Titled: “Waiting”

Spotting this turkey vulture perched in this dead cottonwood tree, I liked the composition. While we didn’t get any rain from this front passing through, the cloud cover gave me a background for the scene. Hoping I wasn’t the meal he was waiting for, I moved along the south side of the house for a good frame for the image.

I zoomed in for a good foreground/tree balance and took several pictures. When I have time for this kind of subject, I set the camera up for continuous exposures so in case the subject moves, I have a choice of images. I also knew that this would make a good black and white picture with the light/dark patterns in the clouds.

Editing included adjustments for levels, shadows/highlights, cropping, and sharpening. I converted to black and white using Elements and used the infrared filter. I applied a generous amount of Gaussian blur to create the mystery effect. Finally, I used a strong vignette around the edge of the scene.

As usual, your comments are welcome.