Weekly theme: Hello Alpaca!

Sorry for my lengthy absence from posting. I bought a new laptop a couple weeks ago, plus I purchased Lightroom and upgraded to Photoshop CC. So between setting up my computer, transferring all my photos, and learning my way around Lightroom and all the new Photoshop features, I've been pretty busy. I should be back to regular posting now though.

I took this photo at one of the farmers' markets that I do during the summer for the farm I work at. One of the other vendors there is an alpaca farm, and they always bring a couple of alpacas to the market. So when I have a moment, I will frequently go over and photograph them. This photo is actually a composite of two photos, because one of the photos had the eyes in focus and the other had the nose in focus. I then used the new Nik software plugin, Analog Efex Pro, and added a texture from Shadowhouse Creations.

The composition is great on this. There's something else, too. I don't know what it is -- maybe the eyes and all that hair -- but I really like it.

I'm guessing based on what I see and what you wrote about the reason for the composite that this was taken at a distance with a large aperture.

Congratulations on your purchases. You will be having such fun with the new software!
The crop here is very good. But, the image doesn't work for me. The nose and teeth are the main subjects here, with the eyes fading away. The orange spots from the texture distract me. But, that is just my opinion.
I look forward to your posts.

Interesting critter! It looks like you've lightened the shadows on the left, but the eye is now too light and low contrast. (Shaded ares are always low contrast and it usually takes a careful curve to hold the darks down while bringing up the mid tones.) I'd bring just the darkest tones back down in that area and it will be more balanced.

Thanks for your comments and suggestions, Dennis, Anita, and Diane. Much appreciated. I completely reworked the image, upping the contrast on the shaded side, blurring the mouth area a tiny bit, converting the texture layer to B&W, and tried some slightly different settings in Analog Efex Pro. What do you think?

Dennis, the original photos were taken with a rather large aperture, f4.5. In retrospect, a better choice would have been to choose a smaller aperture so that more was in focus.

I like the eyes better on the re-post, but I prefer the overall softer feeling of the original.

Yes, for me the shadows are now much better. The original that Dennis likes seems just to be a little brighter -- not sure I have a preference on that basis.

I prefer the repost. Just goes to show how subjective art is. :-)

I prefer the repost for the shadows and contrast, but I also miss the soft diffused look of the OP and a little brighter. He's a cute fellow. I haven't used Analog yet. I tried it on one image just to check it out but I didn't like any of the results. Just not the right kind of image I suppose.

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Originally Posted by Judy Howle

. . . I haven't used Analog yet. I tried it on one image just to check it out but I didn't like any of the results. Just not the right kind of image I suppose.

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After leaning about Analog Efex when I looked at an earlier image of Diane's, I contacted Nik/Google about it, and it's now sharing space on my computer with the rest of the Nik Collection. When I played around with it, I wasn't much impressed. It had taken me a while to pry open the piggy bank and get Alien Skin's Exposure. So far, I've used it on only one or two images, but, in my opinion, it beats Analog Efex hands down.

I prefer the repost. In the OP the sharply detailed fur around the mouth didn't fit with the rest of the softer image. But the nose area may still be a bit too bright for the rest of the image.

Thanks for the continued input, guys. Here's another repost with it lightened more like the OP. I also darkened the nose area and added a blur overlay masking it off the eyes. What do you think?

As far as Analog goes, this was the first image that I've used it on. First impression is that it does an okay one-click job of antiquating an image, though personally I don't think I'll use it much because it's basically a bunch of preset looks while I prefer to make each image unique.

Your last post allow the eyes to be more the focus of attention. I think it is the one I prefer.

Thumbs up!!! It combines the best of the other two.

I like the 3rd repost best!

Thanks for all the help, guys! I like the last one best too.

Cute Christopher, I also like the final repost best. The image is really appealing to me for the cuteness and novelty factors. If anyone ever asks me if I've seen an Alpaca smile I can now honestly say "yes, I have!"