Mad Max and Jazzy Jasper

[David]

One of my friends, Richard, owns two show Springer spaniels: Jasper and Max. Having heard about my new Canon 5D Mk II, Richard decided that I could photograph his dogs "in action". I took over 60 shots, of which over 50 were really no use at all. Even those left required some post-processing to make them presentable. As well as sharpening and LCE I also used a re-focus plug-in for the Gimp.



This first shot shows Jasper, the more thoughtful of the pair. The main problem here was exposure as some of the white areas of his coat would clip out. I've overcome this by cloning in some areas with a very soft and very transparent brush.

The second shot shows Max on the run. For a hand held exposure it could have been worse. I used the re-focus tool around Max's eye and it seems to have worked reasonably well.




This third shot is probably my favourite.



I managed to get the ball and the dog into the image, or rather the continuous shoot mode of the camera did that. I've thought long and hard about the disembodied legs and whether to take them out. On balance I think they add to the dynamism of the image. Note also what appears to be speckled noise in the upper half of the image. I thought for a moment I'd got grit on the lens, but I think it's actually dust and debris thrown up by Max's paws as he runs.

Comments and crits are welcome as always, particularly from those such as Katy who have been at the end of my barbs.

Cheers

David

[Shadowman]

These are great captures, especially the contrast between the dog's coat and the background.

[carregwen]

Good shots, David. I like the last one but the legs and other dog rather spoil it. I did an edit (if that's OK) to crop the man's legs. I used delete\content-aware in CS5 to remove the dog, which was actually quite easy as you have a nice blurred background. I could have done it better, but I'm in a hurry to get out.

Your posted images are 1MB each, which might take a while to load for some people. Try a smaller upload size - 400K?

[Donald]

David

That 'head-on' shot with the ball is phenominal. On balance (and it is a judgement call), I'd go with Rob's suggestion.

The reason is that the tighter crop and the removal of other distracting information (the other dog) throws attention fully onto Max and the intense concentration in his face. The impact is not so great in your original, although that one does give us more information about context.

A 'must have' for all dog lovers.

[Katy Noelle]

Comments and crits are welcome as always, particularly from those such as Katy who have been at the end of my barbs.

Yes, well, I'm impressed! The first one is such a lovely portrait. My sister is an animal (mainly equine) artist and I could see that being one of her portraits!

The second one - the look on that dog's face reminds me of Kay's cyclists.

The third one is adorable! Look at those jowls and those eyes. Oh, hahahaha!

And, welll, ....... skewer away! skewer away!

[David]

Hi All - I guess Rob is correct, the closer crop and removal of all distraction does look better.

Katy -thanks for your kind comments.

David

[rpcrowe]

David, these are great shots of beautiful spaniels in their natural environment, as sporting dogs. The shot of the dog running at tha chartruese ball in the frame is a great capture. I absolutely love the intensity in the Springer's eyes as it lunges for the ball. The ball being out of focus (or is it the ball's movement) adds motion to the image and I do like the closer crop! Positioning the dog to the right of the image allows room in front and the dog is not running out of the frame. Great series...

I am not a hunter, but I appreciate the natural ability of these dogs for field work. I love to see sporting dogs working and if they are wet and covered with mud, they are even more beautiful to my eyes.