Before and After: Sumatran Tiger
by admin on Dec.07, 2007, under Before and after
The problem with a lot of images taken at the zoo is the unnatural surroundings that can spoil the shot, leaving them as simple snapshots. Take for example the original image below of this Sumatran Tiger.
The tiger itself stands out and the blurred background appears somewhat natural, but the blue barrel is hardly something you’d come across in the wild. The tiger’s direct stare at me opens it up though for a strong portrait image.
The final image is obviously cropped, then I’ve increased saturation to highlight the contrasting colours of the tiger. From there I have a little process that applies a vignette which in this case I’ve applied pretty strongly to give it an almost black background. Add a frame for presentation and here you have the final image. From zoo snapshot to portrait…
Before:
November 18th, 2009 on 11:09 pm
This is very interesting, I first saw the finished image on Flikr and was fascinated to see the original and what you did to it. Thanks for the very informative explanation.
November 19th, 2009 on 5:45 am
Thanks Robert. It’s quite a transformation isn’t it.
December 13th, 2009 on 11:03 pm
Such a transformation, it shows just what is able to be done, making this image a nice shot to an magnificient piece of art.
December 14th, 2009 on 12:31 pm
Thanks Ailsa. Usually with zoo photography I try to photograph them in a way that doesn’t give any impression of actually being in a zoo without having to manipulate them. This was one of those shots though where I couldn’t avoid the “unnatural” zoo environment but they can still turn out nicely in the end.