Dragged by a Bear

I went on a trip to the pacific northwest last year, and it was one of the best vacations I’ve ever been on. Leading up to the trip, my mother kept telling me she was worried about my friends and I being attacked by bears. I told her that was ridiculous… if anything, we’d be eaten alive by wolves. She didn’t like that.

From there the idea was to photoshop bears into all the pictures from the trip. Here is the best bear encounter at Mount St. Helens.

It was taken with an iPhone, so it is not the sharpest image. I started by tilting the image to force the idea of being on a mountain side.

Step1: Original Image

I then did some level correction and selective color enhancements to boost contrast. I lightened the gravel in front of me to make it look as if you are seeing fresh dirt under where I would have been dragged. I then, superimposed a dust cloud to add texture and atmosphere to the image. It made the story I was telling a little more rugged and violent.

Step2: Color Correction

Finally, I added a bear grasping my left leg. After slightly blurring it to add depth, I had to alter the shading and highlight color of the bear to better match the new image. I did a final overall curves adjustment to tie the picture together, and there you have it… my first bear attack. Guess you were right, Mom.

Step3: Final Image