Some of my dogs.

[CaveDweller]

It may sound stupid but it's not as easy as I thought and this is my first time I've actually tried to put some effort into taking pictures of the dogs. Somehow what I had in my head, didn't come out in my shots. to me they just look like average snaps, or is it me just expecting too much with only being a novice?

I think the hardest thing I found when the two dogs were together is composition. I'm guessing I just have to keep at it and study others work to try and improve my own.

I'm pretty pleased with them since they are not a complete flop, but I did aim to go out and get great images, not just Ok. Also there was a lot going on around, so distractions were at the max.

Anyone have any advice to help me improve? Also instead of just tweaking the curves in each shot, are there any other editing techniques that could help these images "pop"

The light wasn't brilliant at the time so I got my flash out and diffuser to about 45degrees in front of them


Thanks in advance, be as harsh as you like lol

IMG_4360-2 by Peanut651, on Flickr

OOF faces....oh great
IMG_4347 by Peanut651, on Flickr

IMG_4342-2 by Peanut651, on Flickr

 

[Yv]

You have the basics, you are down at their eye level for a start, focus is on the eyes and the exposure isn't bad, though a tweak up on exposure generally and then pulling back the highlights or whites back a tad will also help, but don't beat yourself up, they may not meet your expectations yet but they aren't bad either.
So, what comes next is really practice, practice and more practice. They are dogs and can't necessarily understand your damands photographically - so it is almost guaranteed they will never look at the camera at the same time, they will be distracted by something out of frame and they will move just as you press the shutter - all part of the fun of animal portraiture. With dogs [and indeed some cats] having treats or a favoured toy to hand can help hugely with persuasion, especially when you want eye contact with the lens [balancing a treat on lens hood has worked several times for me ]

Also, whilst stationary portraits are lovely, try some action shots too as dogs are generally active creatures and you will often capture more of their character while they are in motion. Again, doig this at their level usually works best... yes, wear old clothes

Most of all have fun and make sure the dogs do too

 

[CaveDweller]

You have the basics, you are down at their eye level for a start, focus is on the eyes and the exposure isn't bad, though a tweak up on exposure generally and then pulling back the highlights or whites back a tad will also help, but don't beat yourself up, they may not meet your expectations yet but they aren't bad either.
So, what comes next is really practice, practice and more practice. They are dogs and can't necessarily understand your damands photographically - so it is almost guaranteed they will never look at the camera at the same time, they will be distracted by something out of frame and they will move just as you press the shutter - all part of the fun of animal portraiture. With dogs [and indeed some cats] having treats or a favoured toy to hand can help hugely with persuasion, especially when you want eye contact with the lens [balancing a treat on lens hood has worked several times for me ]

Also, whilst stationary portraits are lovely, try some action shots too as dogs are generally active creatures and you will often capture more of their character while they are in motion. Again, doig this at their level usually works best... yes, wear old clothes

Most of all have fun and make sure the dogs do too

Cheers! They are well trained but there were so many distractions going on it was harder than I expected. They know all sorts of tricks, walking to heel, ect, and they keep their eyes on me at all times then...but at the camera? lol nope. Also had both kids with me and between them and the dogs I don't know who's worse

They're both working dogs so next time I get a chance I'll try and work and photograph them at the same time. That especially isn't going to be easy because I'm the only one in the family who can control them

 

[Cobra]

Yvonne's just about got it covered, but I will ad get your shutter speed up a bit, (1/250th +)
the EXIF say's 1/80th and at that speed they only have to twitch and your'll get motion blur.

#2 its only the right hand dog that's blurred.
I'd have said that was more a DoF issue making it soft, rather than being OoF.

Look at the arse end of the dog in #1,
its roughly where the face of #2 is, in #2.

It looks like you stepped back a bit in #3,
and its improved the DoF, both dogs are pretty much in focus.

Animals are never easy, but for a first try, that's pretty damned good

 

[CaveDweller]

Yvonne's just about got it covered, but I will ad get your shutter speed up a bit, (1/250th +)
the EXIF say's 1/80th and at that speed they only have to twitch and your'll get motion blur.

#2 its only the right hand dog that's blurred.
I'd have said that was more a DoF issue making it soft, rather than being OoF.

Look at the arse end of the dog in #1,
its roughly where the face of #2 is, in #2.

It looks like you stepped back a bit in #3,
and its improved the DoF, both dogs are pretty much in focus.

Animals are never easy, but for a first try, that's pretty damned good

Cheers. as for the shutter speed I kept it low hoping to keep mostly natural light in the image. When I had it set at 1/200 it was all from the flash. I could have upped my ISO but I wasn't too keen on that because of the 550D's poor noise performance. Although thiinking about it now I could have just reduced the noise in lightroom to have a higher shutter speed...DOH

I'll try better next time lol, need my practice.

 

[Skipraider]

The first is my favourite. I can't even get my dog to sit like that on it's own for a photo, never mind trying it with two!