A happy dog - I need some exposure C&C

[Chris_B]

I'm trying out my 'new to me' D2H and figured that the best use of its machine-gun-like shutter speed and superior focusing ability was to practice on my 9 year old Labrador. Yes, that is what a 9 year old dog looks like. She sleeps longer but still runs about as fast as a 1 year old.

The picture isn't anything fabulous tecnically but I wanted to ask for some exposure advice. It was very bright out this afternoon and with here white/yellow coat, it makes for a tough exposure. If you can expose this correctly, I figure that you are doing pretty good. She will be my torture test as I try to improve my technique.

In this shot, I minimized the blown highlights ok but the overall shot is pretty dark, especially compared to actual conditions. My strategy to date is to take some test shotsand then dial in ev to avoid blinkies or get the histogram to where I feel it should be. Is there a way to expose it better or is this just the compromise we make when shooting with the current DSLRs?

Any PP advice in addition to the exposure help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Chris

f/4, 1/1600, ISO 200, center-weight, ev - 0.3

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View attachment 88129

 

[dmwphoto]

Chris
This is a great shot!
I ran it through Lightroom real quick and got this

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[Chris_B]

What did you do Dave - levels/brightness?

 

[dmwphoto]

I increased the exposure by .6 or so and used the fill light adjustment of Lightroom to brighten the subject and used a vibrance adjustment.

 

[Chris_B]

I got sort of close to that with Aperture but I didn't want to wash out the contrast. Does Lightroom's fill light adjustment may provide more flexibility? Are you starting to use Lightroom in addition to Aperture?

 

[dmwphoto]

Yes I use lightroom some as I am trying to see what the features and UI are as compared to aperture. The fill light feature is perfect for an image like this one.
I am still more satisfied with Aperture but Lightroom is really quite similar.

 

[Gale]

Super ahot. Nice PUP

Super fix Dave:>))

 

[Chris_B]

Thank Gale and Dave. Do you guys think I got the exposure about right in the camera? When I see a histogram that far to the left, I usually wonder if I am underexposing too much. Still, in this case any less -ev would blow out the fur.

 

[dmwphoto]

Chris
I believe if you had set +0.3 ev it would have been perfect