graphic Novel filter)

I'm not exactly sure where the phrase "under the weather" came from, but I am definitely under it. I hope you enjoy my pictures. Thanks for stopping by!