A few of you have noticed that I've been on a hiatus from Dgrin. There are lots of reasons, but one of the main reasons I haven't felt a lot of inspiration for photos lately is as follows...

About a month ago now, my best friend walked out of my life. Kobe was a mutt's mutt. Part shephard, part chocolate lab, part husky, and about every shade of brown on the chart. He came to live with me as a direct result of the September 11th tragedy. His previous owner lived about 2 blocks north of the trade centers, and was displaced for quite a few weeks. In that time, she re-evaluated, and decided that Kobe would have a better life somewhere less urban. Through a friend of a friend, Vanessa got in touch with me and brought Kobe over for a visit. I fell in love instantly, and Kobe came back the very next day for good. He was a tough nut at first, major seperation anxiety, fear of large men (would attack them if they came to the door), but beneath the problems, he was the smartest dog I had ever met. I was lucky enough to have a relaxed school schedule that year, and we worked very hard together. I learned more than he did about patience, but I was rewarded with a much calmer and very obedient companion.

This year also happened to be a personally challenging one, in which I ended a five year relationship (quite badly), and struggled with my return to academia. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time with Kobe. We hiked, biked, went to town, walked though campus, and played (a lot) together. In the past three years, he became a fixture in my life, and at times, I'm sure I took him for granted as he himself became better adjusted and more independant at our house. We live well back from a main road with nothing but acres of woods around us. Kobe had gotten to the point where it was not uncommon for him to take off for a few hours at a time into the woods. He knew all the trails, and stayed in a certain area. If I got impatient and wanted him home, I could always hop on my motorcycle and find him on the trails easily. Unfortunately, on Oct 7, that wasn't the case. It was unseasonably warm, so when he wasn't home by dark, I didn't get too worried, and just went out to get him - silly guy, it getting dark earlier and all... That night passed, and I spent most of it either in my truck or on my bike in the woods. 3 of my housemates hiked and called with no results. We searched, made phone calls, made signs, and shed quite a few tears.

The worst part is not knowing what happened to him. He was a tough dog, but there are so many terrible scenarios I can think of. We can only hope that he is in some good place, whether its with another family, joined up with pack of coyotes, or even a more abstract place. I take what consolation I can from the fact that I gave him a good home and a little bit of freedom, but it also kills me that the freedom (which was always controversial with some people) was the reason i lost him.

And now, to photography... I took more than enough photos of Kobe, but almost none of them really captured the way he could look at you in an almost human way. It was creepy, we swore that sometimes he would just say something like a human! One photo comes close, and is in the snow, his favorite season. I've worked this photo to death in PS, but I feel like it can get better. What better place to ask for help than here? I'd particularly like to fix the blown out snow in the background. All suggestions and help are welcome.



orginal is here if you wanna take the liberty:
http://doctorit.smugmug.com/photos/10269107-O.jpg

whew, thanks.

I took a crack at it. I am sorry if it isn't fantastic, but I am not a photoshop guru.

I hope your friend turns up well and missing you.

I had a beautiful grayhound that I was incredibly attached to. The hardest day of my life was the day his health problem was too much for him to bare and we had to end his misery.

PS... I made the changes to the original and saved it if you want it.

Erik,

Sorry to hear the news. Dogs are pretty cool and to loose one is heart-breaking.

Ian

I had the same thing with a dog named Beau he was a stray one day gone never knew .The hurt never goes away you just adj. to it and 3 dogs later in life I still think of Beau and that's how it makes me feel 35 years later.You just hope someone gives him a good home try not to think of the others things that might have happened.

Originally Posted by GREAPER I took a crack at it. I am sorry if it isn't fantastic, but I am not a photoshop guru. I hope your friend turns up well and missing you. I had a beautiful grayhound that I was incredibly attached to. The hardest day of my life was the day his health problem was too much for him to bare and we had to end his misery.

I think you did a great job replacing the blown out snowy highlights and I, for one, would like to know your secret. Replacing blownout highlights can be a very difficlut task and I think you did a very nice job, Greaper. So - HOW DID YOU DO IT?

I had a four legged best friend for about 6 years. He died in my arms. He was a better person than most two legged people you will meet.
I am very sorry to hear about your loss.

Here is the way I see him.

Originally Posted by pathfinder I think you did a great job replacing the blown out snowy highlights and I, for one, would like to know your secret. Replacing blownout highlights can be a very difficlut task and I think you did a very nice job, Greaper. So - HOW DID YOU DO IT?

At first I figured there is no way to get the detail back, because all of the pixels are clipped white and there is no detail to bring out. I though about it for a few minutes and decided that if there is no detail to bring out, then I would just have to get detail somewhere else.

I opened the original file, and made 2 duplicate layers. I plan to work on the 2 duplicates and leave the original layer alone so that I can always see what I started with.

I reduced the opacity of the top layer to about 20 percent so that I could see through it pretty easy.

Then I selected the center layer. I used the move tool to move the center layer to a sopt where a blown out area in the top layer was right above a detailed area in the middle layer.





I switched back to the top layer and increased the opacity back to 100 percent.

I used the eraser brush with a nice soft edge to erase the blown out area I was working on to let the detail in the layer below show through.



I then merged the top layer down so that I had the original layer and one "corrected layer".

I repeated this process working on one area at a time until I had most of the blown out areas "adjusted"



I then used the clone tool to eliminate any repeated paterns cause by using the same patch of snow in multiple places and to clean up any shadows that looked "wrong"

Thats all I did.

Eric,
I'm so sorry about your dog. I pray that, like Lassie, he'll come home. It's so hard to lose a friend. Dogs become members of the family and are like your children. I love my dogs like children. My dog, Red, is an outdoor dog too. He lives for the hunt. He would go crazy if he were fenced in. I worry about him all the time. We got him from a friend who couldn't keep him and she got him from an animal shelter. That always worries me. I wonder if he had gotten lost and ended up in that shelter. I keep a tag on him with our phone number, but I worry that he'll get into some sort of trouble. I hope your dog went home with some nice people and is being loved. Your story made me cry It's good to have you back at dGrin. We did miss you. I'll keep praying that your dog is returned to you.
Cheers.

Erik,

I can't help you with the photo any better than everyone already has but my heart goes out to you on your loss of Kobe. If there is any special meaning for a prayer coming out of the holy city of Jerusalem, then you & Kobe have got mine.

Crossing my fingers he'll be back somehow.

i'm holding a good thought for you.

thanks for sharing with us your story and pic - that's a good thing.

I have 2 dogs at my feet as I read this story. I cannot imagine what you are going through (As I prepare to try to find my stowed winter boots, strap them on and take them for a walk in the seasons first 4" of slushy, frozen snow.)

And I wouldn't trade it for anything.

All the best. Fingers crossed that he comes back home. If he doesn't, go get yourself a pup. It will be one of the greatest days of your life.

Doug

Thanks everyone for the kind words (from all over the world, no less )!

Greaper - that's a great job! I'm gonna try it on my own, as this is something I really want practice in... and will need more as the snow is only beginning here!

Wow, I really hope this story has a happy ending, Erik. What a moving story you wrote, it's a wonderful tribute to your pal and companion.

Your photograph is terrific and so's Greaper's fix. Great work. And a fine way to honor Kobe. Good luck, man.

I read, but could not put into words, the feelings I felt, I have been thinking of the post frequently since reading it. The generosity of the replys can only be a good thing towards a healing. My first dog died in my arms and is irreplaceable, the replacements are just different. Kind of like a first girlfriend. You are lucky to have the photos to remember him by.

Good luck with going back to education

Originally Posted by Stan I read, but could not put into words, the feelings I felt, I have been thinking of the post frequently since reading it.

Same here, been thinking about it all weekend, and brought it up to a few people as well. I've been hanging out with our dogs all afternoon, just loungin' around and enjoying the "pack" behavior they love so much. They both got extra special attention this weekend because of this story.

All the best...

Doug

I have neer experienced what you are going through, but I have been separated from mine for the last almost two years. I have an almost 3 year old Chesapeake Bay Retriever whom I had to send to live with my parents. This was due to the fact that I got sent to germany expecting to be sent here to Iraq right away only to not b sent until Feb of this year. I cant wait for the day when i get back and I can bring him over to be with me. I can only imagine how I would feel if I lost him. That was a great story you told and a great picture as well.

More thanks everyone, really - you're all great!

I was working and sorting and digging through my archives this weekend when I found the original of this photo, and I remembered why I did the bw conversion. It was before I was shooting RAW, and I had the wrong WB, so the original was totally off. And, now I also see why I blew out the details in the snow, the whole photo is a little dark.

So here's my new question, who knows a good trick for fixing WB without having a RAW file? I think this would make another neat tutorial!

Originally Posted by DoctorIt More thanks everyone, really - you're all great! I was working and sorting and digging through my archives this weekend when I found the original of this photo, and I remembered why I did the bw conversion. It was before I was shooting RAW, and I had the wrong WB, so the original was totally off. And, now I also see why I blew out the details in the snow, the whole photo is a little dark. So here's my new question, who knows a good trick for fixing WB without having a RAW file? I think this would make another neat tutorial!

Here's my simple fix for the colour cast.

1. Sample any area that has the colour cast (in this case the snow). I sampled about half way between the shadow of his nose and the shadow bottom right.
2. Create a new layer and fill it with the sampled colour
3. Change the blending mode to Color
4. Invert the colour (Ctrl-I)
5. Lower the opacity to suit (39% here)
5. Added a levels adjustment layer to boost the contrast a bit.

Here's what it looks like:



I feel terribly for you as I have gone through my own similar loss. The day after I graduated from high school I bought my first car and my first dog. She was a 8 week year old German shepard pup. We lived in the country on a large lake property and she roamed freely on the wooded property with our other 2 dogs. Early the following spring she just disappeared. To this day I don't know what happened to her. That was 28 years ago.

All I know is that our pets touch our lives in ways we can hardly imagine. They are as much a part of our families as our children. I hope your's comes back, because I know what the ache feels like.

Sincerely,
Brad

Eric I'm so sorry to hear about Kobe... I'm not that far from you and will keep my eyes open for him. Check all the local pounds around.. but then... I'm sure you have. I'll be thinking of you and Kobe. I know what you are going through.. Ive been through it and it hurts like hell.
Lynn