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Archive 2017 · Color or B&W? A shot of my dog C&C

  
 
zippylock
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Color or B&W? A shot of my dog C&C


Hey Guys,
So in an attempt to get the my camera out again and get back into photography (while updated/selling equipment), i have added a new AF-S Nikon 50mm1.8 to my collection. I used my trusty D700 for the body. I also bought the 50 1.8 because i hike a lot, and the D700 with my zoom lenses are just too heavy, so i stopped lugging them. Im hoping, with the 50mm and my 20mm primes only combo, ill start bringing it again (last try before leaving Nikon for Sony or something).... that was just an aside though, haha

Anyways, testing to the new 50mm in my house i actually found a shot I really liked of my pup since this is typically how she watches me while in the house all day. I cropped/edited a color and a B&W. I cant for the life of my decide which i like better. Im leaning to the B&W for some reason (maybe background less distracting?). Anyways, just looking for some thoughts and general C&C.

Color
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4378/36115894524_cc33b77451_b.jpg

B&W
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4409/36779148592_db9cfa3417_b.jpg


Thanks as always!



Aug 31, 2017 at 09:16 PM
beavens
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Color or B&W? A shot of my dog C&C


Hi zippy!

Beautiful dog - you can see the love in the eyes. Speaking of those - I'd look to bring that left eye up some in terms of exposure.

I do kinda like the crop as-is, but you could also play around with a portrait crop or maybe a square?

I think I prefer the mono, but that's generally my preference anyway - nice tonality. Color is no slouch, but might be a little overly contrasty. It's weird, I abuse contrast in mono pics but its a very fine line for me in color.

Jeff







Sep 01, 2017 at 07:15 AM
eeneryma
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Color or B&W? A shot of my dog C&C


Talk about puppy dog eyes! +1 to Jeff's crop and PP.

Steve



Sep 01, 2017 at 07:33 AM
sbeme
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Color or B&W? A shot of my dog C&C


Great expression, eye contact, and high lovability!
Shot at eye level which is just what was needed!
I prefer the looser crop.
I prefer the BW only because of the distracting BG elements left image. But you could selective desaturate a bit, especially the red, and I think the color image would work well.

Scott



Sep 01, 2017 at 09:08 AM
lighthound
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Color or B&W? A shot of my dog C&C


Beautiful pup!

+1 @ both Jeff's and Scott's comments. Especially lifting his right eye a little like Jeff illustrated.
I'm a color guy so I gotta go with the color version with above mentioned tweeks.

Dave



Sep 01, 2017 at 09:30 AM
zippylock
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Color or B&W? A shot of my dog C&C


beavens wrote:
Hi zippy!

Beautiful dog - you can see the love in the eyes. Speaking of those - I'd look to bring that left eye up some in terms of exposure.

I do kinda like the crop as-is, but you could also play around with a portrait crop or maybe a square?

I think I prefer the mono, but that's generally my preference anyway - nice tonality. Color is no slouch, but might be a little overly contrasty. It's weird, I abuse contrast in mono pics but its a very fine line for me in color.

Jeff


Thanks for the comments! I do like the crop, maybe just a tad tighter then I prefer, but I'm trying to get better at cropping and potentially cutting out body parts, etc. I have a bad habit of always wanting all of my subject in the pic, which sometimes distracts from the point of the photo, aka my subject and intent, which In this case, is her eyes and concentration on me. I think that's clearly the point of this photo .

I also do agree and like the bump/dodge on the exposure of the left eye, I can re-edit that as well based on what you did. I can do the same with the color image. I think you and the below poster are right, I typically like color, but the B&W here allowed me to remove the distracting background even more, and what I couldn't mask out. I actually desaturated the background in the color already a good 20%. anymore it looked noticeable. I'm still learning on anything more then basic photoshop/RAW adjustments.

*In your edit - did you dodge? bump shadows, or area select? just curious on the method? I normally just the dodge icon and 'paint in' I guess I could say?

Also, you mentioned the conversion to B&W? Mono? So for me, I converted in the Photoshop and went to Black and White convert in adjustments. I then played with the color bars until I got something I liked. Mostly red/orange and yellow in this case were changed. Is this the normal way to convert to a B&W or did I do something weird? I'm just not sure what you mean but a 'mono' B&W edit?

Thanks



Edited on Sep 01, 2017 at 12:23 PM · View previous versions



Sep 01, 2017 at 12:16 PM
zippylock
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Color or B&W? A shot of my dog C&C


lighthound wrote:
Beautiful pup!

+1 @ both Jeff's and Scott's comments. Especially lifting his right eye a little like Jeff illustrated.
I'm a color guy so I gotta go with the color version with above mentioned tweeks.

Dave


thanks to you, and the other commenters as well. I'm glad you all agree with the expression. like I said, I just went to play and test the lens so I knew I had a good copy and it turned out I really love this pic of her now I captured.

I will bump the left eye. Also gonna try and see how the above made a frame, I think that really added to it actually. I use CS5 and CS6, but prefer CS5 because 6 change the location of some things and I have just not spent time learning it. I don't even know what the new version would be at this point. I got it when I got my D700 new lol

Its also pretty heavily cropped in my edit (20%?). I'm not sure if what people do on here? maybe I should have posted the original, and my edit for perspective? I normally don't show the originals though incase its heavily changed. Jus learning the protocol here. I'm very open to C&C. I know I have some good stuff and some bad stuff. just trying to get better!




Sep 01, 2017 at 12:19 PM
zippylock
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Color or B&W? A shot of my dog C&C


I cropped a little tighter and went in the middle of you above crop and my original, also exposed the left eye a little more

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4432/36569891540_eceb0455db_b.jpg

Thoughts?



Sep 01, 2017 at 03:49 PM





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