Foxy

After a great week of 50% sun & rain in autumnal England I was glad to get back to the late summer heat and sun of the south of France!
However, the new lush green landscapes were like a breath of fresh air after our arid grass-free summer environment.
I was going to show Stonehenge but unfortunately I managed to mislay it! So its now for another time. For now, I thought it might be interesting to show my sisters Foxy, her popular teacup Chihuahua! She's just a year old but already rules my sisters household.
Her favorite pastime is fighting with the Sis's new kitten, and yapping safely behind the glass door in the evenings, at visiting Foxes, Badgers and Deer to my sisters woodland surrounded garden in Hampshire.

For the portrait, I simply put Foxy onto my sisters garden table and shot her in Raw from below, in the morning sun.
The backdrop is just her cream painted house-wall.
In the before image you can see, she has already been brightened up with the CS5 HDR filter I spoke about last time.
I also brightened up the eyes and added a cloned sparkle from one eye to the other darker eye. This helps bring dark-eyed dogs faces to life.
Its a trick all the best pro-animal photographers use!
Also getting down to the dogs eye-level and removing all collars and leashes, as these can make an animal look imprisoned and sad.

I used Textures from the first Flypaper Box Set One and the new Summer Painterly.

Necropolis - Overlay @ 27%
- brushed away from dog, desaturated to a gold colour
Raw Linen - Soft Light @ 100%
Iorek Ice - Soft Light @ 20%
Pans Sky - Overlay @ 100% brushed away from dog and table top.
Pans Sky - Soft Light @ 73% brushed away from dog, desaturated to B/W - to tone down the bright colours and give body to the sky.

Summer Painterly Pack

36 large textures for only $40

Flypaper Triple Combo Deal
$100 for Tex Box One and Two and the Fly Edges

Combo Pack Offer

Only $65 for Tex Box One and  Tex Box Two

Fly Edges Pack

Only $40

See all our packs and deals on one Page

jetty shadows

After a bit of an Epiphany the other day about my last blog posting,
I decided to work on a cleaned up idealized version.
Purists might blanch, (and probably shouldn't be here anyway!) but I've merged two images together and removed the cluttering couple!
The council bin has also gone by simply cloning out, and thankfully the little guy was being held back by the tiny dog and thus was in a few shots, so I was able to use him and the original background with the 'Michelin Tyre' looking lady which I liked!

I referred to the recipe from before (thanks self!) but then thought,
Why Not? Can I add just one more without the whole thing sinking like an over-rich chocolate soufflé ? - Judge for yourselves!
Its Caramel soft, which I'd first desaturated, as the colors were already rich enough.
Here is the full revised recipe:

Orient Express ~ Opacity ~ Soft Light @ 53%
Colosseum Sienna (desaturated) ~ Opacity ~ Overlay @ 43%
Raw Linen ~ Opacity ~ Soft Light @ 100%
Caramel soft (desaturated) ~ Opacity ~ Soft Light @ 43%
Base image (color ramped up in curves) ~ Opacity ~ Soft Light @ 31%