Peggy Nugent  


Don't Worry Dear by Peggy Nugent

May 2021 - Don't Worry Dear

May 2021 - Peggy Nugent

Original

May 2021 - Peggy Nugent

Original 2

May 2021 - Peggy Nugent

Original 3

About the Image(s)

One of the things I am going to miss most about LA is the wonderful gorilla habitat at the LA Zoo. I thought this image was a good fit for May, with Mother's Day coming up soon.
I know from past experience that the gorillas' eyes get lost in the shadows if I don't over-exposure the rest of the picture. This tends to blow out the background, but that's not necessarily bad because it often needs some help anyway.
I started with the mother as the base image and added the layer with the baby selected in the mask. I added a stone background from another original (not shown), at lower opacity, to create a background with a little texture in midtone luminosity. I made various local exposure adjustments and cropped.
I was pretty happy with it, but brought it into Topaz Adjust to see what it would look like with different effects. I quite liked the high key filter, which made the background very bright.
After having it around for some weeks and looking at it now and again, I decided the background's brightness was distracting. I masked in the stone at lowered opacity in luminosity mode. I tried the image in b&w, then added sepia on the gorillas, and finally got the final colors with a topaz restyle filter. I also applied a Topaz impressions filter at various opacity to soften the image a bit.


This round’s discussion is now closed!
11 comments posted




Aavo Koort   Aavo Koort
The sharpness of the gorilla mother is excellent. I also love her colors even if they are not true gorilla colors. The sharpness of the mother reflects on the less sharp baby.
The background is somewhat too light to my eyes. Perhaps more texture would improve.   Posted: 05/09/2021 18:35:26



Aavo Koort   Aavo Koort
The sharpness of the gorilla mother is excellent. I also love her colors even if they are not true gorilla colors. The sharpness of the mother reflects on the less sharp baby.
The background is somewhat too light to my eyes. Perhaps more texture would improve.   Posted: 05/09/2021 18:35:27
Peggy Nugent   Peggy Nugent
Thanks, Aavo!
I originally tried a darker background but felt it made the image too dark, because the gorillas have so much dark fur. Maybe a vignette would help though. I'll try that.   Posted: 05/12/2021 12:24:25



 
There are a lot of things I like about this one. The expressions on the faces and overall colortone to name a couple. However, the level of detail in the moms arm and little ones face and arm are very different and contrasting enough that they don't look visually real to me.   Posted: 05/10/2021 08:31:21
Peggy Nugent   Peggy Nugent
Thanks, Marilyn!
I thought so too, and part of the reason I submitted this image was to see if I was just being too picky. I think that while doing a high key of such dark subjects reveals a lot of details that are normally hard to see, it also makes it difficult to keep the same level of texture everywhere. Well, it was an interesting experiment.
I might try this again sometime with something else in the baby's place.   Posted: 05/12/2021 12:33:44



Alan Kaplan   Alan Kaplan
The best part of this image is that it looks like you sketched it! This "sketch" is a much better image than a straight photograph. You have used the tools available to us to perfection. A few shadows might give the gorillas more weight. Great job!   Posted: 05/14/2021 15:00:51
Peggy Nugent   Peggy Nugent
Thanks, Alan! I had not thought of it that way, but I see just what you mean.
I'll give the shadows a try. Thanks for your suggestion.   Posted: 05/14/2021 19:19:02



 
Peggy, I really like what you did here recomposing the image to show a relationship.
I think I'm missing some toning in the subjects and the background is brighter than the subjects are so that it seems that there's a fight to stay in the center.
I played with your image a bit. I know you wanted to go High Key but thought I like the tones better with it a bit darker in the background and more toned on the subjects. All to taste...   Posted: 05/14/2021 15:44:55
Comment Image
Peggy Nugent   Peggy Nugent
Thanks for your version, Kathy. It's always really interesting to see the direction someone else might take with an image.
I really like the way the gorillas look in your version, and I love the background, but for me they don't fit together quite as I would like.
Can you tell me what you did to the image? I'd like to duplicate the two bits separately for two different images.

  Posted: 05/14/2021 19:16:29



 
A really nice image. The texture of the background really blends and works well overall, would leaving the foot it (like in the original) improve it or unsettle the balance?   Posted: 05/17/2021 10:09:51



Peggy Nugent   Peggy Nugent
Thanks Neil!
You're right, she is falling out of the frame a bit. I think it will work better with the frame extended a bit to the right and down. Good suggestion!   Posted: 05/17/2021 10:19:15