Photo Friday Winner Michelle Joyce-Textures

Posted in Features on Friday, August 01 2014

What inspired this Photo?
I was out for a day at the zoo, and I usually hang around the baboons for a while as they are always entertaining to watch.  This guy was quite far away, but his pose was such a classic, I had to take a few shots and see if I could make something of it.
 
What Camera did you use?
Canon 5D mkII

What settings did you use?
Canon 100-400 lens at 400mm.  ISO 400, 1/500sec at f/5.6
 
Did you edit this image, if so what did you do and with what program?
Yes, it was edited with Photoshop.  The first thing was a fairly big crop to take out all the distracting elements.  I used curves to brighten the image – paying particular attention to his eyes as they were shadowed by his heavy brow.  I also did some dodging and burning to highlight the great texture in his fur, and sharpening.  The final step was to add a light texture to the background – the colour was already perfect, but I felt like it suited the image better with the texture, rather than a plain wall.
 
Do you have any advice for our community of photographers?
Just get out there and keep taking photos, and most of all… have fun with it!