Molt
by Samantha_T

Comment:
My favorite of the challenge. I love the mood of this image, and also the fact you were able to get there without using a massive overlay. Congratulations Samantha on your very well deserved ribbon!

November
by gyaban

Comment:

Originally posted by Devinder: I notice you mentioned you HDR'ed the three raws directly and this looks better than what i can muster. Do you think this could come from the difference in programs (Photomatix vs HDR Efex Pro) or is there a secret sauce i m missing?

Thank you for your comment. I don't think the tool you use is that important at all, I'm quite confident saying Photomatix could have been used there (as long as one knows it well enough). Moreover, to my knowledge, these tools do not work directly on RAWs anyway, at best they import 16 bits images out of them and start to work from there (TIFF usually). What is important to know about the processing of that particular image, is the fact the tonemapped HDR resulting image was merely the beginning, not the final result in any case. I simply used the HDR plugin to obtain crispy texture and details on the trunk and foreground, but there are like 30 other processing layers above it, in order to reach this result. In fact, I just used the HDR tool to enhance the dynamic range of my camera, not at all to create some kind of special effect, that was not my point.

2001: Art's Space Odyssey
by gyaban

Comment:

Originally posted by cutout: holy mo a whole pic done without a camera in sight

Not really... cameras were in fact involved, even if *mine* only captured the dinosaur. That said, I agree with you, and I suppose we won't get other challenges that permit using others' photos anytime soon, which is for the best.

2001: Art's Space Odyssey
by gyaban

Comment:

Originally posted by ytshuva: where do you find the time for this?? great work. I think that the site cuncil shouold consider to remove you from particpating challenges you can't be challenged..:)

Thanks a lot! I decided to not enter that much this year, only cherry picking the challenges that inspire me. This way, I can afford to spend more time than before on a single image.

Squirrel With Nut
by Lydia

Comment:
Nicely done Lydia! I love how you matched the lighting direction that was originally on the squirrel, by rotating Ken's head adequately. The GodZilla in the eye is also a fun touch :-)

Godzilla? No problem...
by toddhead

Comment:
This had to finish very well, congratulations Todd! I must admin, this hair suits Ken so well, haha :-)

WHO TOOK MY SPOT!!!!!??????
by tanguera

Comment:
This was my favorite! Wonderfully created, I especially love the blurry background. Very funny too :-) I have a question though: how did you get that photo of my body?

The Artist
by gyaban

Comment:

Originally posted by yanko: I find it interesting that you went to all that trouble to light the earring that way only to then opt for a high contrast processed look which then makes the earring seem like a product of dodge/burn. Do you just like doing things the hard way? :P

I believe I had no choice there: if there was some visible bright skin next to the earring, it would have been against the rules to make it completely disappear.

2001: Art's Space Odyssey
by gyaban

Comment:

Originally posted by Art Roflmao: You're better at being me than me. ;-) Great work!

Yeah, THE stamp!!! Thanks a lot Ken :-)

2001: Art's Space Odyssey
by gyaban

Comment:

Originally posted by adigitalromance: Very nice, this clears up my mental dilemma about your Freedom picture! Can you briefly explain how you made those stars? They are very realistic!

Thanks a lot!
The stars were essentially made out of noise:
- created a layer, filled with black
- added noise (about 10%, monochromatic)
- played with levels until most of the dots were gone
- duplicated the layer a couple of times: the copy were re-sized randomly (to create differently sized stars)
- then I painted randomly black on these layers masks, to create areas with less stars
- I also used the cloning tool to even obtain a higher density of stars at some locations
- Dodged the high density locations, to make them brighter
- Painted some dark blue "clouds" for a "spacey" effect

Message edited by author 2012-03-09 02:16:21.