As Graceful as They Should Be

Since the weather at Minnesota is lately abnormal – too warm and snow starts melting. It is not a good time for me to go out to shoot skiing or snowboarding (if you like to see the photos of winter sports, here are some). So most of these days I have been sitting at home to learn something new in photography techniques. The inauguration of new president inspired me to make something for such a special day.

I searched through my achieved photos, picked up some photos of fireworks I took during late Independence Day and bald eagle pictures I shot in a local raptor center last weekend, then I downloaded couple of American flag from internet. These three things represent beauty, strength and unity, which I like to combine together to celebrate a new era.

I took two steps using Photoshop. First I copied and pasted fireworks onto flag, reach to a satisfied effect by adjusting blend model, opacity and fill. Second I copied and pasted combination of fireworks / flag onto bald eagle. then change blend mode into “screen” so that bald eagle can show up from underneath. After merging all layers together, adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, etc. to let the final results show grace and harmony.

Here is it.