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Eyes in the Dark
Eyes in the Dark
sh0rty


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Fill the Frame III (Advanced Editing V)
Camera: Nikon D70s
Lens: Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED
Location: Coquitlam, BC, Canada
Date: Aug 22, 2007
Aperture: F/4.5
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/125
Galleries: Animals, Digital Art
Date Uploaded: Aug 22, 2007

 First member challange entry.

This is my dog Sadie, a 2 year old black Labrador/Border Coley Cross. I had a fun time trying to get her to sit nicely in front of a black blanket I hung on a bookcase, she seemed to not want it behind her. I eventually got her sitting where I wanted, and got her to look at the lens by holding a cookie right on top of it.

There is a fair bit of post-production done in Paint.net. Originally I was going to do it black and white with selective desaturation on the eyes, but it turned out to be unnecessary. With simple tweaks to curves, brightness and contrast I was able to get everything as black as I wanted while leaving some subtle colors, and I think it looks better than my B&W attempt. I did use some selectively masked layers to enhance the eye color and balance the highlights in the eyes, ears, nose, neck, and whiskers.

If you would like a detailed breakdown of the post-production steps send me a PM (it is long!).

Statistics
Place: 238 out of 285
Avg (all users): 4.7546
Avg (commenters): 5.0000
Avg (participants): 4.5556
Avg (non-participants): 5.0000
Views since voting: 707
Views during voting: 235
Votes: 163
Comments: 7
Favorites: 0

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AuthorThread
Nikon D70s
Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED
 09/03/2007 07:43:07 PM
I thought this one would have done better. I guess part of my mistake was editing this at full size, and re-sizing at the end. The intensity of the highlights was greatly decreased when it was down-sized. I think it looked prety good full sized.

I took a look at this on a computer with a crappy old CRTthat has prety bad contrast (last two blocks on the contrast bar are one shade no matter what settings I change). On that screen the picture looked like it was all black. I'm wondering if some coments about it being to black are becuase of differences in contrast between my monitor and others.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
Canon EOS-5D Mark III
Canon EF 135mm f/2.0 L USM
 09/02/2007 11:43:28 PM
ohh creepy!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D700
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED
 08/31/2007 03:59:12 PM
To dark for me
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-300D Rebel
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II
 08/30/2007 06:06:20 PM
Your frame may be full but the darkness of the shot makes it appear as if your frame isn't full. Maybe not the best choice for the challenge theme...
TC
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH4
Panasonic Lumix 20mm f1.7 ASPH
 08/29/2007 10:57:47 AM
Unfortunately it's a bit too dark for my taste. Some shadows/highlights might have helped to bring out the fur a bit more.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0 L IS
 08/29/2007 12:41:29 AM
i like the idea
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi
Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
 08/28/2007 10:30:12 PM
Since all my photo equipment was stolen and I am camera-less, I will spend time now voting...
Interest - 2
Theme Interp - 3
Technical Merit - 3
Personal Bias - 2
TOTAL - 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Theme: Classic / System / Light / Dark
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