SMILE.......processing advice required please

[FUJI]

As soon as I saw this characterful pooch sitting on a chair outside Costa the other day, I just knew that I had to take its portrait........I did this after receiving an OK from his proud owner:

Here you can see a pair of processed versions of the same shot, one colour and the other mono:

even though I am personaly pleased woth both results, I require advice here please...................I hadn't realised that the body of the dog had been over exposed and blown out owing to the bright sun.............as you can see this has given me grief in both versions.

In the colour one, the over exposed portion, as small as it is intrudes badly into the whole otherwise pleasing result:

In the mono version, I have attempted to clone it off.....but now it looks like a floating head....I did leave the body there, darken, then blur it, but that looked terible:

My question.......How would you suggest I rescue this Pooches Portrait?

[bugmeister]

I would say that the first one (colour) stands on it's own without needing a rescue job. There is ample character and detail in the lovely face so that the light body really doesn't matter any more than the dark background.

[colinb]

well said Bugs, sorry Fuji the floating head looks awful the original I'm sure any dog owner will love.

 

If you really have too... make a second layer and clone a few hairs over the white and adjust the opacity to blend them in. You could use some off the B/W version maybe switch the layer to overlay or multiply?

[MattGrey]

I would stick with the first, the second looks a little strange.

 

If the blown out body bothers you, perhaps just add a vignette to mask it and draw the eyes away?

 

Nice little pooch! :-)

[FUJI]

Thank you both for your valuable advice, I spat feathers when I saw the original on my PC, I hadn't realised at the time ( chatting to the owner and squeaking at the dog to make him look into my lens.) that the sun had blown out his mainly white body

In a studio setting, lighting would be a major issue, but Street Photography cant be like that, this isnt an excuse but just one of the many things that have to be thought about at shutter pressing time.

If it werent for the floating head effect, I much prefer the mono version, because I enjoy the processing challenge, I will return to it to see if I can magic fur where there is none to be seen.

I may see, dog and owner again if they are Costa regulars, I have print of the colour version ready to give her.....then, I will requst a re-shoot.

Thanks again.

FUJI

[FUJI]

Right!

 

I've had a go at putting things right.....feedback would be vey useful at this stage.................oh!....and for the life of me, I stupdly can't see how to create a Vignette in CS6....or....in TOPAZ.

 

I must be missing something obvious?

 

This humid heat plays havoc with me and my bad back is making that worse................I just can't get or feel comfortable ;-(

 

Best viewed LARGE..........Click on Pics:

 

FUJI

[Brian]

Right!

 

I've had a go at putting things right.....feedback would be vey useful at this stage.................oh!....and for the life of me, I stupdly can't see how to create a Vignette in CS6....or....in TOPAZ.

 

I must be missing something obvious?

 

 

 

FUJI

Hi Fuji

We call these lapses of memory "Seniors Moments". I live my entire life in one.

I like the colour version best, not being a real fan of b/w, except for period type settings.

I've checked out this tutorial on Vignetting and think it's really good. I hope it's of value to you too.

 

[ChrisLumix]

Fuji, I cannot for the life of me understand why you're going on so much about your original colour shot - it's absolutely fine!!! Even when I turned my screen brightness up from its normal 7, all the way up to 15, the white body still didn't intrude, especially as you can see fur detail in it.

 

There may be a vignette filter in Photoshop? If not, the way to DIY it is to select the oval marquee and draw an oval around the part you want to keep undarkened, but allow plenty of overlap. Then inverse the selection and feather with a big number (somewhere between 17 and 47 depending on how big your picture is). Then gradually darken this and due to the big feathering, it will graduate the darkening - it will be blacker nearest to the edge and least dark nearest the dog .. which is what you want. In other words a ready-made home-produced vignette.

 

(I just watched the video - interesting techniques! He didn't find much to say positive about the "elliptical vignette" which is effectively what my suggestion is, but it's worth pointing out that my technique is MUCH quicker than his and doesn't involve layer masks at all (unless you want to keep the mask separate, but as an inveterate "flatten as you go" person, I can't see that appealing to you).

[MattGrey]

The vignette slider is hidden away under filters/lens correction.

 

Normally one of the last options depending on the version of PS.

 

But, as already said, not really needed unless you have a issue with the image yourself; I think it is fine as is!?

[pauln]

I think you know what I would do with it but I like it the way it is. It's a well taken image and I agree it should stay in colour :)

[colinb]

Sorry Fuji I still prefer the original colour version

[FUJI]

Sorry Fuji I still prefer the original colour version

Hi, Colin,

Please don't be sorry.......even I'm coming round to that one now........it pays to pause and ponder sometimes ;-)

THANK YOU ALL!

FUJI