Good Friends

I was inspired to try this one after looking at Cheryl's chiaroscuro statue and Christopher's elephant posts. The original was taken in Amboseli, Kenya a few years back and showed some of the savannah in the background. I first changed to a classic B&W, then used Topaz detail to get more contrast and depth. I then added another layer using Topaz B&W2, Underexposed, masking the elephants head and trunks. I then painted any of the lighter background spots black. It might be too dark now, especially with the low res file. All C&C appreciated!

Very nice interaction! Love the almost symmetry of the crossed tusks and both trunks extending down. You might want to make the contrast on both elephants more equal, making the right one a bit lighter in the middle tones or the left one a bit darker in the highlights, so the eye sees them equally on either side of the tusks. There seems to be some artifacts on the right elephant, along the lower jaw and ear. They can easily be blended away. Elephants are so photogenic!

Thanks, Nancy. Very good points. I do see the sections that I need to clean up, and yes, easily enough done. The tones of the two elephants are very different in the original image, so I kept the elephant on the right darker intentionally. I guess I'm still trying
to understand chiaroscuro and playing more with the light and shadow. Equalizing the contrast might help with a more symmetrical look. I'll post the original color version, too.

Elephants, gorillas, hyenas... We seem to have an ad hoc Africa sub-theme going! I love that, and what a great transformation you've made in this image Cindy. It is a real challenge to create a "day for night" look, as they call it in the movie biz. Some small bits to clean up as noted, but overall a very nice job.

One thing to think about is looking for natural lighting conditions that create the chiaroscuro look so you don't have to do major surgery in PS. I'm going to repost my tutorial on this concept so we can discuss it. :c3:

Thanks, Kerry. Yes, looking for natural lighting and then taking the photo would be the optimal way to go. I have had fun playing around with older images, though.

Cindy, absolutely! Not suggesting that there is only one way. :c3: I'll post another image that I made from a daylight capture! I loved all the different techniques that were used for the scratch art, looking forward to seeing the same diversity of style with this theme.

Cindy great idea, I agree with some of the comments. Don't give up on this one its a winner...TFS

A unique image -- well worth continuing to play with it. I also want to see the elephant on the left a little darker -- the one on the right is very intriguing.

I'd go back and recover some detail in the tusks, too -- I'm traveling and on a laptop but they look a little too hot. (Apologies if I'm seeing it wrong.)

Thanks for the comments, Kerry, Paul and Diane. The tusks do look a little hot, Diane.
I do plan to work on this a little more when I have time. Thanks!

Great image, so much to play with.... You could literally make this image perfect in a thousand different ways.

As Michael said a million possibilities with this shot. Such a great base image to work with. I think I would tone down the tusks a bit, and go to all black for the BG.

Very nice image, Cindy. I love the interaction and the bronzed look to the elephants. I agree with the others that it just needs some cleanup on the BG and on some of the edges around the elephants, and it will be a winner.

Thanks, Christopher, and for all of the other comments. I just had time for a quick clean- up and left the tones the same, but plan to do some more work on this at some point. I'd like to try some suggestions, starting with the original file.