The Birds

Carmel River State Beach

I love how the clouds help make the birds look a little 3D. I also love how deep the sky is. My horizon was off just a touch so I cropped to straighten that. I increased the contrast and clarity to give it more of an HDR look. I didn’t like how sharp it made the water look so I used two separate adjustment brushes on the water to drop down the clarity and contrast on it. I also made the water temp a little bluer and it ended up mirroring the color of the sky a little better. I sharpened the whole picture and decreased the noise just a bit. The original:

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