Portrait of my Dog, Critiques.

[blackwaterstudio]

She's a Brindle Pitt, she's a big baby, her bark is worse then her bite.

20D, 50 1.8 and my Sigma 500 flash with omni-bounce off the ceiling.

http://jdsphotography.smugmug.com/photos/18435448-L.jpg

http://jdsphotography.smugmug.com/photos/18435473-L.jpg

100% crop of the eye
http://jdsphotography.smugmug.com/photos/18435500-L.jpg

http://jdsphotography.smugmug.com/photos/18435526-L.jpg

[bkriete]

What a cutie. I love brindled mastiffs and pits. You might consider removing the collar next time, and cloning out that white reflection in her eye.

[blackwaterstudio]

What a cutie. I love brindled mastiffs and pits. You might consider removing the collar next time, and cloning out that white reflection in her eye.
The white reflection is the flash and you want it there ;)

[rutt]

These look pretty good, and the pose in the first is very nice. I wonder, did you sharpen these? Thy look oversharpened to my eye. You are going to need a very light hand with sharpening these images, like bare bushes or even worse.

Be especially careful not to sharpen twice, once in the camera and once in PS.

[blackwaterstudio]

These look pretty good, and the pose in the first is very nice. I wonder, did you sharpen these? Thy look oversharpened to my eye. You are going to need a very light hand with sharpening these images, like bare bushes or even worse.

Be especially careful not to sharpen twice, once in the camera and once in PS.
Camera is set to 0,0,0 and the settings in PS CS were 300, 1, 0 using USM.

[bfjr]

Did you say 300%? :huh Thats a bittttt to much. When I use USM (which is quite often) settings usually are:

70 - 125%
.5 - 2.5
0 - 5

You might try that, with the other suggestions already mentioned ?
Nice dog more then worth many more images :thumb

[davev]

Did you say 300%? :huh Thats a bittttt to much. When I use USM (which is quite often) settings usually are:

70 - 125%
.5 - 2.5
0 - 5

You might try that, with the other suggestions already mentioned ?
Nice dog more then worth many more images :thumb
I don't want to hijack the thread, but I think every lens and camera combo
will have a different set of useful numbers for USM.
I (lately) have been going 200-250, 1.0, 0 before resizing. Then after I
resize for the web I use 100, 0.3, 0. I do this mostly with my sigma lens, and
only when I don't crop. If I crop I normally need to do some fine tuning.

But, in this case, I do think you may have been a bit heavy handed sharpening
these pics. Another way of doing it is to try 125, 0.5, 0. and if you think it
needs more, run it again with the same settings. At times, and with "better"
lenses, (my 70-200L f4) this worked best.

dave.

[blackwaterstudio]

I had read somehwere that with the 20D, 300, .5-1, 0 should be the sweet spot for it. So I've always went with that.

[rutt]

Not only every camera and every lens, but also every subject. Sometime I'll have a human subject and some trees and stuff in the background. The humans need sharpening, but it's so bad for the background! Unfortunately, there is no set formula, although with experience you can guess what is going to need more and what needs less.

Here is what I do to get it right. First turn up amount to a huge number, say 500. Turn radius high as well, say 3. Then turn up threshold until you see the noise stop. I find this is often a value over 10 under 30. With 0 you will sharpen a lot of stuff your really don't want to and it will be bad. Ok, now turn down radius until you aren't losing any detail, I mean the halos aren't obscuring the actual image. This will often be somewhere between .5 and 3. It really depends. Lastly, turn down the amount until it actually doesn't look oversharpened. Zoom in on something important (face, eye) to about 100% and turn preview on and off. You should not see the halos, but it should look sharper with USM on than off.

That's USM 101. I'm working up to a more advanced post on sharpening, but try my advice and see how your dog looks.

[bfjr]

Not only every camera and every lens, but also every subject. Sometime I'll have a human subject and some trees and stuff in the background. The humans need sharpening, but it's so bad for the background! Unfortunately, there is no set formula, although with experience you can guess what is going to need more and what needs less.

Here is what I do to get it right. First turn up amount to a huge number, say 500. Turn radius high as well, say 3. Then turn up threshold until you see the noise stop. I find this is often a value over 10 under 30. With 0 you will sharpen a lot of stuff your really don't want to and it will be bad. Ok, now turn down radius until you aren't losing any detail, I mean the halos aren't obscuring the actual image. This will often be somewhere between .5 and 3. It really depends. Lastly, turn down the amount until it actually doesn't look oversharpened. Zoom in on something important (face, eye) to about 100% and turn preview on and off. You should not see the halos, but it should look sharper with USM on than off.

That's USM 101. I'm working up to a more advanced post on sharpening, but try my advice and see how your dog looks.

Excellent Thanks will give that a try :thumb