Hi guys,

I took my collie herding yesterday, always a lot of fun. Also good photo ops.

I think I got my favourite photo of my own dog so far and it will be printed large. This is the kind of dog portraiture I would like to do:




Also got this sweet pic of the lamb with the sheepdog



As you can see I do like to post process...I'm very much a fan of 'only final product' matters

Nat

Nat,
That is a gorgeous shot of your dog! The dog and lamb is great but the portrait is awesome. A little post processing goes a long way and a lot goes further:) I just hate when it stands out as a manipulate photo and yours do not. Your techniques have very appealing results.

Thanks For the portrait I had wonderful lighting so all I had to do was burn out the background, nothing exciting anyway

This is another portrait I took yesterday of a friend's dog - lovely smooth collie called Rosie.

Nat these are great. The lamb would make a very nice Easter card. I know you didn't set out to be seasonal/topical, but good timing! Shades of "Babe", - bit of a conversation going on there.

Thanks everyone. I'm really happy with the Reilly portrait...my favourite so far of him. After all, he's the reason I started taking photos

He certainly likes the lambs...I think if he wasn't herding he'd be making friends with them instead, and the lamb was quite happy to snuggle up to him when on the ground too.

Great photo's

Hey Tess,

That first two shots of your collie are just awesome. Very well lit and great composition.

You mention liking to post process (I am right with you on that one). How much are you manipulating after the fact?

James

Well, depends on the shot and how much it takes to get it look how I envision

Take the first portrait. Behind Reilly's head was some material that just didn't look nice, so I burnt out the background. I used the highlights tool on the right side of his face to bring it out of the shadow, increased saturation and sharpened. Luckily the light was brilliant anyway so the image was perfectly useable out of the camera, but I saw it had more potential.

With the second one, I just added some blur because it was TOO sharp and I wanted it soft and glowy. I also burnt out the distractions behind them.

Third one, I lowered the saturation, cloned out the collar and a bit of another dog head and sharpened.

So depends what people consider "a lot" I suppose!

Nat

Those are really nice. Love the lamb one

Really lovely, Tess - the lighting was ideal, and your not over-exposing the whites was slick and skillful! Love them, and too bet these will make gorgeous prints. Post more!