Neighbor's Wheaten Terrier- How did I do?

[rhuel]

I had the camera out for a bit tonight taking random pics. My neighbor's dog was out. She is a bundle of fun. She usually bounces all over the place and runs in circles when I go over. She didn't seem to be such a fan of having the camera pointed at her (as you can see in her body language & expression in the 1st pic).

I was able to get a few shots off while she was standing still, but #2 was the only one that had a decent focus on her face. Using "sneaker zoom" with the nifty fifty sure can have some drawbacks. Spooking the subject seems to be the biggest.

Anyway, I've not posted any C&C pics, but please help me learn.

I did no PP aside from a crop on pic #2. These were embedded jpgs in the RAW files I extracted with BreezeBrowser. There was a lot more yard and hedge/tree stuff in the background. Did I take too much out of the pic when cropping?

Thanks in advance!

[Mooseknuckle]

They look alright, but the colors are definitely a little dull and dark. What program do you use for PP'ing? The Canon DPP software is actually not bad and these could be fixed using that program in just a few minutes.

The crop in the first one isn't my favorite and would look better if you were at the same level as the dog. The second one is better but would look better with a tighter crop I think.

[wickerprints]

They're a good start but for really good pictures, you need to spend more time with the dog and make her more comfortable around the camera, because her unease is definitely showing.

[rhuel]

I have Photoshop CS3, Lightroom 2.3, and PaintShop Pro 9.

Can't change the composition of #1 in PP ;) I guess I should have asked for critique on #2 as #1 was just for fun to show how her attitude came through in a shot. She's EXTREMELY comfortable with me with no camera (I've known her since she was a pup). I only took a couple shots and put the camera away when I saw she wasn't real happy.

Thanks for the comments. Keep em coming.

[rhuel]

I did some PP on the original and on another I didn't post before. I excluded the "uneasy" shot as it was only for entertainment, not really meant to be an "over the mantle pic".

Fullsize pics show some brown in the eyes, where the smaller versions are almost black.

Any better or still too dark?

[Flo]

They need a crop( the last edits are wrong)..Composition can most always be fixed in crop. The first shot got the dog sharp, the second is somewhat soft.

[rhuel]

Edited profile to allow others to edit.

I didn't realize that was turned off.

Feel free to show me what you'd think would be better.

Thanks!

[chopper5654]

the edited versions are a tad too much, imo. i am a huge fan of saturated color, but it's a little overdone. either too much contrast or curve adjustment, too; the "wheat" is white....and blown on the dog's back quarter. look at the difference in color from shot #1 to shot #3.

that said, crop #3 is much better for the dog looking "into" the frame. i would also ditch the photos shooting down on the dog and keep the shots of you lower to the ground on more of the dog's eye level....much more pleasing to the eye.

only other thing i will mention is your comment about "taking random pics." ALWAYS have a plan. dont just go out and pull the trigger. the haphazard, random shooting tends to come out "point and shooty." (compositionally lacking almost every time.)

keep it up, though. they are FAR from bad shots.

[rhuel]

Thanks chopper!!

The PP was done entirely with a couple free LR presets. I am waay too inexperienced with adjusting curves, contrast and saturation at this point. I spend forever and never get the image to look good. Practice is definitelyt needed. I think it's a bit much as well. The neighbor thanked me and loved the pics I printed for her though. They had no "nice" pics of Kenzie, so they were thrilled. Someday, maybe I'll try to make a plan and get some pics of her.

There was an actual plan in place...to get a panning shot of my daughter on rollerblades/skateboard in front of the house. I got sidetracked while she changed from blades to board :oops: and took the pics of Kenzie.

The first Kenzie shot was totally random, I was walking up to say hi to her and had the camera in my hand. Once I got over there, I decided to take a couple pics. I did squat down and try to get the rock/twig in the foreground and I think that worked OK (maybe not). She started getting restless right after that, so I put the camera down and played with her for a bit, then back to the panning shots. I got one decent panning shot out of about 35 (didn't realize I cut the skateboard off until after I reviewed). Glad I'm shooting digital!!

[hondafans]

Poor dog, she lost her coat.

[mikekelley]

This is a minor nitpick but I'd take the electric fence collar off for the shoot.

#2 is a nice capture, I like it with the PP but the greens might be too saturated.

[chopper5654]

as for playing in pp, just take the time and experiment. read a little on the net, and experiment some more. i am so far from competent with it, but i picked up some of the basics, i think. i have a set "workflow" (i use that term so friggin loosely) that i go through, but its very basic. i use ZoomBrowser and DPP.

in zoom...
- open pic and trim/crop
- go into color management, level adjustment. move the right arrow over to the edge of histogram. move left arrow over to edge of histogram. slide middle arrow around to either brighten or darken the midtones to satisfaction. (i dont always move the right and left arrows all the way to the histogram, but as i move them, i watch the affect it has on the shot)
- stay in color management and now go to color adjustment. brightness should be 99% set by level adjusting. but, i almost always bump the saturation, and give a little extra contrast (from 0 to about 3).
- save changes and head to DPP.
- in DPP, i find the pic and sharpen. resave.

done. takes about 5 minutes per pic...often less, rarely more. then, upload to image sharing site and post it here.

once familiar with that very basic process, you will find yourself starting to play around inside these programs. i play with curves to learn what they will do. i mess with the RGB channels individually and play with those levels and curves, too. i just like to see what can happen on occasion. usually, i lose myself in the pic and cant see what looks good anymore. but, thats part of the fun and part of the learning process.

the only way to learn is to make lots of mistakes.

[rhuel]

Another crack at it...

No free presets, just me tinkering with sliders in LR

Better yet?

[chopper5654]

imo, MUCH! now we have a photo. not that the originals were bad, but look what a diff the tighter crops made. and, you toned down the saturation really well, too. a great blend of what others here have said. well done.

[nemo man]

Not sure about the shots, but I think the dog should come across the pond and live with us! Send her across?

[Flo]

Much better.;)

[wickerprints]

Is the dog really that blue in the second photo?