Lunch

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Greetings. Having some fun with Nik & Topaz filters. This shot of a hyena was taken at the San Diego Zoo broad daylight through a chain link fence. The hyena looked at me from his food or water bowl which was at the entrance of a cave up a hillside 10 or so feet from my vantage point. Masked with black fill layer. Combination of Nik Silver Efex & Color Efex, Topaz InFocus, Adjust, DeNoise, Detail, cloned in some detail in a couple of blown spots and cloned out some green grass shoots, uprezed from large crop, curves to bring out eyes. Composition centered on dominant eye (left, I think) for eye following portraiture trick (see Mona Lisa).

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Michael, that's a scary looking hyena. I think I'd like to be able to see just a hint more of the body but I like the deep shadows and the lighting and the organic colors

[Jackie Schuknecht]

I agree, scary stuff. Put a chill down my spine! Just enough detail in the eyes.

[Cindy Cone]

Definitely scary-looking! Without the description I would think it's a hyena at a kill in the wild. Very nice chiaroscuro! I'm okay with not seeing more of the body. It makes it more mysterious.

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Michael, this is an interesting and different image and I like that! It is a little disarming thanks to the stark black background and the partial body illumination, but that gives an artsy edge for my eye.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Cheryl, Jackie, Cindy, Kerry,

Thanks much for the comments. This was taken from a pretty poor shot really, but for the eye contact and the tongue... had to chop the body somewhere. In the highly unlikely event ( ;-) ) that I would print this I might add a slight additional fade on the right & right front leg.

Enjoying the theme. Beginning to develop an eye for potential (pause while I look up the spelling...) chiaroscuro opportunities...

Cheers,

-Michael-