Retouching Wildlife Eyes

I have this great image of a bald eagle close up. As you can see I have some great detail in my subjects eye already, but what if I want to go a step further and make that eye realistic and give it a little pop.

Most of us have been taught to add a layer and use a round brush with white and paint a dot to make a catch light effect and thus give the eye a bit of sparkle. This technique is fine as long as you don't look too close. My background in painting tells me I need more, more realism.

Add another layer mask then choose a sky color from the color picker.

Now paint a little squiggle in an arch motion in the eye like this.

Now go to filters> Gaussian blur. I use about 4.5 - 5 to soften my images. Also at this time drop down to the previous layer and do the same to the catch light dot we added at the beginning.

Now go back to the the blue layer and reduce the opacity. This adds roundness and transparency to the eye.

Here's the final image. Although the orinal image was acceptable, I like the added effect. Now if you're one of those people that frown on retouching any wildlife image then please disregard this article.

Amish Country

Amish farmer still using mules to hay. His little dog leads the way. I added some painterly effects to enhance the sky.

Strasburg Covered Bridge

I like to photograph covered bridges in case you haven't noticed. One of the attractions for me is their interesting history and probably the fact there are no covered bridges where I live. Although the bridges seem to look all the same, each one is very different from the other, be it construction, color, condition or location. When you walk through one of these magnificent bridges it's like walking back through time. You can just feel the history. Some are even haunted with great stories behind them. Either way they are a great piece of americana.

Wilbur Buds

In Lititz, Pa, H.O. Wilbur and Sons produced their first batch of Wilbur Buds back in 1894.

They developed a technique for depositing specially blended chocolates into a mould that resembled a flower bud and they called them Wilbur Buds.

The company now specializes in all kinds of molded chocolates and distributes them world wide.

Pretzels of Lititz

Pretzels have an ancient history, but the origin of the pretzel remains a mystery. There are many stories as to how the first pretzel was created, the most common being that in 610 A.D. Italian monks used scraps of dough to form the shape of children’s arms in prayer, with three holes to represent the Christian Trinity. They were called “pretiola” in Latin or “little reward” and were given to children who learned their bible verses and prayers.

In 1861, after eleven years as a baker, Julius Sturgis stopped making bread and established the first commercial pretzel bakery in America.

Their pretzel tour not only gives a complete history and demonstration of how the pretzels are made.

They also teach a hands on training course of how to properly twist a pretzel complete with certification. I am now a pretzel twisting fool with papers to prove it.

Coleman Bridge over the Pequea

The Colemanville Covered Bridge is a covered bridge that spans Pequea Creek in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

The Colemanville Covered Bridge was originally built in 1856 by James C. Carpenter at a cost of $2,244. After being damaged twice by flooding, it was partially rebuilt in 1938 by Edmund Gardner and 1973 by David Esh. Lancaster county completely rebuilt the bridge in 1992 for $350,000.

The bridge has a single span, wooden, double Burr arch trusses design with the addition of steel hanger rods. The deck is made from oak planks. It is painted red, the traditional color of Lancaster County covered bridges, on both the inside and outside. Both approaches to the bridge are painted red with white trim.

This bridge has easy creek access and great for photography.

Erb's Mill

This was one of my favorite bridges from Lancaster county. The bridge was originally built in 1849 for a cost of $700. It was built on the Erb family's tract of land in the farming region along Hammer Creek. In 1887 the bridge was rebuilt by John G. Bowman for $1744. Today the bridge has been fully restored. It has easy access to the creek to get some great shots. I used a R-72 red filter to get the infrared effect on this image.