Elephants hiding in trees

 

Q: Why don't you see elephants hiding in trees? A: Because they are really good at it.

In February 2011 I posted about how hard it was to Photoshop yourself as an elephant. The trunk is the tricky part.  I asked ChatGPT to give it a whirl. I had to cloak the ask in non-specific terms to avoid the guardrails built into the poor things AI brain that prevents it from violating obscure rules. It's first attempt was interesting.

I look like some Masonic Hall ceremony gone astray.  I like it, but not totally the Elephant Man vibe I was looking for. So I asked for it in black and white with a simple cloak and slouch hat.

Now that is an Elephant Man you'd encounter in a back alley or carnival sideshow. I think it turned out to be a quite memorable image of an elephant me. But I realized that I've never created a giraffe version of me. So since ChatGPT is always ready to go to the next level, I tried.

Here's it's first attempt.

I like it. Very Jungle Tim on African safari. But I wanted some a bit more like the Elephant man. So I asked it to go black and white and make it look more like the elephant version of me with a longer neck and longer beard.

Almost there, but a bit too much like a billy goat and missing a hat. And honestly, other than the beard, how can you tell it is me? So we tried again.

See what happens when you stick your neck out?