I haven’t done a Before and After in a while, so here is one of sweet Baxter by the window.

This image is straight out of the camera, I was shooting in RAW format with a Canon 5D MKII and 24-70 f2.8 lens.

Settings were f3.5, Shutter 1/200, ISO 800 at focal length 57mm.

I opened it in Adobe Camera Raw for some basic adjustments. You can see the sliders on the right, I added a little bit of warmth and recovered some blown highlights on the shoulder closest to the window. Then I just added a little clarity, a little vibrance, etc.

Usually dogs don’t require a lot of touch up. Leash removal and the occasional telephone pole or sign from the background are my major photoshop projects. But dogs get a little eye goop just like the rest of us. Here I just used the clone stamp in Photoshop to remove it. Sometimes I use the patch tool, but its really editor’s choice.

I added a layers adjustment layer, and a curves adjustment layer to give it a little “oomph.” Shooting in RAW, most images need just a little touch of adjustment most of the time.

When I was just starting out, I would drool over other photographer’s photos, admiring their shooting and what I assumed was their retouching skills. I thought they must have formulated some awesome actions to get their photos to look so fabulous. In reality they aren’t. They are getting it right in camera. I admit I do still drool over other’s work sometimes, but I know it’s their skill in shooting, not their equipment or their computer programs, that are producing those results.