Autumn Puppy - C&C please

[luvaneezer]

Ugh - I'm back to work after wonderful holiday vacation time - it severely limits my photography time :-(
I miss you guys!!

Here is photo from the Autumn of my wonderful little Border Collie Tuggie.

I like the light. I didn't know at the time I took this to be careful not to cut her feet off :-)

I look forward to all of your wonderful observations, critiques, suggestions!

Diane

TuggieAutumnLight by luvaneezer, on Flickr

[Shadowman]

Nice, a bit hot with the whites and the eye on the sunny side is almost obscured by the intensity of the sun. You can tone it down somewhat to improve presentation.

[JamesScott86]

Fantastic shot!!! Really nice!

[Geoff F]

I just wonder about the background in the top left corner?

I suppose cropping to 4 x 5 ratio would be too tight? Alternatively going square?

[ashcroft]

The WB doesn't look right to me - too warm? In PS RAW I selected the WB tool and picked a white area of his bright fur. The change is WB was quite considerable. The flowers are pretty but they are a little distracting, as is the T-Left background as Geoff said. He's a lovely dog!

You thought about retiring early? I can recommend it.

[NorthernFocus]

The WB doesn't look right to me - too warm?...

There are times when correcting WB is counterproductive and I'd argue this is one of those times. Photography isn't about producing perfect laboratory colors. It's about capturing light. Morning and evening light are not white. IMO the image as presented looks appropriately warm for the angle of the sun.

Diane, overall this is a pretty nice shot of a beautiful dog. For future reference posting the EXIF data along with the photo can be useful for others making suggestions on potential changes to ss, f-stop, etc.

You already noted clipping the poor pup's toes off. That is less than optimal but not the end of the world either. Sometimes once you've done something like that it is then better to make it obvious and therefore apparently intentional by cropping even further. Not necessarily in this case but just something to keep in mind. The two most obvious challenges that have here are the harsh side lighting and the BG. You have something similar to the horizon splitting your subjects head/ears. On the learning curve BG is probably the last thing that most people learn to pay attention to at time of the shot. Not sure what was out of the frame to the right but taking a step to the left may have produced a less messy background. Also moving closer/farther/up/down to avoid the horizon going through the subject may be preferable.

If shooting front lit wasn't an option, using the popup flash on you camera for fill flash might have been a good idea in this situation. In lieu of that, Not sure how much PP you've already done but nowadays if you shoot RAW the harsh lighting can be often be largely corrected. If you have software with an "HDR effect"(not true HDR), you can apply it selectively to the subject to reduce the effects of the harsh light. Some software may also call it "compression", as in compressing the histogram(aka reducing the dynamic range). Otherwise simply use the shadows and highlights tools selectively(as below done in LR.

At least you have a red BC. They are much easier to get good exposure than the black and whites. Does the name Tuggie have something to do with a propensity to play tug of war with you?

[rpcrowe]

I cropped this image and also increased the structure using NIK Viveza and decreased the warmth a bit, also with Viveza...

[luvaneezer]

I just wonder about the background in the top left corner?

I suppose cropping to 4 x 5 ratio would be too tight? Alternatively going square?

Geoff - I think that would be a good idea to get the junk out of the photo. I will try different cropping. Thanks!

[luvaneezer]

The WB doesn't look right to me - too warm? In PS RAW I selected the WB tool and picked a white area of his bright fur. The change is WB was quite considerable. The flowers are pretty but they are a little distracting, as is the T-Left background as Geoff said. He's a lovely dog!

You thought about retiring early? I can recommend it.

Wow - the change is quite noticeable - looks a lot brighter. I think the crop is wonderful - looks balanced to me. Thanks so much for taking the time to make those changes - it is really nice to see what your suggestions look like!
And, yes - I am thinking about retiring early - lots more time for photography!

[luvaneezer]

There are times when correcting WB is counterproductive and I'd argue this is one of those times. Photography isn't about producing perfect laboratory colors. It's about capturing light. Morning and evening light are not white. IMO the image as presented looks appropriately warm for the angle of the sun.

Diane, overall this is a pretty nice shot of a beautiful dog. For future reference posting the EXIF data along with the photo can be useful for others making suggestions on potential changes to ss, f-stop, etc.

You already noted clipping the poor pup's toes off. That is less than optimal but not the end of the world either. Sometimes once you've done something like that it is then better to make it obvious and therefore apparently intentional by cropping even further. Not necessarily in this case but just something to keep in mind. The two most obvious challenges that have here are the harsh side lighting and the BG. You have something similar to the horizon splitting your subjects head/ears. On the learning curve BG is probably the last thing that most people learn to pay attention to at time of the shot. Not sure what was out of the frame to the right but taking a step to the left may have produced a less messy background. Also moving closer/farther/up/down to avoid the horizon going through the subject may be preferable.

If shooting front lit wasn't an option, using the popup flash on you camera for fill flash might have been a good idea in this situation. In lieu of that, Not sure how much PP you've already done but nowadays if you shoot RAW the harsh lighting can be often be largely corrected. If you have software with an "HDR effect"(not true HDR), you can apply it selectively to the subject to reduce the effects of the harsh light. Some software may also call it "compression", as in compressing the histogram(aka reducing the dynamic range). Otherwise simply use the shadows and highlights tools selectively(as below done in LR.

At least you have a red BC. They are much easier to get good exposure than the black and whites. Does the name Tuggie have something to do with a propensity to play tug of war with you?

Dan - a wealth of information - thank you!!

Your suggestions about BG, lighting, horizon, feet will be in my mind when I am framing shots in the future for sure.

And, a couple of questions:

I can see that you used highlight/shadow adjustments on Tuggie's right side

And, some questions: I like how that fills her out all the way around and diminishes the harshness of the lighting. What did you do to get the BG more out of focus? Though that can't remove the stuff in the BG, it certainly makes it less distracting.

I, too, am very grateful to have a red BC - she is a love - and quite a tugger, too. Her registered name is PowerTripp's Get-A-Grip :-) And, she is so much easier to photograph than our B&W BC! You will see lots more photos of her! I have to teach her to pose better. Right now most of the time, when I pull out the camera she looks like she thinks it is going to steal her soul :-)

Many thanks for the detailed suggestions and demo of the changes! So much appreciated.

[luvaneezer]

For future reference posting the EXIF data along with the photo can be useful for others making suggestions on potential changes to ss, f-stop, etc.

Forgot to ask this, Dan. I exported the photo from LR with EXIF data, which shows up on Flickr. When I grab the BBCode to post here, is there any way to get the EXIF data to carry along? Or, do I just need to cut and paste into my post?
Sorry to trouble you with this - If there are resources on the site you can point me to about this, that would be helpful - I read over what I could find on posting photos, but could not find anything specific to EXIF data. Thanks for the help.

Here is the data on this shot:

Olympus E-M1
OLYMPUS M.12-40mm F2.8




ƒ/2.8 35.0 mm 1/640 200

[luvaneezer]

I cropped this image and also increased the structure using NIK Viveza and decreased the warmth a bit, also with Viveza...

Richard - thank you for you adjustments - it is so helpful to see what someone's suggestions actually look like. I do not use PS - could you help me to understand what "increase the structure" means? thanks!!

[NorthernFocus]

... What did you do to get the BG more out of focus? Though that can't remove the stuff in the BG, it certainly makes it less distracting...

Hey, Diane. I just did a quick and dirty version of a trick in LR with the masking brush. I don't remember seeing what software you use. LR doesn't actually have a blur tool but you can fudge it. Pick the masking brush tool and set clarity = -100, sharpness = -100, and noise = +100. Mask what you want blurred. Depending on how much you want to "blur" it, you tweak the values. One good thing is that you can tweak the values after you paint in the mask to see how it looks. I also applied a slight vignette which helped darken the bright spots along the upper edge of the image.

Forgot to ask this, Dan. I exported the photo from LR with EXIF data, which shows up on Flickr. When I grab the BBCode to post here, is there any way to get the EXIF data to carry along? Or, do I just need to cut and paste into my post?...

Someone else can speak up if there is a whizbang way to do it. I just cut and paste. I know some members have utilities that allow them to see the imbedded EXIF data in posted images but I'm not that dedicated.

[rpcrowe]

Hi Diane...

Structure is one of the many enhancements available through the Viveza module of NIK Software. NIK Software is a plug-in for Photoshop and there is a version available for Lightroom. Viveza is only one of many modules in the NIK Collection.

Kind of think of the structure slider as a less aggressive form of sharpening increase which increases detail but, even if used rather strongly doesn't cause the artifacts common with over sharpening.

You can use any of the NIK filters either globally or you can pinpoint their use with the wonderful (in my estimation) NIK Control Point system.

You can also reduce the contrast and/or detail in an image or in a portion of an image by adding a minus structure filter.

https://www.google.com/nikcollection/

I do need to add that an experienced Photoshop Guru can possible perform all of the enhancements available in the NIK Software. However, I find that NIK is quicker and easier to use.

I use at least some portions of NIK on all of my images...

[luvaneezer]

Hi Diane...

Structure is one of the many enhancements available through the Viveza module of NIK Software. NIK Software is a plug-in for Photoshop and there is a version available for Lightroom. Viveza is only one of many modules in the NIK Collection.

Kind of think of the structure slider as a less aggressive form of sharpening increase which increases detail but, even if used rather strongly doesn't cause the artifacts common with over sharpening.

You can use any of the NIK filters either globally or you can pinpoint their use with the wonderful (in my estimation) NIK Control Point system.

You can also reduce the contrast and/or detail in an image or in a portion of an image by adding a minus structure filter.

https://www.google.com/nikcollection/

I do need to add that an experienced Photoshop Guru can possible perform all of the enhancements available in the NIK Software. However, I find that NIK is quicker and easier to use.

I use at least some portions of NIK on all of my images...

Sounds like a potentially very useful utility - I'll have a look at what the add-ins are for LR. Something particularly appealing is the ability to selectively apply alterations to a designated area. I have not been able to figure out how to do that in LR for color adjustments, for example. I suspect there is a way, which I will come across in my learning. Thank you so much for the detailed explanation and help, Richard!

[rpcrowe]

I was first introduced to NIK Software several yars ago when the company was based in San Diego. They invited my camera club for a presentation and I was extremely impressed. Unfortunately the cost was so high that I could not justify it.

Google purchased NIK and reduced the price to $150 and I purchased it. I have not looked back. There is just so much this plug-in can do that I use at least portions of it for all of my imagery, starting with a RAW image pre-sharpener. It also has a pretty decent noixe control in which you can apply different degrees of noise control to different areas of the image...