Varg - my youngest hound

Taken originally for the texture of the fur but was not happy with part of the head being out of focus - what do others think? When taking a portrait of people or animals is it ok to focus on one detail and allow others to be either cropped or out of focus?

Varg taken with K7, Sigma 105mm macro, 1/180 @ f5.6, ISO 200, fill flash used although taken outside conditions very overcast.

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Thordell/Varg%20Elkhound/Varg-myyoungesthound.jpg[/IMG]

Very nice portrait - like the tight crop.
But it looks like the focus is not on the eye, where it should have been, but closer to the nose.

Lovely photo I don't think it's a problem to have parts of the head out of focus as long as the "attention-getter" (usually the closest eye) is in focus.

Its a great portrait and a lovely dog. But......I have the impression it is a bit over sharpened.

Agreed.

G

I agree as well, looked ok in Lightroom may be it's been Photobucketed - will take another look and see what I did use.

Opps! yes I used 85 I think, which I would not usualy use on an animal or flower but only on a building. So I did not look what I was doing.

What sort of range do people consider the norm for different types of shot and do you sharpen more for printing than for the screen?

OK back to the drawing board.

Lovely looking dog.

Hi Jackie,
If you use the latest version of Lightroom (2.5) you have the ability of capture sharpening on import or during Develop.

When you export in LR, you have the options Print and Web sharpening.

Those tools are added with the shipping of LR.2.0.
The sharpening engine comes from Pixel Genius, the makers of Photokit sharpener. Arguably one of the best sharpening tools on the market.

All the resizing can be done within LR.

Hope this helps.

Will bear that in mind when I have a bit of cash to spare.

Have had another go, still in PS this time I have sharpened at 50 - do you think it is any better>

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Thordell/Varg%20Elkhound/Vargsofter.jpg[/IMG]

It looks better. As a tip....For this kind of fine detail (like fur) I usually take an other approach on sharpening.
This is what I do:

Copy layer.( Ctrl-J)
Filter----->Other------->High pass.
Pixels amount between 3,5 and 7(depending on file size)----->OK
Change blend mode of layer to soft light at approximately 50% or less.
Add mask and paint back the regions you don't want to sharpen.
Use black as FG colour to paint back, and white as BG colour to undo.
Press X for switching.
This is a great and very controlled way of local sharpening.

Hope this helps,

Thanks Martin for your help and advice, will give it a try next time I need a delicate finish.

Think I will print the two efforts out to see what I get as I am sometimes confused as to how much sharpening I need to apply, there are times even with RAW that it seems un-necessary.

The new one is much more natural-looking.

G