Fox Portrait - What other PP is needed?

[terrib]

I would appreciate input on further or different post processing on this image. I've included the original for reference. I'm pleased with the focus, DOF and expression of the fox. Here's what I did in PP (in Aperture):

-Cropped slightly to remove piece of grass on left side and some of the bright spots on the top.
-Adjusted Luminance Levels
-Used Curves to further adjust contrast
-Reduced the black point slightly after using Curves
-Dodged slightly over the eyes because my other adjustments had darkened them

I'm still learning to recognize color casts, but zoomed in on the white around his whiskers to check for that and didn't see any problem so I've left the color alone.

Thanks for your ideas.

[MilT0s]

Terri first of all congrats for your image.

I find those brown highliths in the background on top distracting, you can darken and desaturate them a bit. You could also try to burn (darken) the grass in the foreground in the lower left corner a tiny vigneting to guide the eye on the fox but not sure if it will work.

[Bobobird]

A fine shot.

The background and foreground look good "as is" in the original. Selectively mask in the fox from the 2nd image into the first and it should be good to go.

[RockNGoalStar]

Lovely image, and I love what you've done with your processing. I have to echo Miltos's suggestions though about the light patch in the top left and perhaps a very subtle vignette, which will help to tone down the harshness of the grass in the foreground. But I wouldn't go overboard on the vignette as I think the fox is already nicely framed in the picture.

[ggt]

nothing, he is very cute!

[terrib]

Thank you, Miltos, Bobo, Tommy and Gretchen, for taking the time to comment. Here is an attempt to incorporate Miltos' and Tommy's suggestions. So far, my skills at burning look painted on so I haven't done much of it here. I'm not sure if I overdid the vingnette. The top corners of the image were already fairly dark.

Bobo, I don't have a clue how to do what you have suggested. I will keep this in mind as I go through my Photoshop book trying to get a handle on Photoshop. But thank you!

[botspur]

Hi Terri, a very good wildlife image and I think all the elements are there. A suggestion that might work is to crop the image to get rid of the prominent grass stems on the right by making it a 1x1 ration and keepall the space on the left.

Keep up the good work, from what you've posted in the past this is a top image.

[jeeperman]

Very nice image Terri, I would be quite pleased to have made the image. I agree with Miltos and Tommy, so your edit works well for me. I see where Clive is going but I actually prefer the grass left as is. It is not a distraction for me and infact points me back in the direction of the fox's head.

Well done.

[Mike Buckley]

Great job, Terri! I'll mention a couple more things you can try mostly so you can decide for yourself whether you like the changes.

The grass on the right: Blow up the image really large and use a brush no wider than the grass to apply Gaussian blur only to the four pieces of grass.

Look up in your book how to treat eyes in portraits of people. It involves applying increased contrast and a particular kind of sharpening only to the eyes. Do the same with eyes in portraits of animals. In this case, it would be very easy to overdo it, so use restraint at the very most.

[jeeperman]

I see Mike and I are thinking along the same lines with the eyes. While this is a quick and dirty edit with low res image you can see how a little selective sharpening can brighten up the eyes and bring a little more life out of your fox.

[FlyFitz]

Funny, I was just going to post that the only improvement to this very nice shot was enhancing the eyes... working on that a bit in the RAW file will really draw your gaze into the foxes face. Nice shot, comp, and PP otherwise!

Thanks,

Sean

[botspur]

Mike and Paul, well done on the eyes.

[ucci]

Works well for me. Nice shot, well captured. And not in need of much pp. Which personally I reckon is the way to go. The less pp the better. The old argument is of course, and I quote, "to pp..... or not to pp,.... Whether it is nobler in the minds of men to overindulge in photoshop or to..." well, Shakespeare did write something like that, didn't he?

[terrib]

Clive, thanks for your comments. I tried your suggested crop and it does make a very nice image. Like Paul, the grasses on the right don't really bother me so I'd be quite happy with either crop and perhaps would leave it up to my final framing options.

[terrib]

Mike, Paul and Sean. Thank you for showing what can be done further with the eyes. I lightened them up a bit, but you all are right about further improvement. Paul's rendition looks so much better. I will work on that next week. (I'm actually spending the weekend in a landscape photography workshop - I'm so excited! )

[terrib]

Ken, thank you. I often struggle with how much to do, especially with wildlife/nature. The beauty of nature is what we are trying to capture. If we alter too much, we must not have found the beauty to begin with. But no matter how we feel about how far to go, all of the discussion and nitpicking about the "distractions" does make me think more about getting the best composition in the field to begin with. In this case, the fox was kind enough to stand still long enough for me to MOVE and get his face framed between all that stray grass. I was quite pleased with myself for being able to think about the composition and not lose something else in the process!