[opiet70]

I took this during a recent trip south. The shot, in essence, I believe is a good shot - but something just doesn't feel right. Is it not enough/too much contrast? The grass there was a wonderful green color unlike anywhere I've seen before even in the first spring shoots. I'd appreciate any feedback.

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[Erictator]

Hi - First some positives... the eye is in focus, not easy with a moving target, and such a shallow depth of field. Great timing, great subject.

I agree about the something being a tiny bit off, and it's hard to pinpoint any one thing, but here's how I see it. The colors appear a little muted, and the bird a tad over exposed. The composition is a little off to me, because the it makes me want to see more, or be in closer. A tighter crop with some rules of thirds applied a bit more could do it. I also don't know if it's just the JPG compression for posting here, or what, but the out of focus "bokeh" area on the top third of the pic is a bit distracting as well.

Some people might take offense in an "edit", but I'm a dog lover and couldn't resist...besides, as they say, a pictures worth a thousand words. If you don't mind, (I can remove if you do) here's a couple of quick photoshop edits. The first has shadow/hightlights adjusted and the saturation kicked up. Plus a selectively removed noise from the out of focus area's. The second is the same, just cropped... if I had the original to work with, I would have made the cropped photo bigger to match the other... but you get the idea.

Hope that helps,
Eric

[opiet70]

Thank you! I like your edits and they do add much more punch to the shot. I appreciate the great feedback!

[J-Rod]

Great shot. I assume "Roomba" is from the vacuum of the same name? Mine clean the floors of any food that may get dropped but on balance are net contributors to the floor's messyness.

[opiet70]

Great shot. I assume "Roomba" is from the vacuum of the same name? Mine clean the floors of any food that may get dropped but on balance are net contributors to the floor's messyness.

Lol. I may one day have a dog named Roomba also. It is just too appropriate for my faithful vacuum who follows me anytime I have food in hand.

[Ash]

I'm finding that although the focus seems to be on the right spot, the subject is soft and contrast lacking. The bokeh is rendered quite chaotically due to the busy nature of the grass in the background, and that it what takes my attention away from the dog.

Otherwise, not a bad result.

[opiet70]

I'm finding that although the focus seems to be on the right spot, the subject is soft and contrast lacking. The bokeh is rendered quite chaotically due to the busy nature of the grass in the background, and that it what takes my attention away from the dog.

Otherwise, not a bad result.

Thanks. I am hoping this weekend to spend quite a bit of time re-editing this shot. There's been some great feedback and suggestions - I just need to see what I can make happen. Thanks for the feedback!

[Workingdog]

If you are a dog person or a hunter and especially if you have had the opportunity to hunt with a great bird dog you can really appreciate this shot.
This dog looks like a very intense hunter with lots of drive, the kind that nearly jumps out of its skin when you say, "are you ready to hunt?"
That is what this shot says to me. Very nice.

[opiet70]

If you are a dog person or a hunter and especially if you have had the opportunity to hunt with a great bird dog you can really appreciate this shot.
This dog looks like a very intense hunter with lots of drive, the kind that nearly jumps out of its skin when you say, "are you ready to hunt?"
That is what this shot says to me. Very nice.

Thank you Workingdog. She was one of the best hunters I've hunted with and, frankly, I don't think the shot does justice in showing her drive! She taught me a few things I"ll train into my current and future dogs.

I've had several hunting dogs over the years and have never been able to get a similar shot with my dogs. But, to get this I had to leave the gun behind and run around (behind the hunters) trying to get the best light/angle/etc as she was tearing through the grass. That left short moments in time to hope all the conditions were right and I had the wherewithall to actually get the shot. Looking back, there are things I'd do differently next time - but hind site is always 20/20.

I also snapped a decent action shot of my hunting buddy, the guide, Roomba, and the bird as he was taking the bird. I'll see if I can dig it up and post it tonight. Anyone who hunts will immediately identify with the scene and wish they were in the field.

[opiet70]

Here is the photo I was speaking about in my previous post.