When I saw this statue last week, I was amused by the pumpkin decoration for Halloween, but what I was really interested in capturing was the water:
I had used an f-stop of 13 to capture as much detail in the scene as possible. That ended up being a mistake because in the original, which I will put at the bottom of this post, there is too much detail in the grasses behind the elephant. I chose a shutter speed of 80 because I wanted some of the water to be frozen and some of it to still be in motion. That speed and the harsh light helps the water stand out in this photo.
The background I never managed to completely solve, but I did take some steps which I think helped. A fiddled around quite a bit in Photoshop, but for the version above here is what I have done. First I cropped the image and sharpened it a bit. Then I converted it to black and white. In honor of Halloween, I masked the orange of the pumpkin back in. That orange seemed a bit too cartoonish with the black and white. So I then put a photo filter layer on it, using the sepia setting. The pumpkin still sticks out because sepia and orange are not the same, but that combination is less jarring.
Here is the original:
So this week’s theme was descent. I was originally thinking of the descent of the water, but it could also be a descent into the madness of Photoshop. Let me know what you think of my created image in the comments below.
Cheers and Happy Halloween!
For a second I thought that was an actual elephant lol nice shot! 🙂
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Thanks very much 🙂
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You are so welcome 🙂
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Wonderful picture – somehow it fits Haloween – but it is also full of life (even though the elephant isn’t). Realy great!
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Thank you, I was trying to tie it into Halloween too 🙂
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I like both of your pictures. Your second definition is probably most accurate. 🙂
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Yeah, probably 🙂
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I love this. 🙂
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Thanks very much 🙂
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One of the best slants on Halloween I’ve seen.
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Thanks, I wanted to work it in somehow.
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I’m the same as Andy1076, I thought it was a real one! Well caught 🙂
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Thanks 🙂
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That is a lovely photo. Great work in Photoshop. I didn’t find the orange pumpkin glaring at all. In fact, I thought it blended in very well with the sepia hues. You definitely brought out the water splashing around, I was drawn to the ripples at the bottom of the shot. Good that it was a sunny day and you got a lot of light in the original photo 🙂
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Thanks, it took me awhile to settle on the sepia. Thanks for noticing the ripples, I didn’t write about them. The light in the original moment was great, even though it wasn’t the best for photography.
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Photoshop can lead to a definite descent to madness!! I have been thinking of that as a photo title but I haven’t found the picture to take yet. Nice post!!
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I pretty much feel the descent every time I open the program 🙂
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That’s a really stunning and comical image, Amy. Love the humour in it. 🙂
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Thanks 🙂
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Well done Amy .. I like your Halloween fun and the effect here .
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Thank you, I was trying to fit Halloween in somehow!
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Pingback: Photo Challenge: Descent | tnkerr-Writing Prompts and Practice
Stunning shot and what a beautiful statue! Love the edit. 😀
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Thanks!
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Descent into the madness of of photoshop – LOL😄 Love your choice this week!
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Thanks, it does feel like that a bit every time I open the program.
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This is one where I very much prefer your created version to the original!
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Thank you, the original just wasn’t exactly what I wanted 🙂
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Lovely use of selective colours.
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Thanks!
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Wow. What a wonderful photograph. Initially when I saw the smaller image of the photo, I thought it to be a real elephant. But when I opened the blog and photo full version, enlightenment descended upon me. Its such a beautiful photo. But what I loved most was your process of you made it finally from the original to the final product. It helps novice photographers like us who want to learn more and more about photography and editing.
Thanks once again. Have a great weekend ahead. 🙂
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Thank you very much for your kind comment, it’s nice to hear that you enjoyed reading the post.
Cheers!
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well – like andy, I thought it was real at first – from the cool edit you give us. 🙂 and while I love the edited version -I found that I liked the water spraying better in your edit – but I liked the actual puddled water better in the original – it was layered with color and just cool.
and I love the way you tied in halloween – the pumpkin was fun ❤ ❤
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Had to tie in Halloween somehow 🙂
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Reblogged this on ijanna.
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