[DannyRaphael]

FIRST MINI-CHALLENGE -or- NEW TO PHOTO-ART?
See below for "Information and Guidelines."

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PHOTO ART: Mini-challenge# 48 – Tigers Playing

Here’s another “mini-challenge” to play with in the Photo-based Art category until the next official challenge is posted here.

The image can be downloaded by clicking the link near the bottom of this lengthy introduction!

This picture was taken nearly 30 years ago at the Phoenix Zoo by RetouchPRO regular, CJ Swartz. Ya think these big cats are having fun or what? I wonder if they would come running if they heard the sound of my kitchen electric can opener, like my cat does? On second thought I don’t think I want to know!

Thank you, CJ. for submitting this terrific picture for a minichallenge!

”Here kitty, kitty, kitty!"

Good luck and have fun.

~DannyR~

LEGAL VERBIAGE
CJ retains the U.S. and international copyright © not only for the original image, but also for any photo-art versions of it. Unauthorized distribution or use of this image without permission is prohibited.

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INFORMATION AND GUIDELINES

Unlike “official challenges” for this forum, which can be found here, this one will be self-contained within this thread. It is intended as an opportunity to engage in this art form until the next official challenge is posted.

The rules are more-or-less the same:
* It’s a challenge, not a contest -- intended to provide opportunities to experiment, share methods and/or techniques and, most importantly, have FUN.
* Everyone who participates is a winner.
* There’s no expiration date.

GUIDELINES:
1. Use any method, application(s), style(s) you like:
. * Convert to sketch, grayscale, abstract, watercolor, oil painting, pen-and-ink, Conte crayon, impasto, van Gogh or any style of your choosing
. * Add elements from other images (collage) or replace the background
. * Hand painting? Tracing? Freehand? You bet. Always appreciate entries of this nature.
. * Apply filters from your favorite application(s) or tweak it with 3rd party plug-ins
. * Feeling animated? Animated entries are definitely welcome. There have been some really funny ones submitted in the past. Fish jumping, leaves falling, wheels turning. You get the idea.
. * Any or all of the above

Bottom line:
How you create this masterpiece makes no difference. Whatever floats your boat as long as you follow guideline #4 in the process.

2. When done, reply to this thread and attach your work (don’t forget the 100kb size limit).

Note: Multiple entries OK if you’re so inspired.

3. By all means include some verbiage on how you achieved your masterpiece so others will benefit from your skills and experience. Make it as descriptive as you like. Grammar and spelling will not be graded. Priority given to content, not how it is written.

4. Have fun.


A special message to those who are new to Photo-art
… Who may be feeling a little uncomfortable about posting an entry.

If you’ve read this far, it means you’re at least curious. That’s a good sign.

But what if you’re feeling a little squeamish about posting your first image?

From time to time I hear from those who want to participate, but have considerable anxieties about posting their creations in these mini-challenge. “I’m just a beginner. My pictures don’t belong,” “I see the works of others and I know I’ll never get that good,” “How am I supposed to compete with those wonderful creations?” are typical expressions of concern.

To which I say: Put your fears to rest. This isn’t a competition. You will not be judged in the traditional “art critique” sense. Your honor isn’t on the line. This isn’t about who’s best.

Don’t hold back from participating and posting your creation because your initial attempts don’t measure up (in your own mind) to images generated by folks with more experience than you.

This is a no-fault, all-fun way to jump in the pool. Everyone started the same place: The beginning. Everyone who is more skilled and experienced than you got to that point by practicing, experimenting, asking questions, learning from others, and participating.

Can one learn without interacting with others? Sure. Can one learn as fast? Absolutely not.

When you participate, others get to know you. That makes it easier to ask them questions. Asking questions leads to learning from those with more experience than you. It just keeps getting better and better!

By all means give it a go. You’ll be glad you did.

The pep talk cheerfully brought to you by:

Danny Raphael
Photo-based Art Forum Moderator

[phili1]

I took Alan (Take a bow) Japanese Garden and let the tiger play with the fish. Basic drag and drop, clone tool,blur tool and opacity slider. For the refection I filpped vertical and rotated.

[d_kendal]

cool! that was a great idea to put those together, it works really well. the only thing I'd suggest is to try putting in a bit more shadow at the front of the tigers body for realism.

- David

[phili1]

Thanks David I didn't think of the shadow. good idea.

[DannyRaphael]

I just busted up when I opened the pic.

Great work, Phil. Just outstanding.

[pstewart]

Phili, that is superb! Such an ingenious idea, and beautifully done! Where do I send the prize?

Phyllis

[phili1]

His paw gave me the clue but you guys have shown me the way and boy am I having fun. I never realized how many different renditions you can have from one picture.

Thanks.

[pstewart]

Here's my tiger try. I wanted to pull the tigers away from the background a bit to set them off, so I changed the colors to evoke late day sun about to set. After getting halfway there with blending modes and hue/saturation, I used a big fuzzy brush set to color burn and painted over the "sunlit" areas with yellow.

Phyllis

[Snoleoprd]

Hi all,

Here is my attempt at the tiger pic. I first saturated the colors, I then copied the background, did a gaussian blur to the copy layer, then set to multiply for the layer. Adjusted curves. Then I applied the Jaseck watercolor action from the Dpreview action set.

Comments and criticism are most welcome.

Alan

[CJ Swartz]

Thought it was time to a peek into the tigers' den --

You guys are great!

Phili -- you knew what that big cat wanted to do -- great composite idea and good job putting it together. You gave him a beautiful background too!

Phyllis -- I can SEE the sunlight on their fur, and the subtle shading. You really improved the background. Lovely!

Alan -- Ooooooooo!! Love what the saturation and watercolor action does to those tiger colors -- even the sparse grass looks good. Beautiful!

[phili1]

Phyliss you know the old saying in them there hills there are gold.
you brought up ther colors with the background. god they are so cute dont you want to play with them.

Alan you did a great job with the wate coloring they are soft and cuddely. What brush did you use. or action.

[Snoleoprd]

Hi,

the action came from a freebie assortment of actions that the dpreview site came up with and our fearless leader here is compiling and I am providing the distribution site. In the package is several watercolor actions, the one I used is called Jaseck Watercolor. The action collection can be downloaded from:
http://www.geocities.com/kafuensis

Glad you liked it.


Alan

[Snoleoprd]

Thanks CJ and Phili for the comments.

Alan

[angue]

My watercolor version using cutout and inverted glowing edges.
The ball was an afterthought.

[DannyRaphael]

Phyllis:

I see what you mean about adjusting the light. That came out very well.

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Phil:

I still bust up each time I look at that cat hovering over that fish!

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Alan (Snoleoprd)

Great job on your first mini-challenge. You've got the spirit.

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Tony:

When I saw your rendition and writeup, I thought: "No way. It can't look THAT good and be THAT easy." Guess what. It was.

I was inspired by your technique so much that I stole it and added a couple twists to it, namely a duplicate of the BG layer on top set to blend = color, Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer below that. Tweaked B/C to tune up the colors a bit. Added a final Hue/Sat adjustment layer on top of stack to turn up the saturation a bit.

Great idea on the adding the ball, too. You can never have enough balls in a tiger picture.

~Danny~