Stars of the Circus

7/31/21

    Where has the time gone? Here we are, two thirds of the way through summer, already. Speaking of summer, the circus scene above is one we don’t see much anymore. I think the last one closed down four or five years ago. Sad in some ways, but better for the animals who were sometimes kept kept and treated inhumanely. When I was a wee, small child, there was a circus that wintered near Greenville, Ohio. We would go in and see the elephants who were kept in a large stable-like barn. Sadly, although I wasn’t upset at the time, there were kept chained by one foot. 

    The starting image for this PFCC challenge was an image of a grassy area in front of one of the St. Clair Edison plants. I replaced the relatively ho-hum Michigan sky, because it’s a new tool in Photoshop, and really easy to use compared to the old ways. (I’m looking forward to the time I can think about how I want a composite to look and PS Sensei artificial intelligence will do it all for me ;-)

    The next thing added was a two-ring circus tent from PixelSquid way back near the tree line. I darkened the inside of the tent and brighten the lights strung along the top. I also popped the lights with an outer glow so they’d show better.  Next I added a clown blowing a trumpet (Pixabay) in front of the tent opening to draw people in. Next on my list was a couple of walking elephants (PixelSquid) to flank the tent, but set them closer to us by making them much bigger than the tent. My front and center piece was the head and shoulders of a cute lion cub (AdobeStock) wearing a sparkled collar (PixelSquid) around its neck. I finished the composite off with a color lookup adjustment layer to unify the colors of each individual item. Different color casts on components of a montage is often as much of a give away on a ‘shopped image as inconsistent shadows. Gravity and physics still work, even in imaginary worlds. :-)

    Take care, stay well and wear a mask, again!