Photo & Digital Art Gallery - Honorable Mention

Driving along the loop at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge we found a very photogenic Cottonwood Tree. I photographed the backlit tree using a 16mm fisheye lens. I processed the image in Photoshop CS5 were I first applied a stylize anisotropic diffusion filter. Added a second layer to the image on which I used the fractalius sketch 2 filter. I was able to obtain the final result by masking parts of the second layer to show some of the original tree.

Equipment Used: Sony a900, Sony 16mm 2.8 fisheye, f13, 1/250, iso 200, natural light, cable release, Gitzo 3541 w/ Really Right Stuff BH-55 Ballhead.

About the Photographer: Hector D. Astorga is a professional nature photographer based in South Texas. He has enjoyed the outdoors since he was a kid growing up in his native country of Honduras. He has won many awards including Grand Prize finishes in Texas' biggest wildlife photo contests - the Valley Land Fund Wildlife Photo Contest and the Coastal Bend Wildlife Photography Contest. In 2009 he also won 1st place in the National Wildlife Federation Photo Contest in the Connecting People with Nature category. When not photographing, Hector can be found managing his small business in McAllen, TX or guiding for photographers at the Santa Clara Ranch where he is the ranch manager. To learn more about Hector and see more of his work visit his website.