I'm undecided if I should work on the yellows, or if the over-exposure make them glow in a "just won the tennis-ball-lottery" sort of way.

Hey Jim,

I just love this composition. It is really well done. I DO think, however, that you need to work on the balls a bit. They are too blown out for my taste. The problem is that your eyes are drawn to them and not the dog.

If you shot this raw, I would try to expose two shots, expose for the balls and the dog and then do an image lay over.

James

Thanks James,

Yes, I shot raw so I've got plenty of latitude to play with. B&W might also be an option though I don't usually go for that.

I too agree that the balls could use a little darkening. I did a little play with photoshop with the small shot you pasted here...if your interested in seeing.

Roman

That would be great. Thanks

I like the image, but I think the balls need to be darker. If you have the occasion to reshoot it, you may want to do something to the balls (I don't know, may soak them in water, or otherwise do something to darken them). Or get some of a different color. The one ball in the back right is about right to my eye.

Is this more what your looking for?



Your origonal:


There is some dark around the tennis balls as it is a small picture and the feathering options are pretty limited, full sized should be no problem.

I also did some work on the rest of the photo after to bring out the blacks and colors on the dog. (Hope you dont mind)

Roman

Roman, I think you nailed it.

Thanks guys,

I was actually starting to wonder if there might be a specific brand of tennis ball that might be a little darker or if maybe there is a way to treat them so they tone down a bit before the shoot.

Roman,
In general, I like the rework, but it has the same issue I was running into when I started playing with the yellows even in raw version. The balls look almost pasted in to me and the look that way when I play with them in RAW too.

I'll have to try some more next week, but I've got a review to write, 34 portrait sessions (done in mass over three days) from last week and a herding trial to process.

I think I've found the line between "enough" and "too much."

I'm sure Roman's HDR process would work well on the original image to darken the balls(he is right about the feathering problem on this small image). I agree with Jim though that the balls have that pasted in look and I kind of like the highkey desaturated effect on the balls. My real problem with this image is the one "dirty ball" on the right. I really want to be drawn to the pooch but my eye kept going to the right to that one ball (this is even worse in Roman's darkened version). I think without it the focus goes to the pooch. Here is a "cleaned" version. I also darkened the balls slightly and lightened the ball in the pooch's mouth to match the other balls.

Quote:

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Is this more what your looking for?



Your origonal:


There is some dark around the tennis balls as it is a small picture and the feathering options are pretty limited, full sized should be no problem.

I also did some work on the rest of the photo after to bring out the blacks and colors on the dog. (Hope you dont mind)

Roman

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