Had a friend drop by yesterday and he asked if I would grab a few headshots of his 2-year-old German Shepherd, Zeus. It was hotter than I'd like but we sat him on the front lawn and got a few decent shots of a very pretty boy.

Here's one of my favorites.



And here's another.



GSD's are sometimes hard to shoot because their tongues are supposed to be out and folks generally like to see their heads in profile. I prefer Zeus head-on or slightly turned. He has great coat color and uses his ears very well. Plus, he loves me so it was quick but fun.

Enjoy.

Jim

Nice shots Jim. Let me guess, 85 1.8?

Hey Jim,

Great shots! I love GSDs. Just beautiful creatures - and I particularly love the darker ones. Curiously, I am seeing the color cast being slightly blue on my monitor. Is it a WB issue, or is it me?

Thanks
James

Bob,
actually, the 28-135 IS. It's what I had on the camera when the guy came over. I keep trying to convince myself it's not a good enough lens but every time I use it, I get great images. I love it in the studio.


James,
I don't get that cast on my monitor but these are proofs of RAW files which will get more work once the owner decides which images he wants. Like we'll remove the collar/tags, etc. So I'll set the WB color absolutely then. But I'm usually very happy with the color right off the sensor.

Of course, it could be time for a monitor calibration -- mine that is.

Jim

Hey Bob,
I did use the 85 F1.8 at the Quarter Horse Congress a couple of weeks ago and here's a sample of some of the shots I was able to capture in the arena. Not much light and not very good quality light but the 85 is a great lens for those conditions.



That's Rowdy's favorite girlfriend Michelle, age 13, riding in Novice Western Showmanship at her first Congress. She looked fabulous.

James, the lighting was so bad in the arena that I had to set the WB for 3200K in post-processing to get a decent white and good skin tones.

Jim

Nice pup!

On the color question, there is a slight cast, but it is green. Probably due to the light reflecting of the grass and other greenery.

Easy way to check for and remove casts:

Open in PS,
Duplicate the background layer.
Go Filter > Blur > Average (You'll end up with a solid color)
Add a Level Adjustment layer, select the middle gray eyedropper and click on a point in the solid color.

Then, turn off visibility of the solid layer and look at the difference. I find the results are usually great, but when they aren't they are horrible. You can adjust the opacity of the levels layer to have a bit more control of just how much of the cast is removed.

Sometimes a cast is a good thing.

Hey Jim,
that sounds like a lot of work that ACR can do for you pretty easily. I use the eyedropper tool and pick either white or black and it gets me pretty close. Then I adjust the color temperature until it pleases my eye.

In the studio, fleshtones are right on at 4500K. These shots are right on at 4800. Which means the sun was not quite at it's peak and the dog was somewhat in open shade.

Ultimately, you use what works. Once I fine-tune a session for color balance, I use those settings as presets for the rest of the session. If there are small differences from image to image, I adjust the ones that are selected by the customer.

I don't overdo proofs that are being presented via the internet (which these are) because differences in what folks have for monitors are substantial -- even those that have been calibrated for a particular workflow. And keep in mind that each of us has calibrated our monitor for our workflow. So what I see might not work on your monitor or James'.

Jim

It sounds like a lot of work when you write it out, but in reality it is tons faster than hunting and pecking for the right spot with the eye droppers.

I definitely agree with not putting a lot of processing into proofs. I recently decided I wouldn't do any leash removals or other work beyond very basic color and exposure on any proof until it becomes a selected image. It went against my original thoughts about never showing anything but a completed work at first, but when you're posting 300+ proofs from an event it sure saves a lot of work.

Nice shot with the 85 1.8. I have the lens but I have to say it's darn near as good as my L's.

For white balance you can not beat Lightroom 2.1. I don't think there is an absolute "correct". I go with what is pleasing to my eye. For those that don't use lightroom, set one shot and replicate to an entire set. Fast and easy.

Jim,
the basic difference is that when I shoot shows, I always have something in the frame that is absolute white or absolute black. Once I key on that for the first file, the rest simply get the same WB adjustment. But if you don't have something to key on, your approach sounds like a good one.

Jim