The Pure Joy of Dogs

[Brownbear]

Not my dog, but I'd steal him in a heartbeat...

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Christina,

I'm afraid I find the tree branch in the first two a major distraction, perhaps mostly because it matches the dog's colour so well. However, I can see that cloning might not be so easy, as the area contains both sharp water drops over a blurred pebble beach

In #3, I'd have cropped 15% of width off left hand edge, but then I always am one for (almost) never having a defined aspect ratio - which many do (especially if the print).

Hope that's not stating the obvious (on #1 and #2),

[Brownbear]

Hi Dave,

Thank you as always for your feedback... I thought the branch might be a distraction. Too much for me to clone out... Alas these shots are sharper than the 3rd, and the others that I have with no branch.

Always great to hear input on cropping as it is something I'm learning more about.

Well, just enjoy the dog for being exceptionally cute

Thank you.

Hi Christina,

I'm afraid I find the tree branch in the first two a major distraction, perhaps mostly because it matches the dog's colour so well. However, I can see that cloning might not be so easy, as the area contains both sharp water drops over a blurred pebble beach

In #3, I'd have cropped 15% of width off left hand edge, but then I always am one for (almost) never having a defined aspect ratio - which many do (especially if the print).

Hope that's not stating the obvious (on #1 and #2),

[travis4567]

Christina, if you've seen my posts you know I'm a sucker for dog photos but these are really good. I'd steal him in a heartbeat too.

[Brownbear]

Hi Travis,

I don't think I've seen your posts.. Thank you... Maybe I will try and heal/clone that stick out.

So if the dog goes missing.... we're both toast!

Christina, if you've seen my posts you know I'm a sucker for dog photos but these are really good. I'd steal him in a heartbeat too.

[jprzybyla]

Hello Christina, have a go at taking out the stick. In Photoshop Elements use the Spot Healing tool ( the band aid symbol ) for most of the stick. When you get close to the tail and head use the Quick Selection tool outlining the edges of the tail and the head in the other image. Right click on the selection and choose Select Inverse which will protect the area under your selection. Use the Clone Stamp set at 100% opacity and blend the blurred stone and water droplets in to cover the remaining stick.

[Brownbear]

Hi Joe,

Thank you so much for showing me that this can be done well, and for the extra tips on how to do it... I will try it later this week or next week. And I'll try my best to do it as well as you have.

Christina

[rpcrowe]

Christina... Wonderful dog photo showing the energy of the Terrier type dogs.

Scott Kelby's YouTube Video, Photoshop For Travel Photographers has a great hint regarding using the Healing Tool combined with the Clone Stamp to remove areas that are on the border of your subject. This video is good for other types of Photoshop (many Photoshop capabilities are mirrored in Photoshop elements)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIt1cDw5lLI

[Brownbear]

Here are my edits... My apologies for taking so long.

I used Joe's recommendation to use the healing tool and some cloning in Adobe Elements. I found that placing a lasso around the dogs head to be immensely helpful. After I healed most of the branch I used the clone tool and took my time choosing random spots while viewing at 200%...
Far from perfect but the best I have ever managed to do trying this sort of thing, so it was a good exercise in post-processing. But better not to have taken the photo with the branch in it...





Richard... I adore dogs and this one was definitely high-energy. Thank you for the link. I haven't gotten to the part about cloning yet, but I will finish viewing it in the next couple of days.