C&C on these two images please ...

I have been practicing alittle in PS CS5 which is all new to me and one photo I posted in the "Post Your Pets" thread where for the first time I merged two images to have all three dogs looking at the camera at the same time.

The two photos below I used my 7d & 100-400mm set at 400mm, f/6.3, 1/1600. The first photo I post-processed in DPP and in the second one I followed the steps Scott Kelby shows in his CS5 book for fixing depth of field problems.

Please let me know what your opinions are on both of them ...

#1 - Post-Processed in DPP


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2780/...7923a32c42.jpg

#2 - Post-Processed in CS5


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3245/...6955f4e95f.jpg

Not so sure I like the vignette he said to apply in the last step. Maybe if I changed the settings he suggested. For his picture of a bride, it looked good!

Thanks for looking!

Denise

Denise,


Both are great. You are starting to make me look bad [:D] LOL


It looks like you did a great job improving the depth of field. The increased color saturation is a little too much for my taste but that may just be me. I use a vignette on almost all my shots but for nature shots I usually use a rectangular instead of a circular.





Mark

Very cool Denise! I

Thanks guys!!


Ok, on this one I cropped the shoreline away more and reduced the vibrance and the vignetting some. I don't know how to do a rectangular one. Since I cropped more I had to redo the blur and this time I think I brought back too much in-focus area. I guess it just takes a great deal of practice to get it just right! I'll keep trying! Thanks so much for your opinions!!


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3182/...b709233402.jpg

Nice photo Denise. Quite some post-processing going on there, should have taken some time I guess? [A]


I think the vignette "problems" the others had is caused a lot by the size of the photo here on TDP. If I view it large on Flickr, it's really not that bad I think.


The shoreline was a little distracting and I like the photo more when it's cropped off a little.


I'm not sure how many steps you have putt in this photo, but I think your selection could have benefit from a little smoothing. It's a little edgy I think.


Other than that you have made an enormous improvement to the original photo, great work!


Jan

I like your last attempt best ddt. Very nice.

Thanks Jan & Mark! It only takes 5 quick steps to do and the only part that takes any time is getting the complete subject selected. Which by what I

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Originally Posted by ddt0725

[url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/18085870@N07/5798833104/]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3182/...b709233402.jpg[/url]
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This looks really good to me. The amount of saturation looks more natural.


Mark

I agree with Mark, the saturation only looks apparant because you included the first shot. The colours on the bird are very natural.


Great work, keep it up.

Hi Denise,


Nice shot! I also like the post processing. All I would add is a little space above the birds head. I like the amount of negative space above the birds head in your first 2 images better.


Rich

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ddt0725

I guess it just takes a great deal of practice to get it just right! I'll keep trying! Thanks so much for your opinions!!

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Denise, keep in mind that there is no "just right." It's what you want out of the image. It's what you like. We all have opinions, but that's all they are. And, opinions usually follow the Bell distribution curve.


This applies to food, photos and music, plus a host of others. [;)]

I really like the edits you've done Denise. The DOF looks realistic and is done really well. Kelby's books helped me a lot when I was starting to learn photoshop. If you are looking for another great resource I really got some benefit out of Matt Koklowski's book titled "Layers" (I think).


I like the toned down vignette in the second run you did, nice job.

I love the dof of the second shot, and really like the increased saturation as well (not too much IMO). I don

It has potential looks of another canvas job without the edge darkening.

Thanks everyone!


@ Ben - I have found many of Kelby