Fun shot to work with this week!
GOAL: Give the owl a tree to sit in!
What I did (in PSP XI):
-Cropped way down to the owl
-Selected around the owl
-Created a mask layer with the selection
-Created a new raster layer to put behind the owl
-Deselected the owl
-Added a background to the new raster layer (a photo I recently shot of ice crystals on my window...they sorta look like tree branches!)
-Gaussian blur (90) to mask layer (owl) to blend owl into its new surroundings
-Merged all layers
-Cloned/painted pole (what I now call a branch) all the way across to both edges of the frame.
-Cloned some "leafy branches" over the black thick branch to give it a real 3D feel.
-Desaturated 100%
-Unsharp mask (radius 75, strength 15)
-Adjusted histogram midtones (-10)
-Added a pinch of green tones
-Added white border