sophie and kiara

Well composed, but maybe open the crop up a little vertically? I tinkered with this. First brightened, then backed off the color temp to a little cooler, increased saturation a bit, light sharpening. Cheers, jay

I blew this up to look at it, it seems the dog's collar is more in focus than te eyes. If you did this with your Sigma 30/1.4, make sure you do not have one that has back or front focusing error. This is very common with this lens and, if that is the case, Sigma should replace it for you. Jay

Hey, how are you? Thanks for looking at this. I took it with my 18-200 VR with the camera autofocusing. I was standing in the driveway talking to my friend and taking some quick shots of his dogs. I cropped out the ugly stuff for this. He was walking toward them with treats. Thanks for the comments and the other image...looks good. I haven't had a focusing problem with the Sigma that I can tell. Look at my self portrait shot in my portfolio with the self timer...seems like it worked fine.

 

regards,

 

Dick

Contrary to what Jay says, I'd leave this shot alone. It looks like it was taken in overcast weather, and the picture represents that. The tones are also really nicely done here, but it needs a touch of sharpening. Just keep in mind that sharpening is better done moderately, as I've seen you go overboard sometimes before. You should try a B&W with this one, the tones are just right for one.

 

-Max

Hello, and thank you for the comment on this shot! I really like your black and white version. My conversion to black and white so far just involves bringing the saturation to zero in Aperture. I am sure that there are other ways to approach it but I haven't taken the time to explore that yet. I do get your point about over sharpening and other overdone post-processing effects. I've been playing with that a lot, but it all takes time. I also have the option of converting the image to black and white in my D300. Are you aware of any advantage of doing it that way? Your critiques are always helpful. You should be proud of that!

 

Thanks!

 

Dick

Right, B&W, my specialty. First of all, never, ever, preform in-camera B&W conversions or just desaturate the image. Funny enough, you need color to make a good B&W photo. The best way to go is to shoot in RAW and edit it using Aperture's monochrome mixer (the equivalent of photoshop's channel mixer).

 

First, set the camera to RAW capture and turn on the B&W mode. This will save the color RAW file, but gives you a B&W preview (you might have to set RAW+jpeg to get this, not sure). After you download the images to your computer, open up the RAW files in Aperture and clean up the noise, sharpen, recover lost highlights and shadows, and adjust the histogram to your liking. After your dynamic range is set, increase the saturation. This may sound weird as this is meant to be a B&W, but its for the monochrome color filters you'll be using. On the adjustments setting window, press the + and select "Monochrome Mixer". Experiment with the three sliders to produce different effects, this is where keeping the colors comes in handy. To give you a start on this, check out the color filter presets to see how different filters render, then fine tune. After you're happy, adjust contrast to your liking. I also add noise as a final step as it gives highlights and out of focus parts of the picture more texture.

 

After playing around with B&W a lot, I've created a set of custom actions that makes the whole process much faster. I have three presets for medium, high, and very high contrast and apply them depending on the mood of the photo. I just need to properly expose the photo first, applying dodging or burning if required, then select one of the three presets. It takes under a minute per photo and allows me to spend more time taking photos, and not editing them. Hopefully, if you ever decide to go down this path as well, you'll find your own special style and automate most of the process. Hope this mini tutorial helps you alot. I'll be looking forward to more of your photos in the future. See ya.

 

->Max

Here is another shot that I converted with your advice, thank you!

Wow, that's really good. What a longing expression. I see you've gone for a low key look here. I'm itching to say that there's not enough contrast, but I need to get a hold of my personal emotions. My preferences aside, its a very nice photo, I'm wondering why you didn't submit it earlier. I'm curious to see what else you have. Night Dick.

 

->Max

beside the teriffic expression...I like the colors and graphism of fore- and BG- elements...

Thank you very much! I too, like the warm brown of these dogs. A friend just happened to stop by with his son's dogs in the truck. They made for a little fun photography!

 

Regards,

 

Dick

a friend's labs...comments appreciated, thanks!

Love it!

Thank you, Jennifer!

Charming shot -- and an interesting set of b&w images in the ensuing conversation. Fine work. Regards...

Thank you, I learned a lot by working with these images, and the dogs made such great subjects!

 

Regards,

 

Dick