Friends

What a smile this image brings to my face! I truly don't know how you do this.

Yeah, they just look (and are) happy with each other. I think I am interested in dog-human pairs where the dog's size allows a pose like this one. My dogs (like your Rotties) have always been way too big and psychologically distant from this kind of attachment.

 

Technically, I find that I can get a nice level of skin luminosity in B&W portraits by devoting one calculations iteration to using the add blend mode on the red channel (red on red).

I love what you have captured in this shot. Both seem to be very content and happy. The composition is great and I like the square crop.

 

The one thing that bothers me in the photo is the bright white of the sleeve. It has a tendency to pull my attention to it. I can see that there is detail but I wish it wern't so bright.

 

Don

Great catch. Here?s a fixed version, although this one is already framed and out the door.

 

Nice to have you back!

Now we're gettin' at it with the dog pics! Another nice one. Agreed re the red channel (found that as well) and like the subtle tonal changes here with the fellow's arm vs. the background. I do wish I could see the pup's eyes, though.

I like the toned down sleeve a lot better, I don't find myself drawn to it any more. It is just another element of a great photo.

 

Don

I sometimes use calculations, so my question is this. On your second red, which blend mode do you use. And do you play around with the opacity?

I am not sure I understand what you mean by "second red". Since the alpha channel products are iterative, I'm usually moving one to using the preceding channel as the base for the next set of calculations. I probably do not understand your question.

 

And yes, I vary opacity all of the time as well as making liberal use of a channel's inherent transparency mask to further influence results.

Patricia,

This is a great shot. I think you captured both of them smiling. Great job. Regards, Patsy