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Finding Your Happy Hippo Place
Finding Your Happy Hippo Place
ti_evom


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Free Study 2009-05 (Advanced Editing VII)
Camera: Pentax K10D
Lens: Pentax SMC-DA * 16-50mm F2.8 ED/AL (IF) SDM
Location: Florida
Date: May 7, 2009
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 160
Shutter: 1/60
Galleries: Emotive, Animals
Date Uploaded: May 15, 2009

 I just love that grin. She's also a little orthodontically challenged. ;-)

Cloned out a bunch of floaters in the water, applied a lens blur filter on the rock formation in the foreground, dodged a few facial features, selective tonal contrast filter, and a duplex filter to make it more black & white while leaving a little color left in the shot.

I did a search on hippos and didn't find anything remotely close to a shot like this. I think it's so unique with her leaning into her partner like that. And on top of it, she looks like she is so content and smiling. The "ahhhh" factor alone should push this over a 6 easily...I hope!

[Jun. 2nd, 2009 02:04:26 AM]

As the comments already show, yes, I wish I could have cropped out the rock formation in the foreground. But in order to do so, the hipppos would have been tilted way off or I would have had to cut off her teeth which play a huge part in the shot.

Statistics
Place: 115 out of 434
Avg (all users): 6.0000
Avg (commenters): 7.6667
Avg (participants): 5.9700
Avg (non-participants): 6.0857
Views since voting: 935
Views during voting: 223
Votes: 135
Comments: 14
Favorites: 1 (view)

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AuthorThread
 06/10/2009 05:14:33 AM
Josh this is adorable! I love taking photos of them because they really are good models. But I've never taken anything like this :) Love the processing for this too.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/08/2009 11:27:52 AM
No, it didn't need to be cropped. It's quite lovely just the way it is!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
06/06/2009 04:38:10 PM
Love the editing.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/05/2009 04:58:24 AM
Aawwww! I love hippo's! I think this is much better than my flying hippo shot! 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/05/2009 04:40:43 AM
Alternate title: "True love" (not voting)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/04/2009 08:43:04 PM
So sweet! I love hippos - and these are dreamy and darling.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/03/2009 05:16:05 PM
are they underwater??? very good if you took this through "glass"....excellent tone
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/01/2009 07:36:47 PM
Absolutely stunning! I love the exposure and gray tones on the hippos. Great use of DOF. There is something very serene about this photo. The OOF object in the front is a little distracting from the main subject though. i wonder how this would look with the object cropped out. Great photo either way!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/01/2009 04:35:12 PM
Nice! Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder! Great composition.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/01/2009 09:45:40 AM
AWWWWWWW
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/01/2009 08:24:54 AM
Top 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/31/2009 09:56:18 PM
that would make a nice greeting card...the foreground thing is a little distracting, otherwise good shot
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/31/2009 09:00:37 PM
great title. nice shot too.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/31/2009 08:40:29 PM
wonderful shot! top 10 i'll bet.
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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