Morning Walk with Coco

[DianeD]

Coco my dog in action, lovely morning for a walk.

"Come on lets go"


Fun


Little burst of speed


Greg really didn't want a dog


Still trying to make the most of these walks. We have a lovely spot to walk comments on pictures greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Diane

[kezmal]

Nice photos Diane. I like that you've captured the kick up of leaves in the second one as Coco takes of.

[Donald]

I think the biggest challenge you gave yourself here was with the pretty harsh sunlight. It's always going to need you to be very aware of light and shade. But you've handles it pretty well, although I think #1 struggles a bit because of the dynamic range.

And I wonder if #3 would benefit from a tighter crop on Coco? There's a lot of space around about that isn't really contributing much to the image.

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Like Donald said I think the sunlight's produced some shadows that make getting the light right a little bit tricky so Coco is different colours through your series.

#1 doesn't look sharp enough to me. I like #2 although Coco looks a bit dark on the left. I'd also be inclined to crop #3 - particularly on the right but a bit on the other sides as well.

Hope this helps!

[DianeD]

Thanks everyone, I have tried a couple of things but not sure of sucess with #1



another attempt but I don't think it did any good



different crops on #3




Will see what I can do to improve #2
Thanks
Diane

[PhotoByTrace]

Hi Diane, Cocoa is such a gorgeous Aussie... love the red tri colouring. Number 2 is definitely my favourite! What software are you using? If you have Lightroom or Camera Raw, perhaps try adding some fill light to just lift it somewhat, and that should bring his eyes out nicely too. Perhaps try some sharpening with the radius smaller (perhaps try 0.7) for the high frequency fine lines of his coat. And not sure of your white balance, but "shade" may bring some further warmth to the photo. But I think the most impact will come from some fill light. Looks like it was a lovely way to spend the morning!

[DianeD]

Thanks Trace he is a handfull as most Aussies are, we had a woman who couldn't believe he was 7 yrs and that his energy level was actually "mellow" for him. I have been having trouble with my computer IMAC and Photoshop Elements 9 and Camera Raw so I stopped shooting in Raw out of fear. I have recently convinced my son to let me use his Laptop Windows based so I have put my photoshop on it but unfortunately I shot this walk in jpeg forgetting to try raw again. Played with images 1 and 2 again. Not really enamoured with 3 so I will leave for now might go back later but I have many shots of this type.





Thanks to all.
Diane

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Your last edit of #1 I think s is the more vibrant. I think if you crop in a bit more so you can focus a bit more on Coco you should have a nice shot. On #3 I'd give your last edit a bit more height and I think that will give a sensation of speed by showing a little of where he's coming from.

There's all still nice captures - I love photos of dogs at full sprint. Ours is too old to be doing that now. I don't think he even gets up to a jog these days.

[PhotoByTrace]

Hi Diane, Cocoa sounds like a typical working dog! And I think 1 & 2 look better with the processing you have done
I had the opposite problem to you over my holidays... forgot that my laptop has only an old version of elements on it and nothing for raw and I had been shooting in raw only. Once I realised, I started shooting in raw+jpg so that I could at least get sneak peaks before I got home lol.

[epmi314]

Diane,

As a fellow Aussie owner I'll just say Coco is perfect and leave the C&C to others!

[speedneeder]

Diane, I like #3 the best, in concept at least. I like the shadows across the path created by the trees and I wouldn't crop it much, if at all. The only issue I have is the missed focus on the galloping dog. Or is that just a slow shutter speed? It might benefit from a small increase in contrast and saturation.
Thanks for posting.