Tiger Hunting

[Nancy Bell]

The base image is a young tiger hunting a wild pig. Even thought the tiger looks capable I was told as "teenagers" they still more play at hunting and really get most of their food still from mom. Shame on them! This is one of 4 growing teenagers that one mom was supporting!

To remove most of the busy detail of shrubs and sticks I used Topaz clean woodcarving. To further reduce the image to just what I wanted I used PS posterize and PS threshold. Once I liked the graphic look I added 2 different texture backgrounds and applied a bit of fractalius, to soften the look.

[Dan Brown]

Great work, Nancy! You have really reduced the photograph to a painterly piece of art! I like the chop placement up in the darker bg as it doesn't compete with the cat.

[Hazel Grant]

nice look. glad to know a use for the woodcarving of topaz. hadn't found anything yet that looked good in my shots. good effect here.

[Mitch Carucci]

You handled this one just right. A great image...

[Cheryl Slechta]

Great job with the woodcarving filter - it's a hard one to work with. I love the image - I think you could crop from the bottom and eliminate the lines on the bottom edge and you'd still be OK.

[denise ippolito]

Nancy, This is super. I agree w/ Cheryl regarding the bottom edge. Your background is a work of art!!

[Mark Fuge]

Nice capture and effect. Well done!

[Indranil Sircar]

This is really outstanding! I love the processing the final effect. Excellent work!

[Nancy Bell]

Thank you so much, everyone! This is the 1st time I have been able to use the woodcarving filter. It is not a subtle filter but I wanted something to really reduce the bkgd clutter. Actually the bkgd turned out better than I expected. Agreed that I could crop the bottom for a cleaner edge.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Nancy, this is very nice looking, love the woodcarving effect on the background and the way the tiger really stands out from the background. Ditto a little off the bottom.

[Kerry Perkins]

Really nice work Nancy. You have reproduced the essence of brush strokes on old paper or canvas. I do wonder about the tiger's left hind leg. What is the story of your chop?

[Nancy Bell]

Thank you Andrew and Kerry. The foot of the tiger's left leg was hidden by a tangle of vegetation that no longer is apparent. Maybe I should have tried to clone just a bit using the other foot so it does not look so abruptly cut off. My chop is a dragon. I was born in the year of the dragon.