Made a trip to the Columbus Zoo with the kids and took the long stroll down to the gorilla exhibit on the very far end. I have never had much luck shooting these guys indoors but this one stood out upon review of my images. I had some where he was looking at me but I really felt the impact of this image comes with him looking down and his eyes not really being visible. I really like this pic - but I really have no clue how it will do.
PP - Tonemapped in Photomatix using a single RAW image. In Elements combination of 2 saturation adjustment layers and a selective color to shift to b&w, levels, another selective color layer to finish out blacks and whites, USM, resize, USM heavier than my normal, added a slight amount of noise, border, save for web.
I will just throw out that there is no crop to this. I have been trying real hard lately to get my composition correct from the initial shoot. I find that I am focusing more on what I am really seeing through the viewfinder, paying attention to lines and horizons and such.
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A powerful, evocative image, made even more so by the grainy treatment.
An ideal submission for the challenge and one I would have expected to see finishing in the top five.
the longer I look at this, the more effective it becomes. almost a mythic feeling to this (the title helps, though I'm not sure it's exactly the right myth :) ). 9
My initial thought was that it would be nice to see some hint of his eye. But I think that thought may be wrong, as it might change the emotive feel of this. I love how you found the perfect balance of detail and grain. Well done!
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