My Personal Project 2010 - Updated WEEK 52 - The End! - Happy New Year everyone

Shorty

Shorty

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Meh, I decided to submit this image....This is the kind of thing I do now....I hope, looking back in a year I will have much more exciting images, which are more pleasing to the eye/composed better and a little 'out of the ordinary' in a good way! :)

Happy New Year everyone!

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The original has been added next to the shot, so the difference can be seen.
I just use a preset in Lightroom is my 'main' used one [beauty pop[I alternate between 1/2 and also between 'Boost'..Downloaded ones - which I think looking at it probably does do a lot of PP.. Blacks/Contrast/Clarity and Saturation among many other things]


Actually, thanks for that Jean, given me an idea that maybe, to actually help me with this project if I post the original next to the processed that might help me with a technique more, rather than relying on PP[which I do 50/50 of now...] I shall ponder on that, doesn't take too much out of my time so don't see why not! Thanks!
And another thing - don't rely on certain presets, hadn't realised just how much it does PP a pic!


Thanks Lisa :) look forward to your project!
 
Happy New Year !!!

A good start to your project and I love the idea of showing the original next to the finished shot each week.
I really do like the PP that you do on your dog shots. It's very distinctive - I could pick one of your shots out from a whole pile of other dog pics :thumbs:

Preset or not, I tend to think that PP is there as a tool and if it works, then use it.
Having said that, it'll be nice to see you experiment with the technique and see what else you come up with.
 
Showing the original and the pp'd version is a brilliant idea. In fact, for this one, I love the Lightroom effect on the eyes but I do really prefer the fur in the original, despite the blue rinse. :)

I can see you're going to be trying loads of new stuff this year. :thumbs:

Jean
 
Jean, taken that on board, and had a fiddle, can't seem to boost the eye too much without changing his fur dramatically back to the PPd version above :) -
The more Im looking at it, I'm starting to not like the PP work[first try], it does look overdone, and that's funny cos when I first did it I was just like 'oh perfick, a teeny boost' and now I'm like. WOAAAAAAAAH.
this is the kinda input I need/want! I think this is gonna be a good project :D


And awww, thank you Sarah![I might do a line up now *hides* :lol:]

Anyway, here it is![With Flickr's free kindly added contrast/sat and sharpening :p - that is now reaalllllyy getting on my nerves.. haha]
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Here's my second shot for this week. Bloody unco-operative cats! I swear, who'd have 'em? :lol:

Ria in the snow.
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Hi Leanne, I really like the PP on the first dog shot as I think it's just a matter of individual taste.

And the cat - beautiful - focus is spot on, DoF is fantastic and she's actually moving :lol:

Mine are either asleep or eating :D

Really looking forward to following this thread.
 
Very well done on both of those shots Leanne :thumbs: I do like the second PP on the doggy, and the unusual view and DOF works superbly. The Cat looks like a damned tricky exposure, and I think the PP has got it about right, although the snow has gone a little grey :thinking:... The fur colours have come up really nicely though.
 
Ssssssssssh, we have speshil snow here in Bedfordshire! It falls down Grey :O amazing, innit.


It is Grey because I had to severly lower the Exposure in PP, the histogram wasn't happy[and Ria was majorly blown!], but once again, now you mentioned it - it's a little *too* grey and dull....Bums. Will see what I can do about it.
I much prefer the snow we had last month, white snow, bright sunshine and everything in the shot came out exposed brilliantly, not much PP needed...But now?


Bruja, don't be fooled - ours are too, but Ria likes the snow, bless her. Doesn't get giddy or anything she just likes staying outside in it. Funny girl.

And Thanks Sarah and Lisa :D
 
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Lovely shot of your cat, in an almost typical tiger like photo.
The darkness of the fence in the background also helps the photo from the blown out snow :D
 
Well, I'm in Yorkshire working for two weeks now. Some of you may recognise the dogs/cats coming up in the next couple of weeks. They featured in my 52 last year :)

A shot taken this morning with the most unco-operative dog :P I just couldn't nail the DOF on the nose, and he never stop barking when asked to pose :lol:

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And yes, I did clone out the edge of the rock there - it suddenly creeped into the shot when he barked and I moved camera to follow him :suspect:
 
Course you can, I use beauty pop [usualy either one or two] or sometimes Boost[can't rem where I got this one from, sorry. presets for Lightroom and then fiddle from there to suit. I tend to like high clarity, and quite a bit of vibrance, and of course the contrast!

I started off by doing the stuff myself, but when I saw these Presets it's basically exactly what I'd like to do to my pics, and of course with the fiddle I do afterwards[sometimes they give off yellow/blue colour casts, so I'll obviously change WB if needed etc]

However, like I said previously a lot of my PP/work is quite subjective and only a small amount of people will like it because of my extreme love for vibrance/contrast and clarity :P
 
Really like the cat shot ;)
the PP is good but be careful of relying on it too much or your pics will look 'samey' (unless thats what you want?)

Keep at it ;)
 
Shorty said:
Jean, taken that on board, and had a fiddle, can't seem to boost the eye too much without changing his fur dramatically back to the PPd version above :) -
The more Im looking at it, I'm starting to not like the PP work[first try], it does look overdone, and that's funny cos when I first did it I was just like 'oh perfick, a teeny boost' and now I'm like. WOAAAAAAAAH.
this is the kinda input I need/want! I think this is gonna be a good project :D


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Oooh, I like this version best, by far. The eye really grabs attention. It's hard to get a balance without selecting elements of the picture to process separately. What processing software do you use? Hacker did a fantastic 'make eyes shine' tutorial some time ago. If I can find the link, I'll send it to you.

The cat: It really is fantastic seeing the two shots side by side, and I think what you've done to this one is spot on. She really looks as though she's hunting through the snow and stalking her lunch! You've done justice to a beautiful girl! :thumbs:

The dog: He might be unco-operative but you've caught a good shot of him. The nose being oof really shows he's barking, the eyes are fabulous. My only small niggle is his tongue looks a bit on the pink side, but it doesn't detract because the eyes command so much attention. :clap::clap::clap:

Jean
 
Thanks very much for the comments guys!

Dade - I don't want my pics to be samey, no, however the presets do have the overall look I'd LOVE for my pics. Problem is I spent 30mins yest trying to see which sliders controlled which element of each pic I like [the sharpness and depth to the eyes, as well as the colour without blue tinge, in most cases] but the bits I don't want there in some cases aren't controlled by the obvious[like brightness/exposure isn;t actually changed by those sliders :S]
Which is what I tried to do re: pinkness of his tongue and his ear, the 'vibrance' and 'saturation' sliders don't change that. Confusing huh?
It's very confusing for me, but i am trying to reach out change elements from the presets. We'll see how I go.
This is the exact kinda thing I wanted out of this task, I wouldn't have realised so much, how I rely on the same presets again and again and it's all a step in the direction to bette myself :)

I have both Lightroom2 and CS2 but I don't really use Photoshop anymore, only for 'creating' things really.
 
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Shorty said:
Well, I'm in Yorkshire working for two weeks now. Some of you may recognise the dogs/cats coming up in the next couple of weeks. They featured in my 52 last year :)

A shot taken this morning with the most unco-operative dog :P I just couldn't nail the DOF on the nose, and he never stop barking when asked to pose :lol:
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Sorry Leanne, your latest update somehow slipped past me with the hundreds of threads that are in this section this year!
Found it again now though - and I think you've done brilliantly with such an uncooperative model :clap:

I don't like it quite as much as your two earlier shots. I think you said yourself about the tongue looking a bit too pink and the nose not being quite right. Considering how much he was moving around though, I'm amazed that you got anything at all - and if your other shots weren't so brilliant I'd be raving about it.

Good luck working out how all the sliders match up in those presets. Going by how well those presets work, if you figure it out and customise the effect the results will be stunning!
The other thing you could try is applying the preset to a duplicate layer. You could play with opacity to control the strength of the effect or mask areas out as required :shrug:
 
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Sadly Lightroom doesn't have layers or opacity etc. Certainly not to my knowledge anyway :(

He's SUCH a hard dog to capture, we progressed a little bit more today with using his kibble and moderating the time inbetween giving him bits[ e.g even if I didn't get a shot, I still gave him a treat before readjusting him etc] I'm gonna try more on his bigger sister cos she seemed to really understand what I wanted of her for a couple of shots - others she just keeps offering me 'paw' and her coat is hard to work with as she has no eyes according to it :P


It is VERY hard keeping up with even my own thread underneath these hundreds, let alone anyone elses. So I'm really sorry if I've not yet replied to your thread :( :hug:
I'm really reluctant to to go back into PS too, cos Lightroom offers so much more, editing wise[to me - maybe it's just easier] :lol:

Thanks Sarah
 
As someone who only does basic PP using ACDsee I take my hat off to you :notworthy:

And for shooting cats and dogs, who can be even less controlable than small kids it's sounds like you were very persistent to get the shot you did. Yes the focus isn't right on the nose :D, but the eyes have it. :clap::clap:
 
Aww Thank you :hug:

Here is a doggie with a shorter nose and therefore easier to deal with :P This is Barky Puppy's older sister.
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Seeeeee, diff processing :p
 
Yesterday was a good day, I'm rather giddy about the next picture, still shocked at how flukey the whole situation was...And...again, diff processing!
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Gawd I love this cat after these shots!
 
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I can see how having a shorter nosed dog can help with the focus :lol::lol:

Lovely shot of the puppy :thumbs:

As for the cat triptych that's just fantastic :clap::clap:

It would have more impact though if there was more space between the original pictures and the final result as the page is a bit cluttered and the finished product deserves to stand alone.
 
:bonk: So Sorry. . . totally missed these last couple of updates.

Shorty said:
Here is a doggie with a shorter nose and therefore easier to deal with :P This is Barky Puppy's older sister.
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:thumbs: yep.
I can see how that makes it easier and that is a beautiful shot.

Shorty said:
Gawd I love this cat after these shots!
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I bet you do!
:clap: :clap: :clap:
This is the absolute best that I've ever seen from you. :love: Stunning shots and I love the way that you've laid them out in the triptych.

Just can't believe that I didn't see these earlier . . . sorry again :(
 
Don't be sorry. I lost my own thread!! Haha
I'm still over the moon with the cat shots. Not been able to replicate them cos the light has never been the same. I can't emphasise how much of a fluke it was, I literally went out there with my camera was gonna get ready for a 'mini shoot' and he started doing the scratching, so without changing any setting I literally just clicked and clicke and clicked, all of them came out in focus :O[which is very rare, cos he was moving closer n closer[as the last pic emphasises] and the light. Not ever known lighting to be so perfect. The most gorgeous golden sun as it started setting.

Anyway :p

Thanks for the comments you guys :love:

Will just edit the originals away a little

Thanks :)
 
Shorty said:
Don't be sorry. I lost my own thread!! Haha
I'm still over the moon with the cat shots. Not been able to replicate them cos the light has never been the same. I can't emphasise how much of a fluke it was, I literally went out there with my camera was gonna get ready for a 'mini shoot' and he started doing the scratching, so without changing any setting I literally just clicked and clicke and clicked, all of them came out in focus :O[which is very rare, cos he was moving closer n closer[as the last pic emphasises] and the light. Not ever known lighting to be so perfect. The most gorgeous golden sun as it started setting.

Anyway :p

Thanks for the comments you guys :love:

Will just edit the originals away a little

Thanks :)
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:cuckoo: I lost my own thread too this week, so it's not just you!

And don't play down the skill required for those cat shots either. The situation and opportunity might have been lucky, but it was you behind the camera that made all the difference.
 
Aww, thank you Sarah, you're really very kind :) :hug:

It's mental with all the threads this year. I've only been able to find yours, Bruja Jill's and Jean's threads so far :/
 
I have only just found this thread and there are some really stunning images. Animal photography is not easy, but you have managed some very interesting shots. Yes, it is difficult with DOF trying to get nose and face in focus, but you have managed that very well with the cat photos.

I hope I don't lose this thread again but with so many to choose from, I usually just comment on the first few that I see at random in an evening.

Jenny
 
Lovely shots Leanne... The moving doggie that bought the rock in ... is very good, I can see the problem with the nose, but the shot works anyway.

The short nose does work well.. another good shot.

but the winner for me is that cat this week... A wonderfully presented triptych :clap:
 
Shorty - I'm sorry I'm in the 'I've lost your thread this week camp'. Big catch up coming up:

Barky Puppy's sister: I think you've captured a terrific expression on her (you can almost hear her saying 'I wish my little sister'd behave herself! :lol:) You're right about the focusing - this looks really good. Her eye is nice and sharp and although a little bit of fur is slightly blown I don't think it detract one bit - in fact it looks kind of 'arty'. :thumbs:

The cat triptych - now that is something else again. Brilliant. :clap::clap::clap: I can imagine how you must have felt when you downloaded that and saw just how good it it. And I'm not in the slightest bit jealous!!!!!!! (Much!) I totally love how you've processed these shots - and I could see the middle one as a national advertising campaign for the Cat food for SuperCats. I hope you're getting these printed and framed. :thumbs::thumbs::thumbs:

Jean
 
Wow, thank you for your super kind comments, everyone!! *blush* :D

Thanks for list of people, will try and find their threads :)

Jean, wow, thankyou. I'm not getting them printed[not until I get pics of our own animals printed, I feel bad that my first ever printed photo[finally given to my neighbour today] was of her dog, and not somethin of one of our pets. But I have a shot of our parrot we'll get done now, and just get the cat pictures done as we go along.
HOWEVER, I have done these 'client' pictures as part of a donation to the rescue I volunteer for, so we'll see if they want any of the cat pics.

Right back home and back at the rescue today. It's odd how comfortable I am there in regards to photo taking. Anywhere here is our newest resident - a very emaciated, terrified, sad and nervous boy :(


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