Red River Pros: Christine Pentecost

Christine Pentecost is a photographer, and digital artist who lives and works in the Bridger Mountains outside of Bozeman, Montana. For the past ten years she has been specializing in landscapes and wildlife and her work has been published widely. She has also has turned many of her prize-winning photographs into greetings and note cards which are sold to customers throughout the U.S. and have been seen worldwide. She is a frequent exhibitor at art shows and festivals and regularly attends Photoshop World conferences where she learns new techniques that help expand her business.

The Client

Bridger Mountain Photo.

The Assignment

Produce a unique animal character image that combines reality and fantasy.

The Execution

“I have a great spot on a porch outside my office where birds feed. A few years ago, a resident pine squirrel decided this was going to be his wintertime restaurant so I started taking pictures of him and noticed that In one photo he looked like a skier on the snow covered deck. Inspiration took over, and I quickly created a “Skiing Squirrel”. That led me to other ideas using squirrels for various outdoor (and then indoor) activities."

“Initially I just photographed the squirrels through my windows, which would not always provide me with the sharpest of images but eventually I was able to put food out on the deck and sit there with the camera, taking a lot of photos. I probably have more squirrel photos than anyone else on this planet!”

Post Production

"I’ve been working with Photoshop for about 13 years now, and currently use Photoshop CC 2015. When I photographed the squirrels, I tried to keep the backgrounds simple and uncluttered to make it easier to extract them and place them on a white background. This required a very fine tuned selection, made difficult by the whiskers and the fine hairs of the squirrel. Then, using tools such as puppet warp and the transform tools, I would manipulate the squirrels arms and body to fit the pose I wanted. The final aspect of the image was making sure that shadows and lighting were accurate.”

“Most of squirrels’ clothing and accessories are from my own or stock photos, but for the Golfer Squirrel I wanted a ‘vintage’ looking golfer and I knew I’d never find a local golfer dressed like that nor could I find any stock images. So after researching vintage golf attire I fitted out the Golfer Squirrel with my own line of custom clothing, designed in Photoshop.”

The Output

“I like to print my squirrel note cards on Red River 60lb. Paper Canvas card stock. It’s a great textured paper, and makes my squirrels really “pop” off the card. I have sold hundreds and hundreds of these squirrel cards and larger prints, too– which look great on Red River's Ultra Pro Satin 4.0 paper.”

Contact

Christine’s website is at: BridgerMountainPhoto.com.
Follow her on Facebook at: www.Facebook.com/BridgerMountainPhoto.
She can be contacted here: [email protected].
Her entire Squirrel Collection is Online.

Favorite Papers

UltraPro Satin

UltraPro Satin looks and feels just like traditional photo lab paper and features a medium depth luster finish.

Favorite Of: Jim DiVitale & Peter Randall

River Linen

River Linen adds a special dimension to your printed image with its premium quality linen surface paper.

Favorite Of: JVS & Helene Glassman

Aurora Art

Made using fine 100% cotton rag content, Aurora Art White and Aurora Art Natural offers the look and feel of fine art paper.

Favorite of: Marilyn Sholin, Matt Hoyle, Susan McCartney, & Kaitlin Walsh

Arctic Polar Satin

With its crisp blue white shade, Arctic Polar Satin ensures your images will project more brilliance. Its state of the art microporous coating will enhance details and color saturation.

Favorite of: Al Francekevich & Susan McCartney