[JHfwp]

Thanks Todd for gifting us with a fantastic photo to work with in the last round. For this round I felt it might be kind of fun to change the pace a little, so to speak, so I dug this little guy up from my archives.

I hope it provides an opportunity for you to learn and I hope you get some enjoyment out of it as well. (Hey, if nothing else you might appreciate the next one more, lol.) As always, you're free to do whatever you like to your submission. You're free to submit as many as you like as well.

* And if for some reason you can't host the next round, just let me know when you post your entry. *

I'll wrap this one up sometime next Friday evening, May 15.

Have fun!



DNG download
JPG download

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For the next host:
The Mediafire website is: mediafire.com
The login name is: ppchallenge@tmphillips.com
The password is: postprocessing

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Last edited by JHfwp; 07-27-2020 at 12:43 PM.

[bertwert]

Not sure where to go with this... maybe I'll get a better creative spark later in the week. Slight cropping and adjustments.

[rpjallan]

Not sure where to go with this...

Yeah, I agree...

[mariwalt]

This is very challenging. Things I wanted to do I don't have the skills to do. I wanted to cast a shadow, but I don't know how to do it.

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[savoche]

I guess he hadn't spotted you yet...

[noelcmn]

Nice image to work with. A few takes.
Wanted to highlight the super reflection in the eye.


And a portrait


My standard saturated view


And B/W version is also pleasing

[Kerrowdown]

He's from further North, suffering a wee bit under near White out conditions...

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Last edited by Kerrowdown; 05-10-2020 at 02:16 PM.

[todd]

[lidy]

I might change this one later and/or put a different version up. Can't make up my mind.



Tuggie beat me to it (once again), and anyway, his entry is much funnier! Anyway, I'm putting up another picture - not for the competition, just because I liked to play a bit more with the photo. So here's a groundhog on a date in coronavirus time:

[

[tuggie76]

2 very aware Groundhogs taking Corona Virus precautions

[JHfwp]

2 very aware Groundhogs taking Corona Virus precautions

LMAO. That's great!

[savoche]

2 very aware Groundhogs taking Corona Virus precautions

Brilliant!

[astonm]

He's not wearing a mask, but doing real good at the "social distancing" bit...

[JHfwp]

With the weekend fast approaching, I'm going to go ahead and close this one to entries a few hours ahead of time and announce a winner so we can get to #331.

I want to thank all of you for entering. I've played with this photo off and on over the years. Some of my versions have a little more contrast, some a little more color saturation, a darker background, etc., but, to be honest, my edits are all pretty hard to tell apart. I was hoping to see how the group here would differentiate their versions from my own, and I was not disappointed. Each of you surpassed my expectations and each of you brought your own unique improvements.

bertwert - Your crop is very close to how I envisioned the scene and certainly helps to emphasize the little feller. Your white balance adjustments are also more inline with the early evening hour in which I took the photo. A conservative but tasteful entry.
mariwalt - A little tighter crop, but you also removed some of the distracting elements, such as the rock (well done), and you addressed the darker portion of the background which drew my eye away from the subject more than I realized until now.
savoche - A bold approach. I wouldn't have thought to darken the borders quite so much, but it works. And you found the perfect camera for this little guy, which fits him flawlessly.
noelcmn - My favorite version of your 4 is the second. The close crop with hands leads me to believe this creature was pondering something. Maybe where he set his camera?
Kerrowdown - A creative approach that's also quite nice to look at. I might like it even better without the falling snow. Hard to say, but it definitely looks great as-is.
todd - The sharpening here really makes this guy 'pop.' You nailed it. It's really lifelike and a great take all-around. Bonus points for removing the distracting out of focus element on the left.
lidy - Your first version is simply wonderful to look at. It's funny, I have another photo somewhere where one of these things is holding what looks to be a bouquet of weeds. The hand sanitizer is priceless. Now I know where its all gone!
tuggie76 - If ever I needed a laugh it's now. The cloning is a bit repetitive, but the mask is perfect. Just perfect. And you blurred out the 'other' prairie dog quite appropriately, giving the photo the illusion of depth.
astonm - I'm not sure if this little guy is still with us. If not, hopefully prairie dog heaven is this nice. Your image is tastefully adjusted and the little guy is perfectly placed.

Note: My apologies to our prairie dog friend if I mistakenly referred to you as a male; I have no idea how to discern males from your species from females from a distance. I don't know if 'hands' was the right terminology either (maybe they're paws???), but a Google search revealed something I thought was interesting: "Prairie dogs have the most sophisticated vocal language ever decoded. Even better than chimps, dolphins and orcas." So now you know.

Okay, so back on topic.. The first-runner-up is astonm. There's not much of the original photo left, but what's in its place sure looks nice.

And the winner... whose prairie dogs are doing their part to flatten the curve... tuggie76.

The rest of the versions are right up there with these two versions, so please give yourselves a pat on the back. Thanks everyone!

[lidy]

Thanks @JWhfp for a wonderful picture - I really enjoyed playing with it, and for your judgment. @tuggie76, congrats & well-deserved! I had such a laugh when I first so it (to be honest I still do!)