Editing photos, am I on the right track?

[faustus]

I got a DSLR for Christmas and I'm still learning how to use it, but I'm also trying to figure out how to properly edit photos using Lightroom. I went to an agility trial recently and got a couple neat shots, but the bad lighting drained the photos a bit. Here's my first attempt at navigating away from just clicking autotone:


And the before image for comparison:


Anything you can see that I'm doing wrong/right? Basically any critique/criticism would be greatly appreciated! Also any tips for photographing fast moving dogs in bad lighting where flash isn't allowed would also be very much appreciated

[AndrewF]

You're on the right track. Your edits have definately enhanced the photo.

As you play with lightroom, try working with the individual colours; in this case, starting with your edited photo, try increasing the saturation just a bit in the yellow and red (moreso, the yellow) channels to help bring out the dog. In the blue channel, try reducing the saturation a bit and reducing the brightness.

As a general rule, I always adjust contrast before I play with vibrancy and saturation because contrast always impacts vibrancy and saturation.

The main thing is once you've got a good result, play around with the features you might not typically use and see what they do. You can always undo a change and you'll learn what you like and what you're less keen on as you go.