Kirsti Näntö-Salonen

November 2024 - A Crack in Time

Original

Original 2

Original 3

About the Image(s)

Here is "A Crack in Time". Orig. 1. is a rock along one of our favorite walking routes that I always stop to watch and wonder about; Orig. 2 is one of the tame squirrels in the same area, and Orig. 3 is a snapshot from a dinosaur theme park.. - I started by cleaning the busy background a bit, and tried to make the grey rock stand out by changing the color temperature of the grey slightly colder. I added a Topaz Studio Buzz Sim 2 filter in 50% opacity to soften the details. In HSL, I changed the hue and saturation of the dinosaurs to give them a more exotic coloring, and tweaked their neck and limbs a bit with the Liquify tools. The squirrel and the dinosaurs were then just pasted on. I added another layer of the background on the dinosaur who is emerging from the crack, and erased it partially. I softened the contours of the dinosaurs slightly with the blur brush tool and tried to add some shadows. All the images were taken on overcast days with a dull ambient light, so I am not sure how they should fall. The squirrel was cut with its original shadow. Finally, I used the average blur trick, and left it in 10% opacity and soft light blend mode over the entire image. - I wonder if the crop is too tight? I think that the dinosaurs still have a pasted-on look? and I am not sure if their colors are the best choice. I am again looking forward to all advice!

9 comments posted

Matt Conti

Hi Kirsti, This is a creative take to bring the animals into the scene. The squirrel blends in very nicely on the rock and its position is very additive to the scene. The dinosaurs look a bit pasted in mainly because their claws don't match the ground angle. You might try darkening the area where their claws hit the ground for a shadow that might help. Posted: 11/05/2024 17:39:09

Kirsti Näntö-Salonen

Thank you very much, Matt! I tried the darkening, and also the Liquify and Mesh Warp tools to bend the claws to a more natural position. I added a layer of the background to bury the claws partly in the debris. - I also noticed that there was a thin white outline left round the right-hand-side dino that I removed. I think that they are a lot better now, but there is still some of that irritating pasted look left. - I was wondering if it is an issue of difference in sharpness: the background has a touch the Topaz filter that I did not use for the animals, but removing the filter did not correct the problem. Posted: 11/07/2024 06:50:06

Peggy Nugent

I love the story here, with the squirrel scampering up the rock and the dinosaurs prowling around its base. The dinosaurs look distinctly predatory to me, as if they are on the hunt already.
The vibrant colors of the dinosaurs are intriguing - who knows what colors they were? And those colors could well blend into a thickly forested area, like parrots who blend into tropical environments.

I like your updated version.

When I look closely, I can see the difference in sharpness between the dinosaurs and the rest, but for me that isn't significant.
When I change your image to b&w, the dinosaurs feel more real to me. So even though I appreciate and applaud the creativity of the vibrant colors, I think that maybe they make it a little harder to believe in the dinosaurs as living creatures. Posted: 11/10/2024 21:33:11

Kirsti Näntö-Salonen

Thank you, Peggy! I just love the idea of b&w but I think that the tonality of the image may be too flat to get them properly separated from the background that has a lot of detail.- I think I'll change the background and start to work with a monochrome version to do them justice! Posted: 11/11/2024 19:10:01

Bruce Harley

Hi Kirsti - fantasy that could become fact - we never know whats in the future. Great composition, colours, however I am struggling with depth and blending.
I have attached a mock up of what I mean.
1. whole image upped the contrast to give body to the subjects and separate. Contrast is great for that, but in doing that increases the saturation so cut that back.
2. Increased selective texture on all subjects to make them stand out and added a dark floor for them to stand on to hide the connect with base image, and also negate the need for shadow detail.
3. Used PS NEURAL FILTERS - DEPTH to fuzz the background behind the stone as the detail doesnt add anything to the story.
Apart from that its a great story one that I have seen recently on Instagram where a guy cracked oen a rock with a hammer to reveal a prehistoric monster thing. !! cheers, Bruce Posted: 11/11/2024 15:54:46

Kirsti Näntö-Salonen

Thank you very much, Bruce, the changes made all the difference! The slightly tighter crop had surprisingly much effect, too. When I tried to repeat the steps, I ended up with a misty landscape that I think looks quite natural. I changed the colors of the dinosaurs to more subtle jewel tones to match the scene. I think that they blend in better now and yet are separated from the background? Posted: 11/11/2024 20:02:08

Alan Kaplan

I wish I'd said that, and this, and that. I never thought that 2 weeks into the month there would be so many comments and visual aids about a work. There's not much I can add that would be instructive. Posted: 11/14/2024 02:42:57

Brad Becker

Kirsti, My first impression was the dinosaurs looked like plastic figurines and not real. Peggy's handling does show promise in normalizing the dinosaurs in the landscape. If you prefer a color theme I'd suggest matching tonalities/colors with the squirrels. Integrating figures like these is tough. I have started playing with painting light onto the subjects to simulate how they would be lit in the landscape I drop them in. That would be difficult in this image as it is fairly flat. With respect to your question about the cropping, it does feel a little tight for my taste but does have a more intimate look. If you have an image shot from further out it may balance the image better. Posted: 11/18/2024 02:12:06

Kirsti Näntö-Salonen

Thanks, Bruce! You are so right! I'll try your suggestions with the colors/tonality, and also go back for another background shot. I wish I could find less plastic dinosaurs to start with, too! - In my mind, I saw the incident in color, with the clash of the vivid exotic element and the muted Nordic forest scene, and it seems so hard to integrate the dinosaurs in the scene without losing this. Maybe Peggy´s BW approach has most potential! Posted: 11/18/2024 08:18:11

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