...
Edge of Town - 2

Here's the photoshop sketches that got it started:

Here's a few frames (below) from the contact sheet that's
the basis for this one and also
the previous 'Edge of Town', which seems to be one of my most popular prints.

Edge Of Town - 1

 

Here's a contact sheet for the other side of the montage image,
all taken in Joshua Tree NP.

I think I used one of the two at the bottom, and it was flopped, horizontally.

The question when I blended the two together was..
How do I dodge out the left side?

This is one option, above, done w/ a straight edged dodging tool.

This is the other - using 50% a straight edge dodge tool,
and 50% an oval dodging tool, so i get more exposure at the top & bottom.

The first way gets me to...

(V1)

 

and the second...

(V2)

I really like this second one, no matter if it is an 'in progress' thing.
.

Then I added the birds, actually not desert birds, which would probably
be crows, but in this case gulls at Ocean Beach, San Francisco.

I added the birds from the white outlined frame.

I burned in what I needed thru the 'tried and true black card w/ a circular
hole in the middle'. Which is really hi-tech, isn't it? ;-)

 

which ended me up here...

(V3)

One thing that bugged me about this was the totally white door
at the lower left... so the last/4th sheet got an extra dose of birds.

(V4)

Ahh! Now that's it!
Nothing like an 'extra dose of birds', is there? ;-)