Wild Dog Pup

[Rachel Hollander]

I'm revisiting some of my older images now that I have CS5 and hopefully my PP skills have improved. Taken on my 2009 trip to the Sabi Sands Game Reserve in South Africa. Unfortunately the sun angle wasn't great to where this pup chose to come check us out but I still couldn't resist.

Canon 50D
100-400 @ 275mm
1/500
f8
ISO 200
HH from a safari vehicle, slight crop from above and below for comp, s/h, levels adjustment and sharpened in CS5.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Rachel, nice pup image, hope Grant at some point can chip in, you know his love for WD's :S3:

Certainly you have extracted a lot more out of you images and seems like the jump to CS5 is really working. Personally I think/know you can still squeeze a bit more out of the image, just by selective lightening areas ie ears, muzzle, eyes and perhaps just add a bit more warmth to it, I find it rather on the cool side. Like the inquisitive look and the ears pricked up work well, talk about 'in you face' nice one. If you are able, I might also suggest trying to soften the darker areas in the BG but no deal breaker, plus again personally i might just back off the sharpening just a fraction, certainly around the forehead as I find it leaps out a bit. :w3

Glad to see you revisiting stuff now, you never know what gems you may have just sitting there. :S3:

TFS
Steve

[Vivaldo Damilano]

The composition work very nicely IMO and I feel you done very well with shadows. A flash might have helped. Nice cute factor, like the DOF with just the head being sharp TFS:cheers:

[Grant Atkinson]

Hi Rachel, like the comp, the alert expression, eye contact, all nice and sharp. I think darkening the bg and especially that part of the dogs back that can be seen between its ears will really take it up another notch.
TFS
Grant.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Very cute Rachel! The jump to CS5 seems to be working for you...:5
I agree that some more TLC here will enhance the image, particularly if you lighten the face and ears selectively and darken the BG as mentioned.

[Brendan Dozier]

Very cute expression you captured, Rachel. Good suggestions above to make it even better.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks all for the comments and suggestions. I'll spend a little more time with the image and then repost either later tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Rachel Hollander]

Here's a repost with the suggested tweaks. Please let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

I think it is now a bit of both here Rachel in relation to sharpening & lightening in parts. This was my thought based on the OP, just trying to get a bit more detail.

BTW can you send me if possible a screen grab of the Colour settings. PS > Edit > scroll down to Color settings.

cheers
Steve

[Harshad Barve]

Cuteness alert all over
TFS

[Stu Bowie]

How is that face Rachel - just love that stare " take me home in your game vehicle":w3 Good detail captured, and I would leave the exposure of the pup in your OP as is, and play with the BG.

[Andrew Aveley]

Under the circumstance , well handled techs !! PS can bring out the maximum as the reposts show ! Any reason why no Clockwise rotation to balance out portrait ? Posed same question elsewhere on the forum and would be interested to know !!

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Harshad, Stuart and Andrew for the comments, much appreciated. Andrew - no rotation probably because no one mentioned it and I don't generally think to rotate my wildlife photos unless there's a horizon or shoreline that screams for rotation:eek:

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll take a look at it as I continue to work on the image.

Rachel