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Archive 2015 · Fiona & Friends

  
 
lighthound
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Fiona & Friends


Yep, more damn puppy shots. Sorry!

I just have to make life difficult for myself and shot these in harsh mid-day sun.
What can I say... I like a challenge.


Other than my normal request for critique I'd like to know your thoughts on the DOF I chose to use on these.

My intent was to keep the main subject the sharpest and let the ducks become slightly oof so they didn't steal the show away from the pup. I'm not sure if this was a good thing or not but I like how they turned out DOF wise.

I understand this is subjective but with a scene like this is it preferable to have ALL subjects in focus or is it better to push the ducks further oof to create more separation than what I did here? Or did I do the right thing by keeping them slightly oof?

Any other issues please let me now.


Dave




#1 Can I eat them dad?






#2 Look! I'm a duck!




Aug 24, 2015 at 11:26 AM
beavens
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Fiona & Friends


Dave,

Hard to comment on WB on the work monitor, but things are looking pretty good and I think you did a better job than the previous set in terms of detail and highlight management (pretty sweet considering the sun looks to be high in the sky).

I'm having a hard time determining how I feel about the DOF. Part me is okay with them being a twinge OOF compared to your main subject Fiona, the other part would prefer to either have them in focus or a shallower DOF.

I'll have to noodle this one for a bit.

But I like the comp and capture, especially #2.

Cheers,

Jeff



Aug 24, 2015 at 12:07 PM
RustyBug
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Fiona & Friends


Diggin' the captions.

A very nice departure from the typical "pet shots" in composition. The images deliver the message pretty well in that regard to personify Fiona beyond the norm.



Aug 24, 2015 at 12:46 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Fiona & Friends


These are cute shots of a sort I never dream of. I admire, but cannot make any meaningful comment.


Aug 24, 2015 at 01:33 PM
AuntiPode
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Fiona & Friends


Your choice of letting the subordinate subjects, ducks, go soft, is a good choice because it serves to make the message more clear: It's about the pup and her observing her environment and look back for support and perhaps guidance. I find the first stronger than the second because the ducks attention guides the eye back to the primary subject.


Aug 24, 2015 at 01:55 PM
lighthound
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Fiona & Friends


beavens wrote:
Dave,

Hard to comment on WB on the work monitor, but things are looking pretty good and I think you did a better job than the previous set in terms of detail and highlight management (pretty sweet considering the sun looks to be high in the sky).

I'm having a hard time determining how I feel about the DOF. Part me is okay with them being a twinge OOF compared to your main subject Fiona, the other part would prefer to either have them in focus or a shallower DOF.

I'll have to noodle this one for a bit.

But I like the comp
...Show more

Thanks Jeff! It was very strong light and I had to drastically underexpose the shot for everything other than the ducks and Fiona. I think there are still a few small spots on the ducks that are close to being blown but I'm not as concerned about them as I was the pup.

As such, I had to push the shadows up hard and I was a little worried about noise but I think I worked it pretty well this time.

I did shoot and use my passport before I shot these and used that for my starting point. I then used the WB eye dropper tool to set the WB and studied all over her white fur for any odd RGB values. I learned that (because of the blue sky) the top of her head and back needed to have a slightly higher blue value so I used some shadowed detailed areas under her ear to set the final WB. It's kinda crazy how white fur can have so much fluctuation in the RGB values from one spot to the next but it's starting to make sense to me now.

Dave

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RustyBug wrote:
Diggin' the captions.

A very nice departure from the typical "pet shots" in composition. The images deliver the message pretty well in that regard to personify Fiona beyond the norm.


Thank you Kent! Glad you liked those captions as I normally don't go there with them. But she's just so damn cute I couldn't help myself.

And I'm glad to hear that about the composition. The idea of shooting her near these white ducks dawned on me as we were visiting another near-by park that day. I wasn't sure on how well she would "play" with other critters but she seamed to like them and didn't go to crazy after them.

Dave
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ben egbert wrote:
These are cute shots of a sort I never dream of. I admire, but cannot make any meaningful comment.


Thank you Ben! I appreciate that.

Dave
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AuntiPode wrote:
Your choice of letting the subordinate subjects, ducks, go soft, is a good choice because it serves to make the message more clear: It's about the pup and her observing her environment and look back for support and perhaps guidance. I find the first stronger than the second because the ducks attention guides the eye back to the primary subject.


Shaweeet! Thank you Karen! I really wasn't sure if that was the right way to go so it's a huge relief to hear that.
I know it looked nice and made sense to me at the time but we all know what a mess I am so I was second guessing myself on this.

As for the amount the ducks could be oof, at what point (oof) would it not work or look proper? I shot some WO and it turned the ducks into funky white blobs with only a faint resemblance of what they were so I know that was to much but I have others where they are more oof but still appear like ducks with no details other than the eyes and beaks.

Dave



Aug 24, 2015 at 03:38 PM
AuntiPode
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Fiona & Friends


Sharp objects attract the eye. The softer they are, the less they draw attention. How soft they should be usually depends upon how subordinate they ought to be in the message.


Aug 24, 2015 at 04:05 PM
RustyBug
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Fiona & Friends


+1 @ Karen regarding focus push / pull primary / subordinate / message.

#1 for me as well. But, #2 ain't too shabby either.



Aug 24, 2015 at 06:33 PM
sbeme
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Fiona & Friends


I think both are thoughtfully timed, and I like it as part of a series. I agree with Karen that the first is a bit stronger.
The first speaks more strongly to relationship between the three animals, so deeper DOF makes sense to me. If you went shallower, I would like to see more real estate around the pup. In the second the play is the alignment rather than inter-relationship and I think a shallower DOF works better, with the ducks more of a background "echo" of the dog's gaze/direction/pose.

Scott



Aug 24, 2015 at 07:16 PM
sbeme
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Fiona & Friends


oh, and more doggies for me, please.

Scott



Aug 24, 2015 at 07:17 PM
lighthound
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Fiona & Friends


AuntiPode wrote:
Sharp objects attract the eye. The softer they are, the less they draw attention. How soft they should be usually depends upon how subordinate they ought to be in the message.


Yep, that's kinda what I was thinking as well but I don't know/understand how far is too far. I can see how it all depends on the particular image and desired message. I think I'm going to play around with these a little just to see and get a gut check on where the point of no return is.

Thanks Karen!

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RustyBug wrote:
+1 @ Karen regarding focus push / pull primary / subordinate / message.

#1 for me as well. But, #2 ain't too shabby either.


Thanks for the confirmation and kind words Kent!

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sbeme wrote:
I think both are thoughtfully timed, and I like it as part of a series. I agree with Karen that the first is a bit stronger.
The first speaks more strongly to relationship between the three animals, so deeper DOF makes sense to me. If you went shallower, I would like to see more real estate around the pup. In the second the play is the alignment rather than inter-relationship and I think a shallower DOF works better, with the ducks more of a background "echo" of the dog's gaze/direction/pose.

Scott


Thank you Scott! That explanation is very helpful on how to consider/handle this for various images.

With yours and Karen's explanations, I feel like my eyes have opened a little further now on how to think through this DOF thing for different images.
My gut told me I should use DOF to help create some separation but I was not thinking "into" the details of each composition and how to judge the amount based on the relationship and poses in the image.

Good stuff! Thanks!


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sbeme wrote:
oh, and more doggies for me, please.

Scott


Haha! Thanks Scott.
I almost didn't post these for fear everyone is getting tired of seeing puppy images but I had a legitimate question about this DOF thing and figured "what the heck, I need to ask."

Dave



Aug 25, 2015 at 08:38 AM





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