Taken with a teleconverter in macro mode on the Oceanside Peir, which provided the blurred, indistinct background. The outline's were the first thing that captured my eye when I viewed these pictures, and so seemed a good candidate for the shapes challenge. The down side was that it was a foggy day, so the beach/ocean in the background was duller and darker than I would have liked. I considered going b&w with this, but liked the colors in the pigeon's neck area. Decisions, decisions...
Made about as much use of the open editing rules as I'm capable of at the moment - used selections to apply different curves and color adjustments to the bird and the background, used the cloning stamp to repair some edges that got screwed up by the above actions, and I tried a trick to bring some more detail out in the feathers with a desaturated and blurred layer but it didn't work too well. Everything else was pretty much the normal (minimal) stuff I always do. Without the selection, I probably wouldn't have been able to get good results between the bird and the beach - and as it was, they weren't great.
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Greetings from the Critique Club:
This met the challenge for me. I love the "Avian Contour" title and felt that the shape was indeed the important factor in the image. That being said I wonder if you thought of cropping this at the top where there is motion (water) that is unclear. This would have the effect of tightening the emphasis on the pigeon's curves. It appears a bit over-sharpened, especially around the crown of the head and down the back where there is some haloing. The backgound is a bit muddy and, again, the crop might help that. The feather detail is nice and the violet at the neck is a luscious color, especially where it fades into a hunter green that is very satisfying. An interesting entry and one with a fresh perspective.
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