Lemme Alone

I photographed this Great Blue Heron in November, 2010 here in Mississauga near the Credit River. I posted the image in the Avian Gallery. Many of the comments remarked on the "grumpy" look of this bird.

For a Photo Art project I decided see if I could brighten the image up a bit and try to make the bg more interesting too. I divided the image up into three parts: upper bg, lower bg, and bird with branch. Then I used both Painter 12 and Photoshop, going back and forth between the two programs using different brushes in the former software and retouching as well as implementing some exposure control in the latter. Finally, I used Painter 12 to place a very faint sandy pastel texture on the image.

Here is the result. Below I've posted the original. More details on the original can be found at
http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/ic.cgi?a=vp&pr=161467&CGISESSID=87fbbf1cfa91505298b7199f641fe41a&u=32511

All comments most welcome.