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A friend asked me today if I would photograph their black poodle as it apparently doesnt have much longer to live.

She dressed it up in a wedding dress which it wore to their son's wedding late last year.

Anyway I wasn't that confident about photographing a black dog who is blind and the eyes don't look to good. As well as that it was a dark overcast day.

Thought I'd have a try and used a grey card for exposure reading, bracketed and shot in raw (don't you love technology)

Here's the result both in Colour and B&W

Which do you prefer?



Bob G

Bob, that came out great. I like both, would print one of each for the owners

i think the colour one personally. i think you need to be able to see the colours it is dressed up in...and the paint on its nails

Thanks Glen,

That's exactly what I did. Printed both on Archival Matt A3 paper on my Epson 2400

Both camr up very nicely and they were very pleased- indicating they will frame and hang.


Bob G

The colour one looks better for mine, the B&W one looks a bit washed out, needs a bit more contrast maybe.

MCWB

Thanks for your comments
I finished up with the contrast adjustment as the last step in my PP.

When I went higher and I lost too much detail. I realise that the photo is not as black as the dog in reality, but I am a bit at sea here. The end result is a compromise because I did't know where else to go with it.

Not sure if its just this shot or whether all predominantly black subjects are difficult.

Bob G

G'day Bob, by the looks, Chloe is a chocolate poodle.. pretty hard to take photos of because there eyes are a dark brown and naturally blend in with there woolen fur .. i can tell you used a sheet to create the background and uve boosted the contrast to whiten it out and give it a really white backing, making Chloe the subject, the only problem is, she's lost alot of her natural colours by the tones.. heres a sample I just worked on, Hope you dont mind, all I did was colour select Chloe so only she was selected, then selected "Shadow/Highlight"and turned down the shadow and boosted the highlight, it makes her fur a fraction darker and more natural while keeping the background white

Heres the finished subject, hope you dont mind, if you want it taken down, lemme know



Tim
p.s. its a great pic, the dog lovers will love it!

Tim,

Looks good and a definate improvement. By the way the dog is definately black but due to its age like most of us its going a little grey mostly round the face - no hint of any choclate.

There was a lot of ochre coloured walls around where we were shooting and we were under a shade sail - lots of reflected light and non ideal conditions.

Anyway - thanks for your input

Bob G

Great emotion in the face of the dog! Its saying get me OUT of here!

Here's another one I took - maybe it's a better one.

C & C Invited




Cheers


Bob G

Hi Bob,

While I like the first one - I much prefer the shot just posted. I think it is a much more pleasing composition, and provides a better view of the detail in Chloe's face. A clear winner for me.

Cheers,

Thanks for your comments Craig - I agree.


Bob G

Bob, I like the second colour one.

And I am surprised that no-one else has commented on this

She dressed it up in a wedding dress which it wore to their son's wedding late last year.

little bit of strangeness.

Greg, nothing strange about that in this community, you'd have to be a little nutty


Tim

The second one is better Bob, great pose!

I like the second one pretty much, very cool one