Before & After - Jazi and Mom

[Mark Fuge]

This is a previously posted image from Lion Country Safari, in West Palm Beach, of the new born Rhino Jazi (5 months old in image) and her mother. There was a lot of cloning required to get from the original to the final version. Other than cloning, modification included Hue & Saturation and Brightness & Contrast adjustment.

The cloning was time consuming, as the background was cluttered and the shading of the leaves and grass required care. I cloned out the male rhino, as he was only partially in the scene. Due to the proximity with the female Rhino, I had to clone the area along that border from other areas of the image. You will note the bright and shadowed grass area to her right, that I cloned from the hillside above Jazi.

A couple of suggestions, which I learned in the process. I offer it for those leary of going the full route of this type of image. It's easy if you take your time and don't rush it.

First, save the work regularly. It is easy to get involved in the process and damage an area you just fixed. I saved the work, or tried to remember to, frequently in separate files for each step/save. This allowed me to go back one or two steps if I noticed a major problem.

Second, I used about 20-30% opacity for the cloning to allow for building the area up. I found that 100% did not always work with the shading of the light and shadow areas.

Third, work the cloning from different areas of the image. Don’t take all the clone matter from one area. This allows better blending and reduces the repetition look of the clone areas.

Fourth, use the largest clone area you can, but know that you will also have to resize the cloning from fine areas of the image. There were a lot of both in this one.

Fifth, do it. Give it a try and you will enjoy the results and the learning experience. I know I did, once done.

It took about 2-3 hours to complete this, with another 2 hours or so of redoing areas in the process, due to lack of prior experience.

I learned a lot with this one image transformation.

Hope you enjoy and don’t be afraid to save your images and create your visions.

[Patti Edens]

Mark, That's pretty amazing! The leaves substituted for the section where the male rhino was is most impressive to me. Thanks for the encouraging tips. I will have to give this a try.

[denise ippolito]

Mark, Great insight and thanks for sharing the info. I like the pp work it came out good. the color tweaks look nice also.

[Julian Mole]

Wow, at first glance I didn't notice that much difference (apart from the colour alteration), but the more I looked the more changes I saw! Although it has been done so carefully that it still looks natural, so a very well done there Mark. One for printing and framing I'd say.

Incidentally I notice you've changed the baby Rhino's ear and added a black spot to the flank of the mother Rhino. Am more curious about the reasons for the black spot than the ear?

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Good job with the PP, I seem to remember this post from wildlife.

[Mark Fuge]

Wow, at first glance I didn't notice that much difference (apart from the colour alteration), but the more I looked the more changes I saw! Although it has been done so carefully that it still looks natural, so a very well done there Mark. One for printing and framing I'd say.

Incidentally I notice you've changed the baby Rhino's ear and added a black spot to the flank of the mother Rhino. Am more curious about the reasons for the black spot than the ear?

Thanks Julian.

I thought I was wrong, but I was mistaken! :D

The "black spot" was on the original. I didn't remove it at the time I did the modification. But the original I posted here was not the right one, hence the ear issue. I had pulled the original image for posting here, from the file, next to the one I modified! :eek: Here is the correct one, with the spot removed from the "after image".

Thanks for catching, I didn't... All other info is correct ... I think! :confused: :o

[Mark Fuge]

Good job with the PP, I seem to remember this post from wildlife.

Thanks for viewing and comment Jackie. Appreciate it!

You have a good memory Jackie! ;)

Sorry about the wrong original as noted above. I just wanted to post this one as it really is a B&A example of what can be done. Not that I am an expert, but I think it was way beyond my skill level at the time and turned out good.

[Mark Fuge]

Thanks Patti and Denise for viewing and comments. Appreciate it.

As noted, the original was the wrong one! Thanks to Julian that has been corrected.

Enjoy again! ;)

[Christopher Miller]

Very nice work, Mark. The crop is a little tight for my taste, but not bad. Excellent cloning job and great tips.

[Mark Fuge]

No problem Chris.

I purposely tight cropped it to highlight the interaction of the expressions of the mother and Jazi. I like to show the humanistic element of nature, when it is put before me. The strucutural nature of the mother and the BG were not as important in this image, in my view.

But I appreciate your comments.

[Indranil Sircar]

Very nice composition, Mark. Excellent pp.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Mark, a lovely composition and an awesome cloning job - I'm impressed:)