It's my pleasure Patch. Here is the one you did nothing to improve. What makes these a difficult task is that the focus on most shots are soft. With noise reduction software such as Noiseware you can shoot at higher ISO numbers and therefore "freeze" the action. I hope you enjoy the results.

Before:


After:

Wow what an improvement
Saved and loading photo paper now
*Wonders how much spare time you have available cos I have lot`s of photo`s which could do with that kind of magic to fix them*

What a great bit of kit, going to start googling for anything similar which might be compatible with my software - want, need, asap

Patch, www.imagenomic.com makes a stand alone version of Noiseware 4.0 that needs no other software and still remains $50. Don't know how that translates to your currency but that's a cheap fix for a lot of your noise problems.

Noiseware is a high-performance noise suppression software tool designed to decrease or eliminate noise from digital photo or scanned images.

Unlike most image processing software techniques that utilize simple methods (such as median filters) to treat digital noise in images, Noiseware features a sophisticated yet fast noise filtering algorithm.

Using the adaptive noise profile capability and sharpening function, Noiseware greatly reduces the visible noise while keeping the details in the images.

You are a star, thank you
I have downloaded the freebie basic version to try out til I have the pennies for the proper version, [ it will have to wait til I`ve paid a slightly scary vet bill first ], so anyway I have done a bit of initial default setting noise reduction with the freeware version for now and what a difference ! These are the re-done one`s with the same cropping but less messing around with lightening so they are a bit darker than the first versions I posted, and I have reduced their size as well as I realised I don`t need them to be 30inch print size anyway I think the more compact sizing gives better clarity now and the 6x4 reprints I did this evening are way better than the first batch, definitely enough improvement to be well worth me getting the proper paid for version asap

Ideally of course I would like to take photo`s correctly enough not to need any editing at all other than cropping but I`m a long way from achieving that yet

Anyhoo, there are the redone versions which I`m much happier with than the previous versions and I`m sending you the uncropped originals as soon as they have finished uploading cos you are far more savvy with the software and will be able to get the colours better too going by the one`s you have so kindly already done

I will pass on the lovely compliment

We have a SWD girlie who started recently now that she is old enough, she has been doing very well at Breed shows as has her brother, I will try to take some pics of her at training but don`t expect too much as she is black and what I`ve tried taking of her so far have all come out as black mop like blurs, I am useless at getting decent pics of all black dogs

Patch you have highlighted one of the major problems with compact cameras. You just can't get the same results in taking certain photos as a DSLR camera. They are very limited in their use, and when you find the need to improve in this type of photography there is only one way to go and that is get a proper DSLR. I had the same barrier with my first P/S camera. They are great for views and people type shots but not for what you are trying to achieve.

Bazza

You would get better results with a quality compact but the cost of one of those would best part buy you a DSLR and certainly a second hand one.

I agree with both Bazza & Snapper - you will always be limited by the capability of your camera now matter what PP work you do after.

It will be a while before I can afford one but saving has commenced

I did`nt think I would ever consider one as I never thought I would be able to justify it to myself, I did`nt know if I would have enough aptitude for photography but now I feel that whether I`m any good in the future or not I want to try at least, and am enjoying it far more than I would have believed I can`t explain it but I can `feel` the photo`s I want to capture so until I can afford the sort of kit to enable that I will keep trying to get the best I can out of what I`ve got at the mo then at least I will hopefully have some level of technical skill to make good use of a dSLR, I am getting the vision/imagination of what I`m after now so I just need the right kit to try to capture it

Until then, please bear with me while I keep trying my best with a compact, I need an awful lot more advice and help for a good while yet

Patch

Its the frustration in not being able to achieve the "perfect" picture which makes photography interesting. No matter at what skill level or what equipment used as soon as you loose that urge to do better is when its time to take up another hobby. The hardest challange is the challange you have against yourself to improve in what you do.

Like anything as the saying goes - the more you learn about a subject the more there is to learn.

You will be hard pressed to find anyone to admit how many "bad" photos they take to get a good one, except in my case and they are all crap, sorry mean rubbish

Bazza