Photographer: Dylan Esguerra Title: Huntsman Camera: Nikon D7000 with 105mm Macro Exposure: 1/250s @ f13, ISO 200 Comment: Hi Dylan, great photo – I love that fact that you have got in close to this Huntsman and stared into his (or her) beady little eyes. It reminds of the moment I had just yesterday when I pulled the glass door shut in the shower, only to come face to face with this fella’s cousin (it was a good thing my wife did not find it… her scream is louder than mine!).
Anyway, as much as I love the closeness and the detail in this image, what I feel lets it down is the rather messy shadow in the bottom of the picture, not to mention the little black spots of dirt. Ideally in any photograph you should take the time to clone out any small dust spots that might be distracting; if you are entering the image into a competition then most photography judges would expect you to do this as a matter of course.
Now I am not too sure what the background is in this image but here is my wild suggestion for the moment. Try making all the background green in Photoshop. To do this, go into the layers panel and start by double clicking on the Background Layer and when it comes up with New Layer, click OK. The Background Layer is now called Layer 0.
Now create a new layer (this will automatically be called Layer 1) and what I want you to do on this new layer paint it dark green. The simple way to do this is to double click the colour palette on the Tools bar and then sample some of the green from the original image. Select the Paint Bucket Tool and click on the image to turn the layer green.
Now go to the Layers panel and drag Layer 1 down so it's beneath the original layer (Layer 0). The spider will reappear while the green panel goes into hiding beneath it.
Now for the fun part. Click on Layer 0 in the Layers panel and then use the Quick Selection Tool in Photoshop to select the entire foreground area of the picture (the desktop and the shadow). In the main menu choose Layers > Layer Mask > Hide Selection. About now you should see the bright foreground with shadows replaced by dark green.
There are a number of ways to refine the blending of the layers but one of the simplest options is to click on the Add layer mask icon in the Layers panel and use the Brush Tool to paint the Mask. As a shortcut, use the X key to switch the colour between White and Black to either hide or reveal the layer as required.
I like this new version of the image… it is more like the spider is hanging about in a forest, waiting to pounce.
Cue scream!
Photo by Dylan Esguerra.
Image doctor's edited version with plain background.
