August- September Assignment Calendar Photos

[F, Calla & Luca]

Back by popular demand we are doing calendar photos this month. This should give us plenty of time to get photos, critique them,  and in general try to help each other in this tough competition : ) I am copying some of Adina's past guidelines so you will have an idea of what's acceptable, assuming they will remain the same. I will also track down some of the back and forth we had about what's she looking for as far as content when I get a chance. Please only post photos that meet the minimal guidelines. We should all try to be honest in our comments. Sometimes I think we try to be nice , always a good thing, but avoid helpful criticism , which can also be a good thing. In this instance helpful criticism is to be encouraged I think.

Update: Adina's Guidelines

Update: 2011 Calendar Submission announcement

Update:  This assignment is going to continue for the month of September

For those of you asking about cameras and editing, this was taken with my Nikon D90, and I did barely any editing. See, no snow on Calla's nose

The original:

My submission, later cropped a bit more for the 2011 labradoodle calendar cover:

 

Update: Here are some more discussions that may give you more ideas of what Adina prefers. You have to wade through them.

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***** If you crop, and you should only do this judiciously, the photos need a MINIMUM of 1800 x 2300 pixels when Adina submits them. It's better to leave a margin for error, Adina can fiddle with the size if she loves your picture and needs to crop a little.

[Mike, Cedar and Reno]

Am I correct in understanding that the ratio should be 17:22(reduce 85/110) -- height to width -- for the calendar & that everything else will be cropped? 

 

[Linda and "Toby"]

Hrm..... you got me there. All I know is that calendar pages are 8.5" height x 11" length - landscape orientation. Anything outside of that dimension will need to be cropped out.

[Mike, Cedar and Reno]

The way I size my pictures for print is to create a ratio in the Marquee tool (e.g. 3:4, 4:5, 5:7, etc.) and then put the "marching ant" (aka dotted line) marquee around the portion of the photo I want to print.  By setting the ratio ahead of time, the rectangle adjusts exactly to the correct proportions.  I then size it to the appropriate dimension(8x10 inches for example) at 300 dpi.  In some cases, this means downsizing and sometimes the opposite depending on the original size of the photo.  So for calendar pages, you would set the ratio on the marquee tool to 17:22 & drag it onto the portion of the orignal photo that you want to print & then crop.  After having done this, size the photo to correct dpi(which I assume is 300 dpi although 240 dpi is also used by some places).  I'm assuming either photoshop or photoshop elements, but I think other editing programs may work similarly.

[Ann Kendig]

Aperture 3 lets you lock you crop ratio.  I just set it on 8.5 x11 and check after the crop to make sure the pixel size shown in the metadata is 2400x1800 or more.  Mike

[F, Calla & Luca]

I take it this is all Canon-speak?

[Ann Kendig]

Aperture 3 is Apple speak.  The software we use to edit photos.  The rest was geek speak.  Mike

[F, Calla & Luca]

EEK.

[Linda and "Toby"]

Oops! I got the dimension wrong [so I'll erase my previous illustration example].

[F, Calla & Luca]

Golly gee whiz, and to think I passed calculus at one time. It is true I didn't, and still don't know, what it meant. Oh, this is geometry, duh. But the simplest thing is take the very higher resolution you can, preferably in landscape mode, and crop the least you can. Adina can easily crop more of the unimportant background. She will, perhaps, use portrait orientations in the multiple pictures per page calendar but I wouldn't aim for that.

[Camilla and Darwin]

Alright, this is my last submitted option until I can get out for some better photos. I found a leaves photo where Darwin's eyes are showing. This is after a professional grooming so he's a bit more froo froo.

 

[F, Calla & Luca]

Very good, much better. I like seeing Darwin's face and he looks happy. Also the leaves and all have nice warm colors.

[Sue]

Wow, NICE!!