Variations on a Bear

[Sierraccr]

Last year my life changed. We had lost our two older cats and were feeling the lack of fur people in the house. Then someone dumped a litter of black kittens at my vet's and one of those tiny black kittens has grown into a 15 lb character named Bear .... who also happens to be very photogenic.

Earlier this year I was challenged to use the same subject several different ways. Of course I chose Bear. Please remember that except for the final work, these were intended as studies of one particular aspect of photo manipulation. Here is the original unaltered photograph, taken by my guy:




I have always considered that when the apolcalypse came, the cats would sit back and watch. Here is Bear, watching the city burn....



This next one was really an experiment using blurs, but I kinda dig the ghostly effect - I've used it as my avatar.



Next, I wanted to play a little with displacement maps, and what better to practice on than emulating water? So here's Bear in a reflective moment.



This next one is just goofy. I was watching a documentary on Jerry Garcia and figured instead of ganja, Bear was probably hittin' the catnip.



Apparently someone had laced his 'nip with something ..... I call this "VanGoghBear"

 

[Sierraccr]

And finally, the composition I had originally set out to make.

I call it "Regret".



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So there are my Variations on a Bear. All feedback welcome.

 

[$1r_M4x1mu$]

Nice job Sierraccr

I like the last one the most,"the painted version", it's kind of abstract, what style is that?

And your finished work art it's pretty good i like it.

There's only one thing that i find distracting, and this is the fractal orange flames on the background, i don't see the relationship whit the subject on the comp, but that is just me anyway, and again everybody has it's own style, and yours is great.

 

[agentmoeller]

I like the blurred one you used as an avatar.

 

[Zeealex]

i love them al including the post apocalyptic one mind if i take the idea for a bit of inspiration? how about making Bear a zombie?

 

[Sierraccr]

Nice job Sierraccr

I like the last one the most,"the painted version", it's kind of abstract, what style is that?

And your finished work art it's pretty good i like it.

There's only one thing that i find distracting, and this is the fractal orange flames on the background, i don't see the relationship whit the subject on the comp, but that is just me anyway, and again everybody has it's own style, and yours is great.

It was not patterned off of any specific style. It was an attempt to visually depict the way I felt at the time.

Edit: I just realized you were talking about "VanGoghBear". The background is "starry night" by Vincent Van Gogh. Although he is considered post-impressionist, in fact he transcends being lumped into any particular style. I just used a bunch of effects to make the photograph of Bear imitate the frantic brushwork.

The fractal flames were there for a reason. The symbolism is a burning "regret" that leaves cold ashes in its wake, as depicted by the charred tree.

Thanks for your comments!!

 

[Sierraccr]

I like the blurred one you used as an avatar.

Thanks, AgentMoeller. I have to confess that it was happy accident of the mouse. While intending to use a gaussian blur I clicked on motion blur (going too fast, as usual) then said to myself, "Hmmm......" I developed the idea a little more and put it on the green background.

 

[Sierraccr]

i love them al including the post apocalyptic one mind if i take the idea for a bit of inspiration? how about making Bear a zombie?

While I think Bear would be perfectly happy eating brains, I think he'd be cuter as a vampire.

Please feel free to use any idea as inspiration. We all take it where we can get it.

 

[Zeealex]

XD allrighty i can imagine that, a vampire kitty
and thanks

 

[Vafann]

Very Nice! I like all of them except the "Apocolyptic" one, it looks a bit choppy and cut out to me. I love the "Hippie" one lol, and the one with the reflection. Even though the reflection is a bit too wavey to look real, it looks cool and artistic .

Beautiful cat in himself as well.

 

[SeniorS]

I like last one "Vincent van Gogh" cat.

 

[Steve]

Wow, nice job on all of those.

 

[Sierraccr]

Of course you realize, Zeealex, that I could not let it pass........

So I present to you VampBear!

 

[ibclare]

Your Jerry Garcia looks like Whoopie Goldberg! I love the Van Gogh. And I'm with Sir Maximus on the last one; it's beautiful. I'm happy for you having your fur family reestablished. I have cats and dogs myself and can't imagine life without their messy butts around!

Ha ha, Senior, you would like vamp cat!! Uh, I mean vamp bear

 

[Vafann]

Lovely!

 

[Sierraccr]

Wow. Can you believe this was three years ago? Bear is now a dignified elder statesman of four years old, and has been joined (not entirely to his delight) by another black kitten - Merlyn.

I have discovered how very difficult it is to successfully photograph black cats. They suck up all the light. See this one, for example. I'm pretty good with the retouching but although I could make my dining room look stunning, nothing I could do made them look like anything but black blobs in a vaguely cat-like shape. This is more or less straight out of my iPhone camera. I would welcome suggestions from the photographers on the site.

 

[dv8_fx]

Boy he's grown huge in the last few years..... handsome specimens you have there.

That's the trouble with smart phone cameras.... but better than having to say "I wish I had a camera at the time".


So much detail is lost most especially on the new comer.... I can't load PS at the moment as I'm working on something else on another apps.

I wanted to try raising the brightness and contrast on a layer duplicate of the cats to bring out detail (if there's any to start off with) afterwhich blend it into the underlying original via layer mode to see if it improves something. Maybe you can try that.

 

[Sierraccr]

Yeah, I did. There's not enough information on this particular photo to recover, but it's the only one I have of the two of them together where they aren't either wrestling, running around, or swatting each other.

Honestly, though, even pictures I take with my "good" camera tend to look blob-like - even with flash - unless the cat is outlined entirely. For example - here's a picture of Merlyn, taken on the iPhone. The shallow depth of field was an accident, but I kinda like it. You can see him clearly because he's stretched out. That's about the only way to get a decent picture of him that I've found.

 

[dv8_fx]

Lovely green eyes he's got.

You have to gently get them to accept each other most especially your alpha boss cat. Observe and find out what makes them go at each other and work from there.

I agree... this image is definitely better..... looks like a good start for you to play with. Nice pose...... have a go at it.

 

[mtzvip]

Hippie one is my favorite lol