Before and After #137

This game is to help those of us who are trying to learn new tricks when it comes to editing.

Here's the breakdown of the game. I will post a picture that I choose, resized to exactly 1024 pixels maximum on the long side. Outside of being resized it has to be unedited...meaning no adjustments to any levels, it has to look like it did as it came out of the camera.

The game will last 48hrs and whoever can produce the best edited image (as judged by me) will be picked and it'll be their turn to post their unedited picture for all of us to take a crack at.

The participants must have their "Image Editing OK" turned on and they must provide at least a simple breakdown of how they edited the image, some entrants are a little vague on this point, please give us all details so we can learn and share tips. For instance if you use the unsharp mask tool or Smart Sharpen, provide us with the adjustments you used so others can try them out.

You can post multiple images, but the first image you post will be the one that is judged - all other images will be considered for knowledge and tip use only.

Also, please keep all comments, be they positive or negative, to yourself until after the game has ended.

If you happen to be the winner of the game please start the next one with the title of the game and the following number. For example…the next game should read "Before & After #138".

This is all about having fun so have at it!!!
Any edit, over-the-top creative or subtle, is encouraged!

This game will end on Sunday, 7 December at 12am (East).
I'm moving it a few hours later to suit everyone.

I don't have much to offer at the moment, but thought this pic might have some options. Cape Town, SA.
Ps: My file size is small (43.9Kb), but the image still apprears very large.... not sure why.

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This one was tough... what to do???

SO I duplicated the image into two new layers, used the Multiply option to bring in some of the lost detail i the white feathers, then quick masked both layers and lightened the shadows.

Next, I used selective color to make the sky a darker blue then overlaid a color layer and painted it in a light gray (making sure to make the water reflection match color), adjusted opacity to 70%.

Last, I used the glass distortion filter and added a raindrop action, then painted in some runnels and water splashes.

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

Ok, well...honestly I thought this pic was great as is and couldn't figure out how to improve it very much.....so I decided to play around a little, just for fun.
Selected seagull
Copied to new beach background
Flipped horizontal to fit direction of sun on background image
Added slight blur to seagull
Duplicated seagull into new layer
Filled new layer with black
Flipped, rotated, free transform to attempt to cast shadow in natural way (though I fiddled with this forever and still am not perfectly happy)
Adjusted fill/opacity on shadow
Applied gaussian blur to shadow (radius 1.6)
Adjusted curves, selective color
I think that's it.


-Lucy

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Sorry everyone, guess I picked a difficult one...
I'm not going to be here until a bit after the deadline, I'll choose a winner at about 1:30pm (east) or so, if that's okay.

Not bad guys Still tough because they're so different.
You're up Vet!

Sorry I didn't get a chance to play this round, Squip.

Congrats, Vette...cool effect!