Bernese Mountain Dog by the water

[Pink Butterfly]

Originally Posted by Shutterwolf

*understood* but in situations such as this shot where it wasn't done right due to not being planned, and not knowing better... it would be nice to know how to fix a photo that turned out beautifully framed, but not quite perfect.

Pretty simple. I just copied the image into 4 identical layers:
1) Dog
2) Ground (because it is basically in the same focal plane)
3) Tree (because it is just outside the DOF limit I would have used)
4) Forest & water (because it is even further outside DOF limits & would have been thrown further out of focus)

Selected dog in layer 1 and ran a High Pass Filter & set blend mode to hard light. Slight curves adjustment.

No changes to ground layer.

Selected tree in layer 3 and applied slight GB (just a couple pixel's worth).

Selected forest & water & everything else that was far away in layer 4 and applied slightly stronger GB (still just a couple pixel's worth, but more than in layer 3)

Merged elements of all 4 layers.

Took about 5 minutes. Then created .gif to demonstrate how changing the emphasis can draw your attention to the subject, rather than the distracting surroundings.

[Pink Butterfly]

Originally Posted by Whippeticious

very clever Pink Butterfly!

I'm a clever gal. ... You should see what I can do with shoes !!!

[Qbx]

Pink, that is a nice GIF to demonstrate focus on the subject, but I find the light area in the lower right to be competing for attention so I wonder if it should be blurred or maybe just darkened?

[Shutterwolf]

Originally Posted by Pink Butterfly

Pretty simple. I just copied the image into 4 identical layers:
1) Dog
2) Ground (because it is basically in the same focal plane)
3) Tree (because it is just outside the DOF limit I would have used)
4) Forest & water (because it is even further outside DOF limits & would have been thrown further out of focus)

Selected dog in layer 1 and ran a High Pass Filter & set blend mode to hard light. Slight curves adjustment.

No changes to ground layer.

Selected tree in layer 3 and applied slight GB (just a couple pixel's worth).

Selected forest & water & everything else that was far away in layer 4 and applied slightly stronger GB (still just a couple pixel's worth, but more than in layer 3)

Merged elements of all 4 layers.

Took about 5 minutes. Then created .gif to demonstrate how changing the emphasis can draw your attention to the subject, rather than the distracting surroundings.

Hmm, some day I too shall be this good! LOL. I only know a little bit about photoshop. Probably only the very basic stuff compared to someone like you... :PI know a new layer for doing things to the photo like spot fix or sharpening, but I am lost at how to seperate the picture into 4 layers like that. I need to find someone that can show me 1 on 1 how do do some stuff in photoshop. Kinda sucks learining the way I do... I do much better hands on in person and seeing it, but not so good just reading about it. Thank you for the advise anyway though!

[katodog]

Duplicate the layer, apply Gaussian blur, erase the areas you don't want blurred. Merge the layers.

Duplicate the layer, boost clarity to change the lighting and contrast of the overall shot. With programs like Paint Shop Pro you can use the Clarity tool to even out lighting, so shadows and whatnot are adjusted to match the lighting in other areas of the photo. Adjust the layer opacity to suit the shot. Merge the layers.

Duplicate the layer, adjust saturation. Adjust the opacity of the layer to suit the shot. Merge the layers.

Duplicate the layer, change the layer properties to "Screen" to brighten the image, then adjust the opacity to suit the shot. Merge the layers.






Takes about 30 seconds-to-1 minute to do, and is very basic and easy to do. Spend more time on it to fine-tune the details, like where you want the blur to be or how accurately you want to do things, otherwise there you go.

I'm on calibrated monitors, and the brightness of my edit looks good to me but it might look a bit bright to you if your monitors are set too bright. But, if things look too bright you can simply duplicate the layer, change the layer properties to "Multiply", then adjust the opacity of the layer to get the brightness you want.



As for processing skills, the easiest ting to do to teach yourself different stuff is to duplicate the layer, apply whatever processing you want, then click the layer off and on to see the effect and how it looks. If you like an effect, but don't like how strong it is, drop the opacity of the layer. If you want to see how the different layer properties effect things click them, like Multiply, Hard Light, Luminance, etc., to see what they do to the layer. Best way to learn is to do, and if you're working with layers you can ditch the whole thing without killing your original file.

[Shutterwolf]

Originally Posted by katodog

As for processing skills, the easiest ting to do to teach yourself different stuff is to duplicate the layer, apply whatever processing you want, then click the layer off and on to see the effect and how it looks. If you like an effect, but don't like how strong it is, drop the opacity of the layer. If you want to see how the different layer properties effect things click them, like Multiply, Hard Light, Luminance, etc., to see what they do to the layer. Best way to learn is to do, and if you're working with layers you can ditch the whole thing without killing your original file.

First off, your edit looks AMAZING! I will have to go back and try some of that later today if I get time. Got a lot of pictures from the beach this weekend I gotta take care of first.

As far as the Photoshop stuff goes, duplicating a layer is something I just got into recently. If that is what Pink Butterfly was meaning about separate it into 4 layers, then that is about all I know. I do like to make a new layer and try new things to see how it looks, but my problem is, I don't know half of what Photoshop can do so I don't really know what new things to try. Changing the properties to screen, and boosting clarity are a couple things I'm lost on. I get the opacity of the layer and merging layers, but I don't know how to do much else with it. I would really love learning how to be creative with my pictures, creating effects like the filters on Instagram. I only know how to do a black and white photo, or a sepia photo. Other then that, I'm lost.

I have played around with "actions" a bit also, but you don't always get the look you want with it, and I would really like to know how everything is done within the action so I could get to it and do it on my own.

[SilverHCIC]

Pink Butterfly -- Really nice job at emphasizing the subject, without also emphasizing the distracting background. You have a good eye.


I wonder if I've seen some of your stuff before??

[lahtir]

There is nice feeling in the image, warm, the dog looks like you best buddy - like it should. Is the tree behind there on purpose?