A portrait of Chase - Richard and Colin? Where are you?

[Marie Hass]

Richard - and anyone else who will look and comment.

My last attempts at a portrait of my dog were an abysmal failure.

Colin and Richard made some very salient points and gave me pointers.

Richard, I am using my Joe Demb diffuser and I love it. Bouncing off of a drop ceiling. No flash shadows.

How is this?



Chase just got groomed, so I am taking advantage of his neatness. Is it too white? Do I make it "creamier". PP is minimal (B&W adjustment, sharpening, levels.)

[rpcrowe]

Great looking dog. I wonder if a bit of extra brightness and a tad of extra contrast, especially on the face might not make the facial features stand out.

[Marie Hass]

Thanks Richard.

Other than that, what about composition, point of view? This is shot from dog level. Do I go back to the drawing board? I am ramping up to do my shelter shots and am feeling rather insecure. Is this shot ho-hum? Or does it make you go aww?



I took a few minutes and did the edit you suggested. How is this?

Marie

[Colin Southern]

Thanks Richard.

Other than that, what about composition, point of view? This is shot from dog level. Do I go back to the drawing board? I am ramping up to do my shelter shots and am feeling rather insecure. Is this shot ho-hum? Or does it make you go aww?



I took a few minutes and did the edit you suggested. How is this?

Marie

The technical side of this looks good to me -- nothing I can really add to that. I'm not expert with regards to pet posing and composition so I'll need to leave that up to others.

Well done.

[rpcrowe]

I think that the composition is just fine and your camera level is great - the dog is looking directly at you. I like that the body is in one line and the head is turned to look at the camera.

[Marie Hass]

Thanks Colin and thank you, Richard.

The technical side of this looks good to me

Colin, I'll take that.

Richard, I don't think I was bold enough with the contrast. It looks the same as the first image. Thank you for the comments on posing. I had no idea.

Marie

[Colin Southern]

For what it's worth, I think the contrast was too high to start with - so increasing it makes it worse. Contrast makes shadows darker and highlights brighter - and making shadows darker will kill shadow detail, which isn't a good thing with a dark dog.

In the 2nd edit you've revealed more detail nicely - so that's actually a contrast decrease (fill light would have done it).

[Shadowman]

Nice shot.

[ajohnw]

It's posted in aRGB so not sure what that will do to B&W. A couple of things struck me - pure white background and too dark over all. I had a play. Used curves to carefully brighten the whole image without clipping the lighter grey in the dog. This made some of the grey a bit to bright so brushed these down a touch. Then selected the background and filled with a pale grey. Also as the original shot looks best full sized I tried to improve the look as it shows on here in a listing. A tiny bit of tone mapping and sharpening to enhance the detail a little. Wont know if that will work until I post.

Don't know the dog so? Hope you don't mind but I like the practice.



John
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[Marie Hass]

Colin, as always, I learn so much when you comment!!! Thank you for explaining.

John. Thank you,

John, glad you had a play. I like the grey better and I really like how you brought out more detail in Chase's coat. Chase is a nine year old English Cocker. He came to me at the end of December '13 when his owner died suddenly. I love rescuing older dogs. I might not make a difference in the world, but I can make a difference in the life of one animal.

Marie

[ajohnw]

The curves adjustment used 2 points one about 1/4 up from the black end, lift that up and then move the white point back along the top so that the line is parallel to the original one. This increases contrast at the dark end, leaves it the same elsewhere and brightens the image without making the light grey too white. Moving the white point back like this also leaves some headroom for further adjustments.

John
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[Colin Southern]

Colin, as always, I learn so much when you comment!!! Thank you for explaining.

You're very welcome. Two things complicate images like this (1) these types of shots are VERY dependent on monitor profiling; just a small bit off in the low-tone response makes quite a big difference, and (2) I don't know how the dog is supposed to look, so hard for me to comment on the tones as they are

[Marie Hass]

John, I appreciate your detailed explanation. It helps me make the edits you have suggested.

Colin, you are right, and I should have described Chase in my introduction. It certainly would have helped the reader understand what he should have looked like to begin with. BTW, his coloration is what is called a "blue roan". John did a much better job than I in capturing his coat colors.

Marie

[ajohnw]

This can help determine if monitor profiles are correct. in a visual fashion.



There are 2 brightness levels in each square. Taking my monitor I can just about discern the difference at 1,15 and also 1,255. When I say just about I mean I have to look carefully and even make sure I am looking square onto the screen even though it is one of the latest wide angle displays. I run my screen around 100 cd/m^2. Some mention 80 others use 120. I found that 120 was too bright on some web sites due to my ambient light levels. One of the advantages of running a little lower than 120 is an increase in dynamic range due to reduced bleed through from the back light. I doubt if that is of any real advantage over 120 really.

Calibration wise the grey scale is better that delta 1, colours if I test with enough patches comes out at 1.25 on couple of colours. Most of both the grey scale and colours are under 0.5. So much under in fact that I doubt if my colorimeter is that accurate.

I should add that there are other checks on the dry creek site that indicate things about grey scales and monitors. One in particular shows what a problem showing dark tones is on monitors.

John
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[ajohnw]

Colin, as always, I learn so much when you comment!!! Thank you for explaining.

John. Thank you,

John, glad you had a play. I like the grey better and I really like how you brought out more detail in Chase's coat. Chase is a nine year old English Cocker. He came to me at the end of December '13 when his owner died suddenly. I love rescuing older dogs. I might not make a difference in the world, but I can make a difference in the life of one animal.

Marie

We have had 2 rescue dogs with "problems" one in particular that chewed everything in sight given 1/2 a chance. Our current dog was bought as a puppy for a change but a little old really for a breeder to still have. The breeder told us an interesting tail. Sold one to some one for X and the buyer bought her back a few weeks later saying that she was too much for him and didn't even ask for his money back. I have a funny feeling that I know which pup that was. When I collected her he said he wouldn't cash the cheque for 3 weeks. That was 7 years ago and she still thinks she is a pup. Trainers gave up on her - me well I persist.

John
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[deetheturk]

Very nice Marie,lovely dog

David

[rpcrowe]

I do like John's version. I had played with it but didn't do that well so I didn't post my attempt.

[rpcrowe]

We have had 2 rescue dogs with "problems"

Rescue dogs sometimes bring along problems due to old experiences that are very difficult to work through.

We suspect that Sweetie is about 10-years old.



She will have been with us for seven years in July and she dearly loves me. In fact she climbs into my lap while I am watching TV and comes up to my computer chair for some loving while I am working on the computer.

However, if I go to pet her from above her head, she will flinch and duck. It's fine to come up from beneath her jaw and begin to pet her. After that, I can pet her from above.

I am sure that in her earlier life, she was punished by being hit. Seven years of loving has not erased those reactions...

[Marie Hass]

Richard, she is adorable.

Chase was never abused, but was over-loved. He has a food obsession and separation anxiety. For a small dog, 16" at the shoulder, he used to weigh 50 pounds. Seriously overweight, over the past 6 months, he has lost 20 pounds. He wakes me by 2:30am to go out, then frantically whines, cries and paces. He will not settle back to bed. The noise does not cease until I finally feed him about 4:00pm. I have to water down his food, as he bolts it and I am afraid he will choke. He follows me from room to room and lays on my feet. The 2 times he ate my plants, he could not find me. To his credit, he is much healthier, but I certainly can understand why his deceased mom placated him with food. He is worse than having a new baby. I get no rest.

Marie

[Paniaa]

Dogs are people too - memories are hard to erase. A little classical conditioning? Good on you Marie, and Richard. All the best.