Unexpected Humor in an Image

I was so busy trying to shoot these beautiful McCaws in sharp detail on my camera (Blue Horizons Show at SeaWorld-Orlando) that I did not notice what else I was shooting. What a surprise! Although I must say I did a pretty good job of catching the birds while they were zipping by pretty fast. The birds even look like they are laughing!

After basic processing in Lightroom, I decided the image needed a soft background feel as it was really busy and the birds were getting lost in the background. So I went back to one of my all time favorite filters, Nik Color Efex Pro 4‘s Film Efex-Vintage, to get the look I liked. First the Darken/Lighten Center filter and Brilliance/Warmth filter were applied – both of these filters I use a lot as they always give nice results. But one of my very favorites is the Film Efex-Vintage filter – there are so many options with this one filter that it is amazing. This time Film Type 11 was chosen with the vignette turned off. It turned this image into these beautiful brown tones. Clean up, a Curves Adjustment Layer to add just a little contrast, a Photo Adjustment Layer set to Cooling Filter 80 at 43% density (applied to just the birds by filling the layer to black and painting back in the birds in white), Noiseware‘s Default preset, and a soft painted layer was used to slightly soften the trapeze artist. My Soft Sparkle Overlay Frame was added with a Color Fill Adjustment Layer clipped to it to change the color to a dark brown. To see other results of using the Film Efex-Vintage filter, check out some of my older blog links below……Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
The New Film Efex-Vintage Filter From NIK CEP 4
Loving SeaWorld!
Hawaiian Bliss!
Nik Color Efex Pro 4 Just Does It Right!