A man and his dog

[NorthernFocus]

This kindly gent allowed us to play fetch with his dog one morning in a narrow, centuries old cobblestone street in Cassis. The language barrier prevented meaningful verbal communication but smiles and an obvious shared love of dogs sufficed. The dog must have weighed 50kg and likely as much as the man. Every time we threw the fetch toy the dog retrieved it and ran to the guy and jumped onto his lap.

[Shadowman]

Nice capture.

[Donald]

A beautiful arrangement/composition.

What I feel is that because of the similarity in tone of the man's jacket and the steps and walls of the building, he sort of disappears into the background. Not knowing what colour the jacket was, I found myself wondering about the idea of applying a filter in post processing to maybe darken it up a bit just so that it stood out a bit more from its background.

[NorthernFocus]

...What I feel is that because of the similarity in tone of the man's jacket and the steps and walls of the building, he sort of disappears into the background...

Thanks for the input, Donald. The guy was wearing a light blue jacket and the wall is tan/pale yellow. I did poke around a bit with the blue/aqua filters and elected to take it the opposite direction and lighten it up, though not with any real conviction to the decision. When I get a chance this evening I'll take it the other way and repost.

As much as I hate to admit it, I'm beginning to enjoy learning a bit of this B/W business...

[Donald]

As much as I hate to admit it, I'm beginning to enjoy learning a bit of this B/W business...

Aahh, we'll soon have you fully indoctrinated!

[Mike Buckley]

I agree with all of the above comments and like the idea of separating the man's shirt from the wall.

As much as I hate to admit it, I'm beginning to enjoy learning a bit of this B/W business...

Nah, never admit that. If you do, your next admission will be that you've become addicted.

[terrib]

I love this photograph and the story it tells. The textures and tones are wonderful. I was looking so much at the faces of the man and the dog that I didn't notice the shirt.

[flashback]

I think it's a great shot as well. Absolutely worthy of (and well converted to) B&W. As for the jacket, it is what it is. Next time, carry a dark colored jacket and ask them to wear it for the photo ;-)

[Downrigger]

Too nice. Really sweet. This touching image wouldn't be helped a whit by color. I didn't really appreciate the jacket issue but find the discussion interesting. If anything, I'd be tempted to bring down the wall and steps a whisper and leave the jacket alone - I'd want to preserve the contrast in tones between the dog and his master, they seem just right.

[NorthernFocus]

...If anything, I'd be tempted to bring down the wall and steps a whisper and leave the jacket alone - I'd want to preserve the contrast in tones between the dog and his master, they seem just right.

Thanks, Mark. In retrospect, I made the classic mistake of forgetting what adds/detracts from the story, in this case the man and dog. I was so enthralled with the old stone buildings, cobblestones, etc, that I intentionally brought out the textures. That wasn't a B/W processing issue, that was just a case of my forgetting the basics, inclusion/exclusion.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback thus far. I've got some good ideas and will play around with the image a bit more.

[Marie Hass]

yep. put the focus on the man and his dog. The two of them ARE the story. The dog obviously loves his master and vice versa. Maybe a subtle vignette?

Marie

[FootLoose]

What a great subject, Dan. When I first looked at this I thought you done HDR with it. The walls, steps and path seem to be uniformly bright: I assume that is because it was a very bright day. So, I agree with Mark, I would try to tone down background (walls) middle ground (steps) and foreground (steps) to various degrees to give the scene a little more depth.

[NorthernFocus]

Ok, I reworked the image. I'll try to explain the difference in processing but don't exactly keep track when I'm doing it. I've been using OnOne Photosuite B/W module for my conversions. I just tweak the sliders around until I like it. On the first one as I recall I brought up the highlights and the blue filter(jacket) to make everything as light as possible but the man's head and the dog to make them stand out. I broke the rules with a bright BG but it's a black dog. Then I turned up the details slider to bring out the texture on the walls/steps and on man/dog.

On the reworked version I turned up the blue/aqua/green filters to lighten the man's shirt and turned down the yellow/red filters to darken the wall/steps. I saved back into LR and selectively lightened and brought out texture on the man and dog's heads and added a slight vignette. I like the reworked version mobetta.

Reworked version


OP

[Suzan J]

Hello Dan: I am not a B&W expert and can offer no advice on that aspect, but I do know when an image really captures emotion. Anyone who loves dogs will "get" this shot. It is quite poignant.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Dan, I like your edited version and I really like the story of the photo.It reflects the affection between the dog and its owner

[deetheturk]

Great shot Dan,your edit really makes it work!

[NorthernFocus]

Thanks, folks. I didn't realize how different the two images were until I toggled back and forth in the lightbox.

Here's an addition to the story. I rarely shoot people. But once in a while I do so and even more rarely will give the person a card (rather than ask for their email) and tell them to send me an email if they want a copy of the photo. To date I've never had a taker. So this morning, at my wife's prodding, I sent a copy of this image to the tourist office in Cassis asking if they knew the man. May sound crazy but Cassis is a really small town and the photo was taken like a block from the tourism office. They responded almost immediately with the man's name and street address. So I've ordered a print of the photo to send him. I know over the years I regret not having more photos of dogs that have passed and assume most dog lovers are the same.

The down side is that now my wife has (yet another) "I told you so" because I thought it was crazy to contact the tourism office and ask.

[flashback]

Dan, your second image is, to my eye, excellent. And what a great idea contacting the tourism office. One suggestion, send the image already framed (the type that can be hung or stood on a table). I suspect the gentleman will love the image.

[Donald]

I sent a copy of this image to the tourist office in Cassis asking if they knew the man. May sound crazy but Cassis is a really small town and the photo was taken like a block from the tourism office. They responded almost immediately with the man's name and street address. So I've ordered a print of the photo to send him.

What a wonderfully beautiful and sensitive idea.

And that re-work, works. Much punchier image.

[Mike Buckley]

mobetta.

Agreed. Also a great idea to send the print!