male black chinned hummingbird hovering at orange trumpet flower

Male Black Chinned Hummingbird PSP7-8

This is one of about eight possible species who would visit my hummingbird feeder during the year. They average 3 3/4 inches long, with the females larger than the males- egg laying requires greater size. Most flowers look huge compared to these birds.

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Sources

You will need my supplies folder, which includes a sample of colors I used, and the canvas itself.
When you open the canvas, immediately do a "Save As" and rename the canvas to work on a copy just in case a disaster happens to the original.
Supplies are available here.
For PSP7 users: Lighten/Darken options are under the retouch tool which looks like a hand.
The smudge tool is also an option of the Retouch tool.

Why you won't see any specific Lighten/darken settings.

The more you repeatedly go over an area with either brush, the darker it gets with darkening and lighter it gets with lightening. If we pretend I give you the exact settings I used, you still won't get the exact same results I got *that* particular time. I get very different results with the same settings on the same day.
I suspect those of you uncomfortable with this tool and other similar tools do not trust your own eyes.
You will need to trust your own artistic judgement.
Once I learned to do that myself, my own retouch tool group work improved to my own eyes.
I will give you rough settings: hardness and density less than 50.

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You will need to open the canvas file and the color swatch file in whichever version of PSP you will be using.

  1. Selections->Load from Alpha Channel 01 Back foot black.
    Fill with the "black" color.
    Optional: Use the Lighten brush in the middle and darken brush around the edge.
    Selections->select none.
    you are not seeing the bird with the feet, thighs and lower body added
  2. Selections->Load from Alpha Channel 02 back thigh lightest green.
    Fill with the lightest green color.
    Use the lighten and darken brushes.
    Selections select none.
  3. Selections->Load from Alpha Channel 03 Belly lightest green.
    Fill with the lightest green color.
    Use the Lighten brush in the middle and darken brush around the edge.
    Selections->select none.
  4. Selections->Load from Alpha Channel 04 flank middle green.
    Fill with the middle green color.
    Use the Lighten brush in the middle and darken brush around the edge.
    Selections->select none.
  5. Selections->Load from Alpha Channel 05 front foot black.
    Fill with the "black" color.
    Optional: Use the Lighten brush in the middle and darken brush around the edge.
    Selections->select none.
  6. Selections->Load from Alpha Channel 06 front thigh lightest green.
    Fill with the lightest green color.
    Use the Lighten brush in the middle and darken brush around the edge.
    Selections->select none.
  7. Selections->Load from Alpha Channel 07 body darkest green.
    Fill with the darkest green color.
    Use the Lighten brush in the middle and darken brush around the edge.
    Selections->select none.
    you are not seeing the bird after adding the wings
  8. Selections->Load from Alpha Channel 08 front wing1 lightest green.
    Fill with the lightest green color.
    Use the Lighten brush in the middle and darken brush around the edge.
    Selections->select none.
  9. Selections->Load from Alpha Channel 09 front wing2 darkest green.
    Fill with the darkest green color.
    Use the Lighten brush in the middle and darken brush around the edge.
    Selections->select none.
  10. Selections->Load from Alpha Channel 10 highlights gray.
    Fill with the gray color.
    Selections->select none.
    Smudge the highlights.
    Now, the feathers on the underwing show up a bit.
  11. Selections->Load from Alpha Channel 11 neck darkest green.
    Fill with the darkest green color.
    Use the Lighten brush in the middle and darken brush around the edge.
    Selections->select none.
    you are not seeing the bird after adding the head and other details
  12. Selections->Load from Alpha Channel 12 bill black.
    Fill with the "black" color.
    Use the Lighten brush in the middle and darken brush around the edge.
    Selections->select none.
  13. Selections->Load from Alpha Channel 13 lore white.
    Fill with the white color.
    Selections->select none.
  14. Selections->Load from Alpha Channel 14 gorget black.
    Fill with the "black" color.
    Use the Lighten brush in the middle and darken brush around the edge.
    Selections->select none.
  15. Selections->Load from Alpha Channel 15 head darkest green.
    Fill with the darkest green color.
    Use the Lighten brush in the middle and darken brush around the edge.
    Selections->select none.
  16. Selections->Load from Alpha Channel 16 band purple.
    Fill with the purple color.
    Use the Lighten brush in the middle and darken brush around the edge.
    Selections->select none.
  17. Selections->Load from Alpha Channel 17 markings white.
    Fill with the white color.
    Selections->select none.
  18. Last chance to correct any blending!
  19. Click on the Eye layer and unhide it.
  20. Save your image.
  21. Please be considerate and do not send images over 50K to the group! We all thank you.
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PSP7 tool icons are from MaMaT's icon tubes.

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