Water doggy

[echoback]

This is my sister's dog at the beach. She really loves water! The sunlight was very bright, as usual at a beach, so I am not sure what to do about the left side of her face where it looks a bit washed out. Any suggestions?

[Jaedon]

if you shot it in RAW mode in digital you could make a slight adjustment to the curve in PS. I recently discovered the magic this tool can do for recovering too dark or too hot a spot in an image .

Other than that I like thae shot, composition, and the happy dog shower you must have snjoyed a few minutes after the shot =)

[echoback]

ehh, I shot it in basic. I did adjust the curves though, did you think it should be lighter? I actually made it a little darker.

[Ronnoco]

Even mentioned in Popular Photography was the "rule" that when shooting animals always get the eyes in the shot. It is much, more effective.

One eye is not shown at all and that other eye is partially "hidden" by the colour of the dog hair. That is the basic problem with this shot.

Ronnoco

[echoback]

thanks for the comment ronnoco-I guess I must have missed that issue of popular photography, lol. but yes, I do agree, it would have been a much better shot with her eyes in it.

[GB1]

Looks like to me... evil looking ............ You could replace the frisbee with an arm or leg. War doggy. I would crop out a little of the top.

GB

[MarcusK]

Well...i'll only be discussing about PS...although most (including me most of the time) use the numbers on a visual check....as in move the sliders until it looks right! you can do some research regarding the usage of these numbers.

In simpler terms, there are particular formulas to be used...i know this sounds a little too mathematical, i personally go for the visual check, however i was able to reach number configurations for some situations.


Also, sometimes, you might wanna consider playing with "curves" for examples in one specific area that you select ( use feather too so as not to show drastic differences) which could be helpful in your image here, according to the other comments!

Curves - Levels - Color Balance all could be helpful in fixing whatever you need to change in your photo!

I hope this helps,

Marc

edit: yeah the dodge and burn also helps

[poker]

To see the dog's right eye would be nice. The white hair on the dog's cheek is merging with the hot spot on the frisbee.

You may need to do some "dodge and burn" in these areas to bring out the details.

Fun grab shot never the less.

[echoback]

GB1, MarcusK, and manasca, thanks for all the helpful comments! I will definitely be playing around with the curves adjustment and i'll see what I can do about bringing out her eyes a bit more.

[Anbesol]

Whats hurting the shot for me is that its missing the full body. the edge clipped too close to the dog. Also, no offense, but theres nothing particularly unique about it to make it stand out from other shots. if you caught the dog doing something more unusual, or caught some high speed action, that might have been more effective.

[echoback]

anbesol-that's true, I wish I could have shot her leaping out of the water to catch the frisbee, but I am still working on getting action shots that are not so blurry.

[Anbesol]

anbesol-that's true, I wish I could have shot her leaping out of the water to catch the frisbee, but I am still working on getting action shots that are not so blurry.

geez man, its just a matter of spending thousands on a super fast lens:23:

[echoback]

geez man, its just a matter of spending thousands on a super fast lens:23:

hahaha, if only... *sigh* LOL

[Sebastian]

Once the detail is gone, it's gone. Even a RAW file would not do a good enough job bringing that area back. Just watch your exposures in the future. Expose to retain highlights, and process to bring back shadows.

Did you crop it to a different aspect ratio? Doesn't look like the regular 3:2.

[Anbesol]

yeah - thats a good idea - i generally expose with a -0.3 to -0.6 ev exposure bias. image sensors tend to blow out highlights before they would with shadows.

[echoback]

thanks for the advice guys. seb-I didn't crop this at all, perhaps my shooting was just a bit off. she's a fast swimmer so I had to sort of pan along until I got the shot.