Baby on beach

In this exercise I decided to have a baby at the beach snuggled up under the water. So started with the background & the baby, which I selected. I did this only roughly to get the effect - I'll do that properly later.

Then I selected the foam which I put on top of the baby:

I decided to add a bit of interest with a pelican. I selected the pelican & fixed his wing:

Then I placed him beside the baby.
Then I had him lifting up the water with his beek.

This took lots of steps & I still havent got it right. Lots of shadow fixing to do. Also lighting. This is where Im up to. Might even change the background. When I was doing this I noticed that I have lightened the background - will fix this too.

MUCH LATER:

I worked some more on the baby/pelican scene . Shadows & lighting was very hard & tedious to do

Not sure whether mottled light is right. Have added a yellow layer for under the wave .

Swan image cont

Taking into a/c what everyone said last light I changed the image to:

It is very messy & maybe still people are not getting the message! I'd have to say this has not worked.

So I started on another background which looks much better (more moody too) but is not a 'story' nor a bit quirky which was what I was trying to do.

This comes from several images - previously I have explained the Person & swan. This is just the background:

After much thought I have decide to keep with the swan lake background. Lots of shadowing has been added & a shoe put onto the foot.

Swan Photo with 'Leonardo'

My aim was to produce a Leonardo shot a la Annie Leiberwitz with a difference. I started with a shot of Brooke which I selected. Then there were lots of swan shots taken. Some of these were selected.

Then I put it together like this:

There was lots of liquifying to be done & masking & shadows made. Then I decided on a background. Decided on this tranquil one of Willinga Lake with plenty of swans on it.

Then I added a bit of interest:

The 'painting' was textured to look like canvas. I put a blue under the painting so I could make brush strokes to the lower layer ( at edges of painting).

Not sure whether it is convincing. Hopefully people will look twice at the foot exiting the image. My thought are that it is a bit dull. Might need a different background.

I think the B & W is more interesting & a stronger image. There is less confusion than with the colour & it is more Annie Leiberwitz.

Water Lilies - STEPS

So I started the long process of selecting single leaves & placing them in the circle big ones in the middle. There were heaps of layers.

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As time went on I could use a few groups as long as they were not spread out too far

The outer layers were faded with hugh/saturation & the leaves were squashed a bit. They were spread around in small clusters.

I had to flatten various parts as the file was getting too large.

Then I had to make a graduated globe - that was lopsided.

Once the lopsided globe was in place I added foliage to the outer ring. Also some trees of various sizes.

THERE IS STILLL A WAY TO GO!

This is where I'm up to at Checkpoint 1

4 April: