Remember I threatened more Solid Color Dog pics? C&C appreciated

[ggt]

I got to take all three of my dogs out today with their junior handler. It is so humbling when a 13 year old can handle your dogs better than you can. Of course, kids seem to have an advantage in this situation. Especially when they are they ones with the bait (cheese).

We went to a park and the weather was wonderful.

Oscar resting under a picnic table:

Princess Dog and Girl:
Old Man Dog doused his face in the water bowl and declined to be photographed with a wet face.

Thanks for taking the time to view. It is truly appreciated.

[Letrow]

Nice photos Gretchen. The first one is a great capture (eyes always do well on dogs), but it is a pity there is so much of the picnic table there. It is what it is though, dogs don't really pose (I have two cairns and action shots are the hardest).

The second shot looks great, but did you crop it a lot or did you soften the image. It is too vague for my taste and the structures (e.g. the tree bark) don't look good.

Great colours as well. I love the contrast of the nose and those white teeth.

[ggt]

Peter! Thanks for commenting! The picnic table doesn't bother me so much because I was trying not to get pose shots. But, I agree, it would be better not to have it there. Yeah, I did probably way too much PP on the second one. I get nervous posting pictures of kids online, so I cropped her severely and softened her features a lot. The full picture is much better, but I don't think her parents would appreciate putting that on the internet. I'll try to redo the cropped version so it doesn't look so much like a painting. I appreciate your comments!

[Trina]

Hi Gretchen, you captured a couple of nice shots... in the first one it looks like he was playing peek-a-boo:> I really like the closeness of the second photo, just the kid and dogs face. What filter did you use on the second one? watercolor?

[Trina]

Peter! I cropped her severely

That tight crop really works in the photo.

[terrib]

I love the first image and the picnic table does not bother me at all. I think the diagonal adds to the image and I love the expression on Oscar's face.

I really like the composition of the second image too. I agree that the PP doesn't look quite right. (not that I would know how to do it any better!) You could back it off as suggested or even take it even further into the "artsy" feel so it looks intentional.

[Sonomadavid]

Very nice shots, Gretchen. I love the first one.

[ggt]

Trina, thanks for your thoughts.
p
the more I look at it, I really over processed the second one. It's not as apparent in the full (unc-ropped) version. The background wasn't what I wanted, so I darkened trees and such. They were all cropped out. I have to re-work the cropped version.

I tend to layer ALOT of glass and plastic wrap OVER the artistic filter. It was watercolor to get the color change I wanted. I probably did -frosted glass with the lowest highlight and smoothness and highest definition --then watercolor lowest shadow-highest definition --then glass again and then plastic wrap (same concept). the glass and plastic wrap lets me control the highlights and can give a good edge definition to items in the photo.

When doing more artwork types of projects, this technique is a great way to mix colors --like when working with polymer clay or painting on a canvas. I think I probably overdo it in photo work. Although I've found it works nicely for smoothing wrinkles on older faces --better than spot healing or clone tool in may instances.

thanks for your thoughts!

[ggt]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to comment! I'll re-work the second photo a post when it is ready.

[ggt]

Here's the redo. It's still not much better, IMHO. I think the close crop is just too pixelated.

[Trina]

Thats too bad... the close up is very sweet. I have had that happen though, loved the shot but was to pixelated to use:< How far were you from them when you snapped this shot.

[ggt]

3-4 feet, but I wasn't really paying attention, just snapping burst shots. I put the camera on the picnic table and kept in on burst. When I thought I might have something, I press the button to focus and then to shoot. When I have other things I have to do with my hands, like hold dogs, I do this and sometimes I get the best images. Like this one in it's full glory. I'll have to apply some art filters to make it artsy like Terri said. The big picture is great because the dogs paw is on the girls arm like she is trying to hug her.