I built the background with paint brushes and mixer brushes. I selected the colors based on complementary colors from the bird's aqua blue.
I used a dry textured brush on the feathers and had to build a new brush for the branch. I wanted some texture on the wood but didn't want to spend a lot of time painting it.. so this was done with a very loose stroke. The lighting was enhanced with a couple of luminosity masks and levels adjustments. I used my color dodge "glow" layer to pop the highlights of the eye.
Read more stories about my painting and compositing work on my blog:
https://terributlerphotography.com/posts/
https://terributlerphotography.com/posts/
