For fun, I heavily edited/processed the original photo of the two Gambel's Quail, just as the female decided to take off. With so many quail images now in hand (such fun and challenging birds!), I decided to have some fun with this one, using a combination of Lightroom, Photoshop, Topaz Impressions, and Color Efex. I have no idea if this is the exact order but think it was:
1. LR to do basic edits as I shoot in RAW
2. PS to do some adjustments to shadows and light, and remove some random branches on the sides
3. Topaz Impressions to make it mimic a painting
4. Color Efex for some reason but not sure which filters I ended up using -- I just randomly tried some and kept the ones I liked.
Definitely personally entertaining!
Lol - love your description of the steps - and the end result. As I looked at it i thought that it was interesting how your eye met the female first and she seemed to set the storyline. I wondered if you would get the same, or a slightly different, storyline if the image was flipped? I hope you don't mind but I copied your image and had a try. When it's reversed the male seems much for dominant and the female much more submissive...... :)
What your brain does always seems so interesting... Cheers Rob :)
What your brain does always seems so interesting... Cheers Rob :)