Ok, first challenge as a "member". I became a member so I could submit to more challenges and hone in my picture taking skills. My PP skill is not up to advanced editing, so you won't see any "WOW"s coming from me. I wanted to get something in for this challenge, so this seemed a bit rushed for me.
Anyway, this is my dog, Paisley. She hates me taking pictures of her...I'm usually running around the house chasing her with camera in tote. As soon as she sees me take it out of the bag, she bolts. I had to have my wife bait her for this shot with a treat.
I've realized that to get a good score on DPC you have to set up your shot carefully. Unfortunately, I do not have any backdrops or a fancy lighting scheme...simply my 580 EX in a poorly lit living room with 2 60watt bulbs in a ceiling fan. Yes, I know, not ideal conditions. The backdrop for this pic is our recently painted living room wall....which is a very light shade of grey. I really wanted a white backdrop so I ended up "dodging" it to lighten it up a little more. I really should have used my tripod here, b/c of the light, but I couldn't get down on her level with it. Taken w/ a non I.S. lens at a slow shutter speed....it sort of gave it a soft focus (that's my story and sticking to it).
I'm sure I'll get hammered in an advanced editing challenge.
PP includes.
Brightness, Shadows, Highlights, Saturation, Clarify, High Pass Sharpen, Dodge background, Burn a light out of her eye, fix up her much needed to be replaced Coach collar, Resize, JPG Optimizer.
Statistics
Place: 133 out of 261 Avg (all users): 5.5646 Avg (commenters): 5.5714 Avg (participants): 5.3276 Avg (non-participants): 5.8602 Views since voting: 816 Views during voting: 314 Votes: 209 Comments: 9 Favorites: 0
It's an excellent portrait but for the collar I think. I see that I gave it a 5 during the challenge. I'd be inclined to give it a 6 if it were sans collar and maybe a 7 if it had a little more overall interest - like a different background or something. Hope that helps.
I think this is more of a snap shot pose rather than something you set up. The lighting is a little off and the image is a bit under exposed. You have a pretty dog but with the use of unsharp mask you could have brought out some of those natural details. Also when you're looking thru the view finder make sure there is nothing in your BG that would distract your photos. There is a small shadow on the far left side that is leaking on to your image.
Good luck to you.
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
Photographer found comment helpful.
