PS gurus please help

[snowrdr]

Here is a shot of Booker, my yellow lab from last October soon after getting my A95. I've attached a cropped, levels adjusted, saturation increased, resized, and sharpened version. But unfortunately, Booker's days are numbered since he is 15 yrs. old. I would really like to salvage this shot of him and was wondering if the PS experts on here could click on link for the full size original below, and list the steps you would take to make the best of this shot. If you could post a resized version that would be great.

Thanks, Dave

Booker full size original link (http://www.pbase.com/image/41554777/original.jpg)


http://www.pbase.com/image/41554876.jpg

[4nR]

such a sad story behind it. im not exactly sure what you want to get out of the pic. besides maybe brightening and maybe saturating booker a tad, the photo looks ok to me.

[DavidEB]

Sorry to hear about Booker.

I'm not a photoshop expert at all (I use elements) but I cant resist a challenge. I did the quick and dirty version, off your posted image -- if you like my approach you can try yourself on the full image.

The only thing I can see in the shot that would be better is if the dog stood out from the fence more. It's hard to do. You have to select the fence pixels, separate from the dog pixels. I used the magic wand and spent about 1 minute. You can see that I did a lousy job. Getting every single dog hair on the right side of the selection line will take maybe an hour, working at the highest view magnification. Also every blade of grass. Feather your selection to about 2 or 3 pixels.

then I created two layers - the bottom layer has the whole photo, and in the top layer, I deleted the non-selected areas (fence, dog). Then add an adjustment layer linked to the top layer, and reduce the brightness and contrast.

Next I created artificial bokeh to the fence by adding a gaussian blur -- I used 3 pixel radius, you can go higher but it starts to look fake if too much.

So anyways, I don't know if what I did is an improvement or not, but it's the only thing I see that might remotely help what is really a pretty good photo. I don't know how to make bookery look younger -- if I did, I'd use technique on self.

[coatsie]

Our lab, Sam is 14 1/2 and looks older than Booker - that is a nice photo - have you thought about turning it into black & white as well?

:)

[4nR]

ok, here's my version. i basically made the background into another layer and used levels and saturation for both.

http://img77.exs.cx/img77/7571/bookersm6lv.jpg

[Hellashot]

The original looks best to me.

[Titus213]

Sorry to hear about Booker. I don't see a problem with your picture except maybe some more saturation on Booker. Ever thought of having a portrait painted from the photo?

[PaCiFiSt]

Sorry to hear about Booker. I don't see a problem with your picture except maybe some more saturation on Booker. Ever thought of having a portrait painted from the photo?

Thats a really good idea. I like the picture (orginal) alot

[Titus213]

Just so happens a neighbor of mine is looking for pet portrait work. He does an amazing job and is currently trying to get his website up and running. Let me know if you want more info....I'd be happy to put you in touch with him. I have no idea what he charges but I do know he is good!

[juneappal]

Woah. I recognize that expression. My dog, Booker, had the same look. Unfortunately, he died a year ago, back when I was still butchering photos with bad photoshop tricks and not saving the originals, so most of my pictures of him are un-shareable. Here's a decent one, though.

We gave him the name Booker because my parents deal in old books out of their home - he looked awfully picturesque as a puppy, curled up on the bottom shelf of a bookshelf, next to the encyclopaedias.

This photo was taken about three months before he died at age eleven of cancer.

[Jarrad]

Hi, Dave :)

Great dog... and I know the feeling. I regret not taking more shots of my previous pets.

I'm far from a PS guru, but I basically just tried to isolate Booker from his surroundings. I used the Lens Blur on the fence and the blurred the foreground by hand. I Burned the fence slightly and Doged the eyes. I used Selective colour to adjust the colour and brightness of Booker's Coat as well as the grass. I Then Cloned out his Collar and the stuff under his eyes. I thought that would make him look a little younger. I Then Used Unsharp Mask and lastly Noise Ninja.

Then I Saved to JPG, converted to sRBG, Resized, Framed and here is the result:



http://xs23.xs.to/pics/05141/Original-2-2-srbg-resized-framed.jpg




I still have the Full size, unframed, Adobe RBG 1998 colour space version that can be converted to JPG, TIFF, etc. for print if you'd like it.

:)

[snowrdr]

Thanks everyone, there are some great ideas here for me to work on. That's what makes this place great, a wealth of knowledge to draw from! I have a few other shots of Booker to work with and some ideas for new shots as well.

Thanks Jarrad, check your PM's.

-Dave

[*MOMOFAIRFORCEBRATS*]

ok personally i really think the dog pops more in B&W

so i thought i would show that version

[Mills]

Wishing you and Booker the best. I'm with Ann, the B&W looks great.

[Airedale1]

Dave I'm know expert with PS, but here's my take on it. Hope you like it. Booker is a handsome boy. I gave his eye's a cleaning also. I used to be a dog groomer.;)

[Photo's by Mike]

Dave here is my attempt at PS let me know if you like it, can email the full size to you.
Mike

[snowrdr]

Thanks for the replies. I posted another shot of Booker from this morning in the Nature and Animals forum here (http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=66024). http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gifhttp://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gifhttp://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif

[fstop]

Booker is a beautiful doggie. Your original pic is just fine, though some of the PS work offered by others is good as well. Keep taking those pics while you have Booker to love.

[Sporty]

I always like to add a little sparkle to the eyes of people/animals if they are a little dark. Just makes them liven up a little. Just a thought.....

http://www.mentalasanything.com/bookersm6lv.jpg

[Airedale1]

How do you do that?