This is my keeper puppy, who gets photographed way too much

Julie, I like the little guy, you must live in a warm climate?

I think the white is not white on my monitor - this is an issue will all monitors we dont have the same calibration so colors and hue, tone etc are hard to tell, and with a white dog, it's even tougher.

I did do a little levels, sharpend it, and then cropped it to draw the eye into the face of the animal. I shoot portraits tight, unless there's a reason not too. It's my preferance only.

Take care, great looking pup!

Yes, your white is whiter. She actually has a bit of a pink hue to her due to the pink skin underneath. I didn't bring levels up beyond the left end, really the original is a true representation of her coloring.

I think the hardest thing to judge via monitor is sharpness, as your version looks oversharpened, but, I am on an LCD.

I generally shoot tight, and often am told too tight
Here is another from the same few minutes

Yes, I see the pink, i saw it in the first one too.

I use the old standard, lacie electron and a viewsonic for my monitors. I dont use LCD's, but should becasue I think most people now have those. I just dont want to give up color quality for size . . . Someday I'll have too!

On my monitor, the ears and nose on that last shot have NO detail (I'm not getten on you about it, I'm only telling you what I see on my lacie), that's how black they look. Maybe I have it set too dark. What calibration system do you use? I use gretag mackbeth eye one disply 2.

I sure would like to know how it would print and then compare that to what we see on the screen!

Take care, tony

Julie,
I like your original shot much better than the cropped version (sorry cropmeister). These are very nice. Your technique has gotten quite good and the quality of these shots is very high.

Cheers,

Jim

I use the same gretag calibrator, but, my monitor certainly could use calibrating again. My monitor isn't so hot and I know it. The Sony silicon graphic CRT stopped holding a calibration and took ages to warm up to proper color

Soooo, until I spring for a better one, this is what I have. My prints come out pretty much as I see on the monitor. Just gotta softproof

These were shot at F2, so, some of the loss of detail *may* be from such a shallow DOF.

I gave her a bath today so, she looks a little closer to your version now

Jim, if you come north at all, like into GA, let me know. I need to assist someone as I have been asked to shoot the St Bernard Nationals in 08. I really don't want to do so before being an assistant!!! I will even do so for free.

Hey Guys,

Looking on my LCD at the office, I prefer the original as well. However, I am finding that everything looks prettier on my LCD than it does on my CRT. The CRT is generally darker, and I feel more accurate (particularly highlight detail) than the LCD. This difference may explain why some of the folks who look at the shots I put up look slightly washed out...because they are calibrated to my CRT.

Having said that, I also prefer the softer version. Tony's looks slightly too sharp around the eyes. I do feel that the crop looks slightly better than the original - though I think both are great.

James

Julie,
I'm not going to be up your way for a while. I have a Great Dane Cluster in March near Daytona Beach and the Rottweiler National 10 miles from my home in Orlando in April.

Right now, we have 8 2-week old Rottie puppies we're raising so things have been hectic. I know you can relate.

I just shot two St Bernard Specialties in Miami in December. They're actually fairly easy to do as long as the handler knows how to set them up. You set them up on the floor rather than on a podium and you don't have to do much to bait them.

If you have any specific questions, just ask.

Cheers,

Jim