EDIT THE SHOT
1
CHOOSE A FACE Develop an eye for the most interesting expressions. The dog should not look bored or intimidated. A dog will give you many faces, so the first step is to choose the best picture to start editing.
2
CLONE LOOSE FUR Use the Clone or Spot Healing tool to remove loose fur. This step can take a considerable amount of time depending on how much clutter there is on the fur. Be as meticulous as possible. The appearance of your picture greatly depends on your eye for detail in this step.
3
CANVAS CHECK Set the canvas colour in Photoshop to black to enable you to see the shades of grey in your picture.
4
USE CURVES As I overexposed the shot, I had to correct the exposure to my liking – the highlights on the fur as well as very dark areas. Reduce the exposure of the entire image and the highlights by using Curves. If needed, reduce the contrast if the fur of the dog has a wide contrast between the brightest and darkest spots.
5
BACKGROUND TWEAKS Sometimes you might find irregularities in the light on the background. Add a Tone Correction layer and brighten the image temporarily to reveal any flaws. Correct them using the Clone, Spot Healing or Dodge tool and then delete the Tone Correction layer after.
6
ADD SUBTLE EFFECTS I love to add a bit of a dreamy effect by adding Glamour Glow in the Nik Colour Effects app. Just add a very subtle effect if you want your image to look as natural as possible.
Right
BLACK ON BLACK
To achieve a pure black background when there wasn’t one straight out of the camera, Elke used the Dodge tool to darken it selectively