One Four Challenge – Jan Wk 4 redo – click to embiggen
As some of you may know, I had a critical backup failure and lost all my challenge images as well as all my textures and files for working in Photoshop. Included in that were my images for this weeks challenge.
Been slowly rebuilding the PC and sourcing all the files I lost and today I happened to be off work as I had my last remaining wisdom tooth out and it was really too unpleasant to go to work with a pounding headache, face feeling like a horse kicked it and it was still bleeding!
Today was spent trying to recreate my Wk 4 entry, of course it turned out completely different so here are my post processing steps in PS:
– retrieved base image off Flickr
– tested out several grunge overlays before deciding on this one, its blended with hardlight mode at around 75%
– a bit of soft brushing of a mask around 30% to bring back some detail and colour of the head and beak of the duckling
– looked at a couple of frame textures and decided I liked this one, blended with multiply mode at 97%- the overall image was a bit dark so added in an adjustment layer on top and increased brightness a fair bit and a bit of contrast
Forgot to add in the slideshow of all the other images!
Due to computer issues and not feeling 100% I didn’t spend as long on this as I might usually have.
All comments, tips, tricks and feedback welcome!
Learning to See Light 
Hope you feel better Stacey! And good luck with getting your computer back to normal.
I like weeks 2 and 3 the most. There was something about the eye of the duckling there that drew me in.
Thanks Anita, the drugs are helping and now I managed to carefully have something to eat I feel a bit better. Not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow tho 😦
Hopefully you’ll feel better about going back to work too! 🙂 But I can relate because I’d been ill the past few days, and felt lousy just thinking about work.
Sending you healing wishes too 🙂
Frozen peas or corn, saved my life with my wisdom teeth and keeps the swelling down. I bought 2 or 3 bags and rotated them in the freezer. Slept with them even.
So sorry to hear you lost all your work, that is so deflating! I love the black and white, not sure what week that was? Last week? The details of the feathers and contrast really brought me in. I love that one.
Hope you are feeling better soon!
Thanks Carrie, I have been lucky that there isnt much swelling, but due to how the tooth was in the jaw it took a lot of levering to get it out and the whole side of my face just aches and I have had some epic headaches.
I prefer a wheatbag on achy things rather than cold, I find cold seems to make it worse!
The drugs are helping and now I have managed to carefully eat something I feel better, it was the last one so no more to come out now hopefully!
Hope your night goes okay, that is rough when they are stuck 😦 I had all four of mine out at once, all impacted like you are describing…no fun at all.
Hope this passes quickly. Going back to work tomorrow sounds treacherous.
Oh god four out at once! Wha a nightmare! One is bad enough 😊
I was young! It sucked. So glad that is behind me. If I knew what I was getting into I would have been far more terrified.
lovely texture in this one! As per computers I just hate technology sometimes. I was quite fed up there for a couple of days too- such a pain to start over!!
Thanks yes the pic rebuild has been a bit tiresome but c’est la vie!
PS and hope you are feeling better with your jaw!!
Thanks me too 😊
Oh Stacey – you have got a bit on – failures and teeth 😦
Hope you and your jaw feel better every day.
Apologies for not knowing about both – keeping up seems to be a big job now, with all of our players. I best go back and read up.
I LOVE what you’ve done! I don’t know that you could go wrong with this image. It’s a classic – love that dear little guy and the added textures again this week.
Hugs!! xx
Thanks Robyn yes it has been unexpectedly exciting and not in a good way lately, but hopefully got rid of the worst of it now
Hope so too Stacey xx
Oh dear — hoping the pain is under control soon!
I like the texture/ background on this week — but I also like the bleached image too. Both have really good qualities to them 🙂
Thanks Jen its not too bad at the moment, comes and goes.
I’m quite fond of the bleach bypass version myself ☺️
Well, I’m glad there’s some improvement 🙂
Not fun at all. Remembering my own wisdom tooth experience…. yikes!
Oh Stacey, you’ve been through the wars! And being at the computer with a sore head – not a good thing… I love what you’ve done to your duckling, what a result when you weren’t feeling well. Really interesting texture and pattern. My favourite though is your Week1 edit. Take care of yourself. Chris
Thanks Chris, yes it’s been a challenge, I have my first mammogram scheduled for tomorrow, think will move to next week!
I’m really proud of my week one edit, worked really hard on that one, so glad it has a fan 😊
You did a great job for what outside challenge you had to face! Love all of the duckling pictuers, but I think I like the one from week 1 the most 🙂
So long as someone likes any of my images I’m happy😍
Welcome back to your computer and hope by now you are feeling much better from that wisdom tooth extraction. Like the whole duckie processing but if pushed (I will anyway) really like this weeks with the very subtle frame and the texture, it adds so much more to the image without taking away from the duckling.
Thanks Lee, this is a recreation of what I had previously done, except the frame was not quite as noticeable as this one but I couldnt find that frame. I liked this with the darker edging of the coloured texture layer as well 🙂
Yes that is what I liked about this one, that darkness and yet with something extra in it.
I feel your loss. Of the above images I’d go for week 2, the bleached look. Out of interest do you use Lightroom at all? MM🍀
Yes I use LR5 for all my std editing. All my base images are edited in LR, I only use PS for the fancy stuff that requires things like layers and blend modes.
Up until Xmas time I had never properly use PS at all in fact!
I got LR last year and did a PS course at the end of last year. A lot of experimentation going on. 🍀
I hear you, I have used LR since v2 and invested in training for it over the years, at Xmas I got a great deal on the PS Artistry grunge course and OMG learning so much about PS.
That is why I joined in this challenge, to force me to be brave and experiment and post it online ☺️
It is definitely a good challenge, especially as after the first 2 images you do have to push yourself that bit further. I need to do more trials with blending etc. but have so much on at the moment…………..Enjoy your day, MM 🍀
I especially enjoyed the second process .. though this one was really very interesting too. I’m so sorry you’ve not been feeling 100%, and have seen that you’d had computer problems … that is always a set back … hope everything pans out for you quickly!
Thanks B, yes its been a rough couple of weeks with one thing and another, Im looking forward to some normality!
I’m hearing you and hoping things pan out quickly!
It’s a beautiful image! Hope you feel better and get your computer back to normal soon.
I had a series of tooth abcesses a few years ago. My cat used to lie on my face which really helped with the healing. I just love the textures of the final image. Take care of yourself. 😀
Thanks Raewyn, mine are so fluffy they would suffocate me, fortunately the swelling isnt too bad on the outside but the jaw inside is pretty battered. I have been eating lots of soft foods and that has been helping 🙂
Goodness Stacey, you have been in the wars! Hope your jaw is feeling a little better, it sounds most unpleasant and painful! Computer problems seem to have been a real pain too. Considering all this, you have done a great job, retrieving your image and recreating it, it would have been easy to just give up. It is a really nice, detailed image of this very cute duckling, I remember thinking how good the black and white version was. Hope your week gets better! 🙂
Thanks Carrie, yes its been a pain in all sorts of ways and looking forward to being able to eat properly, and not have half my head aching like you wouldnt believe.
Slowly returning my computer to a useable state, its taking a while but getting there, now I have all my programs working that helps and people like Adobe and Nik have been really helpful with tracking down serial numbers and stuff.
You sound like you’ve had a dreadful week! I hope you’re feeling better soon and manage to retrieve at least some of your files. Great edit – I love the textured background. My favourite has to be week two, with the stark contrast between the duckling and the background. 🙂