Challenge#194

[Grant]

Steven Berry has presented us with a great Challenge! Please take a shot at it.

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http://www.cavesofice.org/~grant/Challenge/Challenges.html

Present and Past Challenges will remain Until tomorrow at 7:00 pm the then
the Present will be Past and new images will be posted as Present.

* Important notice to all the new people in this forum. This is not a
close shop you are all invited to submit an image. If you don't think you
are good enough this is your first mistake, I think most have found that
working on the Challenge has improved their personal level. So young and
old, hot shots and cool dudes now is you time to post.

[cathy]

omg, there is so much there.

[cathy]

Red Sky, hahahahah !!!! :D:D That is wonderful,hahahah

[raffy]

I second that,Steve!What a hoot!:D

[Red Sky]

Cathy and Alice- I take it you are referring to my second entry, the gif? That kind of humor goes over big at my house.:D

[Tom M]

Unable to get through by email, so here is my entry.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/17Ci37f4gfdhQX7h5KsGxtkUFmN8_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=17Ci37f4gfdhQX7h5KsGxtkUFmN8)

[Byron Gale]

Tom,

That reminds me ... I haven't played Hearts in a long time!! ;)

Byron

[Tom M]

I get it..... http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/40/banana1vn2.gif

[Ward Grant]

Clever, Byron, clever.

[Red Sky]

Alice- I know Thanksgiving comes earlier in Canada than in the States, but Christmas too?:D
Always good to see Raffy so animated!

[Teacher617]

Still a newbie here, so I'm just checking ... a challenge simply means to exercise your greatest creativity in using/manipulating the given image in whatever direction your skills and imagination may lead you?

I love the variations I'm seeing in the Challenge gallery!!!:)

Tricia

[Red Sky]

That's it Tricia. Grant posts the picture or image on Thursday and then you do whatever you want with it, send it back to him and he posts them. The rules for where to send, image size and the like are contained on the Challenge Home Page. It's fun, join in!

[Red Sky]

I guess I should clarify. Grant's Challenge is as described above. The photo challenges relate more to a weekly theme and your take on them is up to you. Those rely more on you to go out with your camera and capture the topic or subject of the week.

[raffy]

Thanks,Steve!We always put the tree up early for the "guys"!And so that Raffy can get an early start on climbing it!

Good stuff,everyone!Great entries!

[Red Sky]

It’s an interesting collection of contributions and I will take a stab at comments. I was told about this place by a friend (I made him my subject in dontgettattoedwhendrunk.gov/moron) who ate there about 10 years ago. At that time it was a real dive, and his wife ordered a salad. The old waitress asked what she wanted on it. His wife asked “Do you have italian?” The waitress walked over to some crocks and started pulling up ladles and said...”Got white...got orange...aint got no clear.” So when we were driving down this particular city street a couple weeks ago we saw the sign and stopped in to check it out. New owners have made it a rather hip spot with pretty good food and beer, but the feel of the history is still there. My wife had a raspberry vinaigrette on her salad, which would probably have made the old harden waitress cringe.

Alex- You are obviously King of the Clone tool. How you do it so well is beyond me. Come to the forum sometime and give us a tutorial.

Anne- Like the black and white, and the fact that you made the gun less harmful. The airplane is a nice touch.

Ben- A classic duck hunting shot with the comedic element of the rubber duck to let you know he wont cause harm. #2 is a great tattoo. The ink is a realistic color too. What would you have done if it were Jim and John’s Tattoos? Not that there is anything wrong with it!

Bill- Clever idea to slip the sign into a box of Cohibas. With the price of a box of those thing you need an armed guard to watch over them. Did you visit a humidor for the shot, or is that your personal stash?

Bob- Great use of color for an appropriate time of the year. Looks like a poster.

Cathy- Looks mighty dangerous with the twins shooting at anything that moves in the trees. Isn’t city hunting illegal? At least in most states, maybe not Texas.

Cee Jay- So who are you for in the series, St. Louis? A good way to show your support for your team. Cool to replace the hunter with the mascot. Is that tar in his hands? Oh wait, no, for a minute I thought that was pitcher Kenny Rogers up there! BTW, I’m going for the Tigers too. It gives hope for all of us with pathetic teams that it can be turned around.

Ellen- Poor cornered penguin. I feel sorry for him. I guess we can hope the hunter has a change of heart, or a heart attack. I like the forest background. Is it a sketch, and if so did you do it?

Malcom- Nice dramatic shot. The silhouette looks really good with the black and white image.

Marie-Nice. Much better to shoot a camera than a gun and I like the beard on the guy too. I have a K1000 sitting around somewhere, as well as a Pentax KM, my first 35mm SLR.

Marilyn- I know you don’t come to the forum but in case you read these posts I want to say I’m a big fan of your images. This one was great in being both beautiful and humorous too. Anything behind the bear we don’t see, or is that the top of the chain? The grass in front of the deer was a nice addition to the mammals.

Nancy- Really well done and the colors were wonderful. A tranquil feeling. Nice that these creatures aren’t chased by a hunter.

Raffy- Great to see Raffy as always, and the fact that he backed off from the hunter dude once he realized he wasn’t a threat! Has he tipped over any more tourist boats at Niagra Falls?

Rita- A real cool modern cityscape Looks like something you would see at MOMA. I keep looking for a wrench though.

Robyn- Funny! I liked how you flipped the hunter so he’s facing left; is that because you are Down Under where everything is in reverse or upside down (I’m playing on old grade school stereotypes)? A pretty background and a salty tongue dog. It doesn’t get much better.

Susan- A clever reversal and one I agree with. I like the fair playing field. I like the colors you put into the star cluster/shot.

Tab- Wish I could see #1 but only the thumbnail would show. I see you took the far corner of the image and I always appreciate when a forgotten area of an image is used. #2 is great. Big, bright and bold. Another poster for the wall.

Tom- Real cool. Dramatic and great color and mood. Love the moon, and this time even I could fine the Apple!

Ward- #1 is really great. Dressing him up in a tux, with top hat and white gloves, is a nice detail. Nice job getting the neon glow too. #2 A question I asked Alex I will ask you, How do you clone so well? It’s like the hunter was never there. I also like how you dimmed the lights too.

[Ward Grant]

...#2 A question I asked Alex I will ask you, How do you clone so well? It’s like the hunter was never there. I also like how you dimmed the lights too.

Thanks for the comments.

I actually was trying to emulate Alex in my cloning effort this week. He always does such a good job. I made several selections of the building (kind of one selection per floor) and covered the hunter with multiple copy and paste. Enlarging the image really helped a lot. As the hunter disappeared, I used the Clone Tool to soften the edges and fill in the gaps.

Thanks for noticing the dimmed neon lights. I used the Color Replacement Tool and selected the neon letters to get the color. I now see what the + and - eyedrops do when selecting. I then lowered the saturation to "turn the lights off". It was really kind of an accidental effect as I was just playing around to see what would happen.

[BobWarren]

Steven --
Thanks for the comments. I enjoyed your animation this week.
Bob Warren

[Ritage]

Steven,

I gave it serious consideration. But a wrench as my signature symbol? I don't know, it just isn't me.:(

Thanks for your kind comment. I like your insouciant pigeon.

Rita

[raffy]

Thanks,Steve!Naw,I think he's gone off "seafood",even the fresh water tourist kind!Too many splinters from the boats!

[billz]

... or is that your personal stash?

Steven -

Thanks for the comment and for thinking that could even possibly be my personal stash.:) Although if it were, I'd be glad to share them with everyone here as long as they all promised not to light one up in a restaurant.

Thanks again for the comments .... and if you ever find out what the heck a restaurant cigar is please let us know.

Bill

[Ben]

Steven.
Thanks for the comments. - Jim & John? I'd probably change the sign to
'Just good friends' :-)
Ben.

[Ward Grant]

Malcolm: I meant to echo Steve's comments on the dramatic black and white redendition you did for this week's challenge.

[Ellen]

Thanks Steven for taking the time to comment. The woods are a real sketch that I like and after I popped the hunter in I wish I'd used Alice's flamingo from a while ago.
Lot's of good entries once again and here it is Thursday again- I seem to have lost a week or two some where.

[Robyn]

Hi Steven.....

thanks for taking the time to comment. Yep..........everything is pretty much upside down here...........after all I have seen comments that say Australia is on the a......... (not appropriate to use the actual word here) end of the world! :D

[Ward Grant]

Steve,

If all is good with the universe, I think you can click here and see the responses to your comments from those people who do not use the PET forum but particiapte in the challenge. If not, let me know and I'll post their replies here. You should be able to log in as a quest.

http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx/.3bc206c2

[Red Sky]

Thanks Ward. I was able to go there. It was nice to hear something from Marilyn and Alex; two people who I have admired what they do in the challenges yet had never heard "them speak." Thanks for doing that.