Wise Old Chimp

[xxpinballxx]

This guy I shot at the zoo through glass. He seemed like he new the routine and just sat there watched my lens wherever i moved it...the others looked around played and barely acknowledged me other than the occasional charge at the glass and then back to play.
I cleaned up the eyes a bit and upped contrast and burned edges and dodged areas of the face.
Just curious as to what others thought of this shot.

[snapdragon]

I like the experssion & your caption for this shot ,I also like the compasation but for me it is a tad dark & detail I think is lost in the chimp, have you tried it in B&W or sepia they may work better where there is not alot of color or tones ,I have been playing a lot with B&W & sepia lately so this may be why I think it would work . just a suggestion .

[windrider86]

I would love to see the eyes brought out a bit more, they are kinda lost right now in his face. It really has an HDR feel to it.
I do like how you have him positioned in the frame

[xxpinballxx]

well here is the original and I think it was too bright...as for the eyes I was afraid to enhance them too much more out of fear of making it look too fake.

[carl yeomans]

hi pinball. i personally think you did an amazing job on this shot. i love the way it turned out. care to share any of your workflow on this one mate.

[xxpinballxx]

thanks carl. I know its a bit on the dark side but ever since learning the Dragan effect I have been in a dark phase...LOL!
I took the photo and added a layer for darkening the background.
And then another layer for highlighting the face and enhancing the eyes a bit.
merged those down and then upped the contrast pretty high to get a bit gritty look
and then duplicated the layer and did a sketch effect and made it pretty detailed. some parts of the chimp were actually all black but the eyes and face had a lot of detail in them
I then blended down the layers and burned the edges more and dodged around the face and ear some to bring a bit more color back. that was about it...

I think this style is a love or the type of thing. Most first of say its too dark but I thought this old fella was in a dark period himself just sitting there looking all bored and quite disconnected.

[purplepixie]

Your original shot is rather appealing by itself apart from being a bit overexposed. Maybe something in-between the two as far a darkness goes would do the trick? Love his expression.

[R.E. Smith]

I think you did a great job, it was as if the chimp was siting at the table with me having a sip of tea chatting about the weather...........

[Chlobo]

Well hey I think you did an absolutely excellent job on the photo. I reckon the chimp looks fabulous, the composition is very nice. Personally all I think that could maybe make it better is lessong the darkness around him, I just think it gets a little too close to the monkey.

Excellent photo otherwise.

[photofun]

Love what you have done, makes me wonder what he's pondering!