Texture Tuesday - Natural

Our theme in Texture Tuesday this week is "natural."  I interpreted that to mean something from the natural world.  Believe it or not, the next picture is the original photo!

You can barely see the gull!  I did some serious cropping.

There were square pixels showing around the gull, so I used my clone tool to get rid of them.

Next, I added Kim Klassen's texture, "Deep Sigh," at normal, 50%, and used Contrast +25.

Under "Styles" I selected Sun Faded Photo, at 90% opacity.  I worked with "levels," and I added a Lens Flare to mimic the sun.  I also added the text.  The source of the text was a book cover:

I worked more on transforming my image: 
Find edges, multiply 40% opacity
Posterize 15, 50% opacity
Levels

Close, but I was still finding this a wee bit rough, so my last process was to add another of Kim's textures:  "Awaken" soft light, 25% opacity.  That softened it just a little, and gave me my final image:

Photos du Jour - Model Gull

I was walking at the beach one day and saw this laughing gull.  (That's the gull's name - he wasn't actually laughing!  They do make a really loud cawing noise.)

He walked towards me as I took pictures.

Maybe he was hoping I had bread with me!

Unfortunately, I didn't have anything to feed him to pay for his modeling services.

A smallish gull with a black head, the Laughing Gull is abundant along the southern Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Infrequently found away from the ocean, it takes advantage of human habitat modifications, foraging in parking lots and dumps, and breeding on dredge spoil islands.  (Info from the internet.)

Photo du Jour - Laughing Gull

Laughing Gull
Atlantic Beach, North Carolina

Photo du Jour - Reserved Parking

Reserved Parking
Taken at Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.