K9 in Flight -- first submission for C&C of course...

[IzzieK]

We went to a Ballwin, Missouri annual festival yesterday because they advertised on the local papers a K9 in Flight event. K9 in Flight is a group of dogs and their trainers. All the dogs are rescued from unfit homes, puppy mills, adoption centres and the last one of the dogs who is their star of the show, was about to be euthanized the next day when they got him. He will be in the last batch of this series as I took over 300 shots of the dogs alone and still have to pp all of them...

I took Bill with me because I thought he knows where to go...(Ballwin is next to our city) and besides I know he will also enjoy the show. This is our first dog event together.

Since it is a very hot, humid day (not quite 95°F) and know that this will be full of action shots, I decided to leave my settings to 1/1250, Aperture somewhere between F13 more or less and Auto ISO…There are still some white and black points I need to take care of but I have been following a tutorial on Adobe TV this morning on the Camera Raw section and used it on all the images here:

http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-phot...ng-raw-images/
and
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-phot...raw-7-plug-in/

1 Overview before the show: The event was delayed for two hours because someone decided the night before to empty the pool that the dogs are going to jump into this morning..fire rescue were called and they filled the pool up with before the show can go on…



2 Filling up the pool. Good to have practice in freezing water shots here…



3 Portrait of a Horse – one of the sideshows in the events are the petting animals. This is a smart Clydesdale horse who can understand commands like kiss, sit, etc. As you can imagine it was very hard photographing this horse because of the kids around…and the Moms who tolerates them getting in the way of my camera. Many times I have to wait to get my turn...but that is reality…



For the horse to pop up a little bit, I used Refined Edge – this tutorial:

http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-phot...h-refine-edge/

but instead of following the tutorial to the letter, I hold the Shift/Ctrl+I key then went to Filter/Gaussian Blur to delicately blur the background to make the horse portrait pop out more and be more noticeable. This is the same technique I've used for my backyard birds' shots.

4 While waiting behind me, at the Boy Scout tent, these sisters were competing against one another …



5. Boat racing 2 -- Of course the big sister won...




6 The first of the flying K9 shot -- jumping onto the pool to retrieve a frisbee, but the dog caught the frisbee even before it went to the water....a little bit overexposed, but I got what I got...I was at the wrong place to shoot...I have better ones...later...I hope... I know...blue tummy and that pole underneath his leg I just saw it now after uploading...



7. Wet dog...



Going back to bed now...will be back later for more...
Thanks a lot for any comments, good or bad or more in betweens. I appreciate them very much. I hope you enjoyed going through the editing journey I included here in this post. This is a request from Christina for me to include the tutorials so beginners and amateurs like me can follow through with their images. This just goes to show that the methods described are photo specific...
Cheers.......

[Marie Hass]

Good job, Izzie.

Really tells a story.

Thanks for the detailed information.

Marie

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[rtbaum]

Well done Izzie

[bnnrcn]

Nice series Isabel I think there is a slight magenta color cast in #3. I would also try to blur the BG in the image as it distracts. My best is #6, such a nice shot. You can fix the blue tummy and the pole anyway Besides it might be better to clone all white stuff and the small shadow underneath the dog's legs.

[chauncey]

Izzie my love, what were you trying to do...taking those shots in bright harsh sunlight.
You had to know that PP would be a...'censored language'.

Nonetheless, you carried it off with your usual aplomb, well done.

[Kris V]

Love this series Izzie!

[DEAN01]

Very nice, Izzie.

[IzzieK]

Good job, Izzie.

Really tells a story.

Thanks for the detailed information.

Marie

Thank you for your feedback...I do appreciate it very much...

[IzzieK]

Well done Izzie

Thank John and Randy for the feedback. I appreciate it very much.

[IzzieK]

Nice series Isabel I think there is a slight magenta color cast in #3. I would also try to blur the BG in the image as it distracts. My best is #6, such a nice shot. You can fix the blue tummy and the pole anyway Besides it might be better to clone all white stuff and the small shadow underneath the dog's legs.

Thank you Binnur...I thought I was wanting to give the girl a warmer look with a little bit of red and yellow...obviously it did not work. I should stay away from the tint and temperature thing in ACR until I am familiar with what it really do...ha! I thought I had already blurred the background and removed one rubbish bin at the back..you are right of course...I will selectively select that background and blur it more than I did the middle green grass and the rest of the blurring I did in that shot...
In #6, yeah..those white stuffs will be gone...and the pole, adjust the blue tummy and remove the fringing on the legs...wonder how it got there...hmmm....

Thanks for the feedback, Binnur...appreciate it very much...

[Mark von Kanel]

As they say over your side of the pond AWSOME! thanks for all of the PP tips and links.

[IzzieK]

Very nice, Izzie.

Thank you Dean, Kris and William...for your feedbacks and comments. I truly appreciate it very, very much that you passed by and see my work.

William, you know my situation -- I can't choose the hours I get out of the house to do some photographs (only in my backyard). As I had already explained, the show was supposed to be at noon and was delayed two hours because of a certain prank that happened night before...and the firemen came to help...always there and everywhere I love those guys!!! Are you reading this, Jack???

As for the pp, I was asked to give it away. I guess it when you know something, a little bit of sharing is good but not when you do feel like giving away your soul too in the process, it is not a good thing...

[bnnrcn]

Fringing on the legs might be chromatric aberration Isabel.You can fix it in ACR by selecting lens corrections>color>remove chromatic aberration

Thank you Binnur...I thought I was wanting to give the girl a warmer look with a little bit of red and yellow...obviously it did not work. I should stay away from the tint and temperature thing in ACR until I am familiar with what it really do...ha! I thought I had already blurred the background and removed one rubbish bin at the back..you are right of course...I will selectively select that background and blur it more than I did the middle green grass and the rest of the blurring I did in that shot...
In #6, yeah..those white stuffs will be gone...and the pole, adjust the blue tummy and remove the fringing on the legs...wonder how it got there...hmmm....

Thanks for the feedback, Binnur...appreciate it very much...

[IzzieK]

As they say over your side of the pond AWSOME! thanks for all of the PP tips and links.

You're welcome...thank you for the feedback and comments. I appreciate it very much.

[IzzieK]

Fringing on the legs might be chromatric aberration Isabel.You can fix it in ACR by selecting lens corrections>color>remove chromatic aberration

I thought I did checked the lens correction button but I guess I didn't move it right enough...Thanks for noticing the errors of my ways...and thanks for the follow up comment and advice...

I have no time left much to edit as I am packing to go on our trip to Kentucky and NC but if it rains, I will stay in the hotel and do my best. Thanks again...