ArnieA Loc: BC,Canada

I would like comments on this photo. I only had 1 chance to do this so the rules may have been broken.

File Name LeviMisty.JPG
Camera Model Canon EOS REBEL T3i
Firmware Firmware Version 1.0.2
Shooting Date/Time 08/03/2013 11:53:38 AM (sunny outside)
Owner's Name
Shooting Mode Scene Intelligent Auto
Lighting or Scene Default setting
Ambience Standard setting
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/60
Av( Aperture Value ) 5.0
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
Exposure Compensation 0
ISO Speed 400
Auto ISO Speed ON
Lens EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II
Focal Length 45.0mm
Image Size 5184x3456
Image Quality Fine
Flash On
Flash Type Built-In Flash
E-TTL II flash metering Evaluative flash metering
Flash Exposure Compensation 0
Red-eye Reduction On
Shutter curtain sync 1st-curtain sync
FE lock OFF
White Balance Mode Auto
AF Mode AI Focus AF
AF area select mode Automatic selection
Picture Style Auto
Sharpness 3
Contrast 0
Saturation 0
Color tone 0
Color Space sRGB
Long exposure noise reduction 0:Off
High ISO speed noise reduction 0:Standard
Highlight tone priority 0:Disable
Auto Lighting Optimizer Standard
Peripheral illumination correction Enable
Dust Delete Data No
File Size 5693KB
Drive Mode Single shooting
Live View Shooting OFF
Camera Body No. 142136000236
Comment

gym Loc: Athens, Georgia

Overall, I like it. The dog is in good focus, but the cat is a little soft. How about cropping so that you have only the dog and the sofa? There is a hot spot on the pillow behind the dog's head, but maybe you can deal with some of that in PP.

gdwsr Loc: Northern California

Arnie, there are no rules. This is a good shot showing the comfort of two species with each other giving off a "sweet" emotion. The concept that you may be concerned about is why gym mentioned; exposure in the shadows and the hot spot on the sofa and the blinds. Remember that the viewers eyes tent to go to the lightest areas. The white dog should be the brightest thing in this image. Because you had to get the shot you couldn't do anything about it at the time so you have to do it in post processing. Not too difficult; just burning will probably do it. And a little dodging on the cat.

ArnieA Loc: BC,Canada

From what I understand you can't do anything with jpeg. Is there a way to change it to raw?

Arnie

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

What rules are bothering you? Never mind. At a minimum, I'd do some cropping. There's a lot of dead space on the left. Maybe even crop to a portrait orientation instead of landscape to close in on your subject matter. Next time, you might want to try to get closer, though I understand you only had the one chance. Who told you you can't do anything with JPEG? Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Gimp, Picasa, Lightroom, blah, blah, blah - all can work on JPEGs. JPEGs may not be the ideal original format, but that doesn't mean you can't get a lot done.

gdwsr Loc: Northern California

That's not correct Arnie; jpegs can be processed same as RAW. You just have more digital information to work with in Raw. And even if you could you would want to convert a jpeg to Raw.

What post processing software do you have to work with?

MtnMan Loc: ID

While the composition of the critters is nice and they seem to have good detail the bright background is a problem.

You can work with it in post processing but if, in the future, you can avoid bright backgrounds behind your main subject your pictures will pop more. In this case shooting at night with a flash would have been better.

MtnMan Loc: ID

Oh, I see you tried to use fill flash. I suspect the problem is that your flash outsmarted itself. If you had set your f-stop to min aperture (e.g. f22+) and used spot metering on the cat you might have gotten a better eposure.

Here's a cut at fixing with Photoshop.

ArnieA Loc: BC,Canada

Sorry it took so long to get back to you. Last week wasn't a good one.

I have Digital Photo Pro and Picture style editor- all came with the camera. Don't know how to use them yet.

I will have to figure out how to convert with those programs.

Arnie

ArnieA Loc: BC,Canada

At night would have been better but its up to the animals. :D Sometimes they don't cooperate.

Arnie

ArnieA Loc: BC,Canada

I know that in general there are no rules. You take the pic because it pleases you.

Maybe the word is guidelines. For example- no poles growing out of peoples head and so on.

When I took the picture I had to work fast as the dog was looking elsewhere. I got lucky there were no poles around. :lol:

Arnie

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

I hope you don't mind, I worked on the photo. I cropped it, lightened up the cat, especially the face, to bring up some detail, sharpened and boosted the saturation a bit. I hope you like it.

ArnieA Loc: BC,Canada

Nice job. Someday I'll find the time to learn my programs.

Arnie

carogray Loc: Santa Monica originally UK

love the way you cropped this and lightened the cat so you can see his face. great...