James Troeger
September 2023 - The Granddog
Original
About the Image(s)
This was captured on a Canon 60D DSLR, using a Canon EF-S 55-250 f/4-5.6 IS STM lens.
Shutter priority was used, with applicable exif data being ISO 250, f/4.625, 1/400 sec, 152mm focal length
For a title, I call this one ⬓The Granddog⬠as this is my daughter and son-in-law’s Boykin Spaniel. Aside from the obvious cropping, plenty of black, white, highlight, and shadow adjustments were made, the background was selectively further blurred (though it did catch some of his whips fur and blur it as well), then exposure and contrast adjustments, selective sharpening of the muzzle, etc.
Aside from possibly less blurring of the background and/or using PS instead of LR for inverted subject selection to see if the fringy hairs are better selected, how might others finish this one?
This round’s discussion is now closed!
14 comments posted
A very nice dog--wish I had one at present. As I looked at this and played with the image, I liked it more and more the more I cropped. When I reached this point, it seemed like Granddog was looking more directly at me. Posted: 09/02/2023 08:45:58
Thanks Robert ... he is an awesome dog (we pretty much love all dogs in our household). I appreciate your suggestion on the crop. I did try playing around with a tighter crop in several different ways but just couldn't fall in love with it. My reworked image is below, using different masking techniques followed by changing the background. Posted: 09/24/2023 09:30:44
James,
Very well captured, good dog portrait, changing background works well, some more work required, marked with arrow in attached photo. Posted: 09/03/2023 20:53:39
Very well captured, good dog portrait, changing background works well, some more work required, marked with arrow in attached photo. Posted: 09/03/2023 20:53:39
Thanks Sunil, the masking AI change Brenda suggested helped significantly, combined with removal of the background all together rather than just trying to blur it. Posted: 09/24/2023 09:28:25
James
This version looks good, black background adds more impact to the portrait. Posted: 09/24/2023 09:36:29
This version looks good, black background adds more impact to the portrait. Posted: 09/24/2023 09:36:29
Nice photo of your dog. I noticed right away that there is a border between the dog and the background that it appears you have blurred. I took your original photo and opened it in Photoshop and used the "select object" tool and got almost exactly the same boundary you got. So my take on this photo is that the background really doesn't need to be blurred, but I took the pin tool and created a mask that is far away from the finest hairs of the dog and blurred the background with a fair amount of space between the dog and the start of the blur. See my version. Posted: 09/04/2023 20:16:11
Thanks for the pin tool tip, Ed!
I've flagged some pin tool lessons in my new KelbyOne membership and will definitely investigate them further in the future. Posted: 09/24/2023 09:26:03
I've flagged some pin tool lessons in my new KelbyOne membership and will definitely investigate them further in the future. Posted: 09/24/2023 09:26:03
Great detail in the face especially the eyes and tongue. I also like the detail in the collar. I would not worry about the blur on the outer edges of the ears....I didn't notice it until you mentioned it. Luminar 4 has a bokeh tool for blurring the background which works nicely with portraits where hair or fur is involved. Posted: 09/11/2023 14:11:08
Thanks for the feedback and the tips, Ken! Posted: 09/24/2023 09:24:58
James, It's sweet you are doing a doggie portrait! There is a trick to the hairs, process it in the CLOUD. In Photoshop, when you "select subject", choose cloud from the pull-down at the top. It does a far better job on everything.
Here's Matt K's short video showing how it works. https://mattk.com/one-click-to-better-photoshop-selections/
My suggestion would be to put in a completely different blurred background...sky replacement, trees, anything. I think that would show your grandpup off better than the road cutting him into sections and distracting us from that adorable tongue! Posted: 09/12/2023 12:55:27
Here's Matt K's short video showing how it works. https://mattk.com/one-click-to-better-photoshop-selections/
My suggestion would be to put in a completely different blurred background...sky replacement, trees, anything. I think that would show your grandpup off better than the road cutting him into sections and distracting us from that adorable tongue! Posted: 09/12/2023 12:55:27
Thanks Brenda! You led me down the proverbial "Rabbit Hole" ... and now I have a subscription to KelbyOne and will be trying out all sorts of things. Posted: 09/24/2023 09:24:40
Thanks to all for your comments on my Granddog image and also the tips on the additional tools, software, etc.
Brenda's tip regarding the use of cloud AI masking through Photoshop and changing the background led me down the path of deciding to embrace learning Lightroom and Photoshop in much greater detail and signing up for a one year subscription to KelbyOne (we receive a nice discount through PSA too!).
Using that tip combined with some learning in KelbyOne, I opened the original in Lightroom, took it over to Photoshop, created some additional layers, masked using the Cloud version of the AI masking, then used the "Refine Hair" feature to get it as good as I could within a reasonable amount of time, inverted the selection to make it be a highlight of the background, then I painted the background black. I finally took it back over to Lightroom, made a few more tweaks on the highlights, shadows, blacks, whites, etc., selectively increased sharpness on the eyes and snout, then reexported it.
I liked my original crop the best (thanks Robert for suggesting a tighter crop, I did play with it but couldn't love it).
Ken's amazing image with the black background led me to try that as a background color for my image as well.
The new one represents the most I have personally done with Photoshop to date. Posted: 09/24/2023 09:23:25
Brenda's tip regarding the use of cloud AI masking through Photoshop and changing the background led me down the path of deciding to embrace learning Lightroom and Photoshop in much greater detail and signing up for a one year subscription to KelbyOne (we receive a nice discount through PSA too!).
Using that tip combined with some learning in KelbyOne, I opened the original in Lightroom, took it over to Photoshop, created some additional layers, masked using the Cloud version of the AI masking, then used the "Refine Hair" feature to get it as good as I could within a reasonable amount of time, inverted the selection to make it be a highlight of the background, then I painted the background black. I finally took it back over to Lightroom, made a few more tweaks on the highlights, shadows, blacks, whites, etc., selectively increased sharpness on the eyes and snout, then reexported it.
I liked my original crop the best (thanks Robert for suggesting a tighter crop, I did play with it but couldn't love it).
Ken's amazing image with the black background led me to try that as a background color for my image as well.
The new one represents the most I have personally done with Photoshop to date. Posted: 09/24/2023 09:23:25
Wow, good for you! Your better mask and the dark background really shows off your furry relative! I'm glad my idea helped and I think you'll really enjoy how much you can do with LR and PS! Yay, James!
Scott Kelby does a FREE weekly Facebook Podcast called the Grid, where he talks about different photo topics. You can go back through the recordings for his monthly, "How I Would Edit your Photo". You can skip the commercials and I find them very helpful for how he does the latest techniques with LR/PS.
Scott also has FREE "Blind Critiques" on the Grid, and these are very helpful to see what he likes/dislikes in images. Great comparisons.
Find them here: https://www.facebook.com/SKelby
Do follow Matt K and subscribe. He does free short recordings every couple of weeks and I learn something every time. He's a great instructor, too.
Posted: 09/24/2023 15:40:57
Scott Kelby does a FREE weekly Facebook Podcast called the Grid, where he talks about different photo topics. You can go back through the recordings for his monthly, "How I Would Edit your Photo". You can skip the commercials and I find them very helpful for how he does the latest techniques with LR/PS.
Scott also has FREE "Blind Critiques" on the Grid, and these are very helpful to see what he likes/dislikes in images. Great comparisons.
Find them here: https://www.facebook.com/SKelby
Do follow Matt K and subscribe. He does free short recordings every couple of weeks and I learn something every time. He's a great instructor, too.
Posted: 09/24/2023 15:40:57
Nice job,Jim. Glad I could help.
Ken Posted: 09/24/2023 15:40:43
Ken Posted: 09/24/2023 15:40:43