Giraffe Sunset
Uploaded: June 15, 2009 22:45:56
aperture f8, shutter 1/500, lens 200mm, location San Diego Zoo - Background is Lahaina, Maui
Created in PhotoShop
Gunther Allen June 15, 2009
Here are the original two photos #1141950Tiia Vissak June 16, 2009
beautifully done! #7634642Kirsten Kiki Kjaer June 16, 2009
Straight into my favs!!!!!! OH WOW! This is AWESOME, Gunther. Amazing and beautiful work. #7634675Tommy E. Burgess June 16, 2009
Outstanding composite Gunther!! #7634816Jeff Robinson June 16, 2009
Excellent - Great job with this Gunther!! Jeff #7635135Anne M. Young June 16, 2009
Fantastic! great work.... #7635828Gunther Allen June 16, 2009
Thank you Anne, Jeff, Tommy, Kirsten, and Tiia! I had fun putting these together. I just imagined I was in Africa and how a sunset in the wild would look like! LOL - G #7636259Gunther Allen June 17, 2009
Thank you Sabrina! #7639962Gunther Allen June 17, 2009
Thank you BetterPhoto for featuring this shot in your Digital Before and After! I should add that as I selected the giraffe I also color corrected and enhanced the lighting before placing it into the Sunset photo. I carefully erased the edges around the giraffe for any remanence of the old background. To help blend it into the new background I used the smudge tool to bring some of the background color into the edges of the giraffe's Skin/hair. I also took some of the sunset color and l placed a little reflection smear into the giraffe's eye to give it a little more reality. The smudge tool was also used to make the grass look more true to the new background by adding highlights. I'm glad you liked this one - I had a lot of fun with it! #7639989Evy Johansen June 17, 2009
Wow, Gunther!! This is awesome!! Wonderful work!! #7640031Gunther Allen June 17, 2009
Thanks so much Evy - coming from you the expert at this! I really admire your work. #7640052Donna La Mattino Pagakis June 17, 2009
So creative and beautiful Gunther. Excellent darkroom skills! Congratulations on your DD feature! #7640834Chris Ebben June 17, 2009
Great work here, no wonder BetterPhoto used it as an example for us all. Good one=^..^= #7641398Usman M. Bajwa June 17, 2009
Very beautiful end result, Gunther. I should take a look at the smudge tool. It looks like fun!Usman. #7642042
Chris Ebben June 18, 2009
I did Usman, I think I'll get a lot of use out of it=^..^= #7642129Gunther Allen June 18, 2009
Thanks for your comments Donna, Chris, and Usman! You can use the smudge tool like a paint brush. By setting the opacity level you can treat it as paint brush that is being applied with different pressure levels. If you use it at 100 percent the colors will smear together, but at about 15 percent the blend is very subtle. I forgot to mention that once you combine the two photos make sure that you flatten the layers together. Just make sure that you have cleaned the edges removing as much of the former background as you can! :-) #7643478Luigi Di Serio July 21, 2009
This is so cool! Thanks for the explanation on your tricks too. #7763568A P July 21, 2009
Congratulations on your outstanding Finalist, Gunther. Best of luck in the next round. You did AWESOME DD work on this capture and with that grass and hair I know it wasn't easy. Winner all the way and one for my favorite folder. Bravo!! #7765497
Gunther Allen July 21, 2009
Thank you so much Ann and Luigi! I've got my fingers crossed! LOL #7765601Kelly S. Cavanaugh July 21, 2009
Amazing work, Gunther! Gorgeous! Congratulations! #7766332Gunther Allen July 21, 2009
Thank you Kelly! #7766578Kathy Cline July 22, 2009
I LOVE HIM GUNTHER IM PRAYING HE WINS!! #7767401
Jeff Robinson July 22, 2009
Congrats Gunther on your Terrific Finalist! Jeff #7768640Gunther Allen July 22, 2009
Thank you Kathy and Jeff - Your well wishes has brightened my day! #7768951Usman M. Bajwa July 22, 2009
CONGRATULATIONS, Gunther! Hope this gets into the winner's circle.UB. #7769161
Cheryl E. Molennor July 22, 2009
CONGRATULATIONS :)! #7769619Linda Blair July 22, 2009
Awesome work...congrats on your finalist!!!!! #7771138Gunther Allen July 22, 2009
Thank you Thank you Usman, Cheryl, and Linda! So much appreciated! #7771154JO ANN CLEVELAND July 23, 2009
Super finalist Gunther!jo ann c. #7774325
Sign up for an interactive online photography course to get critiques on your photos.
Discussions by Category: You can view photo discussions on various themes in the Community > Photo Discussions section of the site.
BetterPhoto Websites: If you see an orange website link directly under the photographer's name, it's totally okay. It's not spam. The reason: BetterPhoto is the one that offers these personal photography websites. We are supporting our clients with those links.
Unavailable EXIF: If there is no other information but 'Unavailable' in the EXIF (meaning no EXIF data exists with the photo), the 'Unavailable' blurb is not displayed. If there is any info, it shows. Many photos have the EXIF stripped out when people modify the image and resave it, before uploading.
The following truth is one of the core philosophies of BetterPhoto:
I hear, I forget.
I see, I remember.
I do, I understand.
You learn by doing. Take your next online photography class.
Copyright for this photo belongs solely to Gunther Allen.
Images may not be copied, downloaded, or used in any way without the expressed, written permission of the photographer.
Log in to follow or message this photographer or report this photo.
I already have an account!