Critique First attempt at Pet Portraiture. Any tips?

jpgreenwood

jpgreenwood

Messages
1,688
Name
jason
Edit My Images
Yes
Our own 4 month old Cockerpoo called Frank, and the local park. Nightmare getting him to keep still and we havent really let him off the lead yet so that was a scary shoot. I left ISO on auto so will probably run them through Denoize later. Comments and tips very welcome.
_JAY3276 by jason greenwood, on Flickr
_JAY3269 by jason greenwood, on Flickr
_JAY3262 by jason greenwood, on Flickr
_JAY3249 by jason greenwood, on Flickr
_JAY3242 by jason greenwood, on Flickr
_JAY3255 by jason greenwood, on Flickr
_JAY3317 by jason greenwood, on Flickr
 
Some fantastic shots there.
Would like to see some at 200mm
f2.8 with a dreamy bokeh but I understand you not wanting to get too far away. :)
 
He looks fantastic. Not photography related but at the age you are his world, use that fact to help build his recall.
 
Crikey, stays still longer than my 1yr old bulldog, he'd never sit still like that, enjoy he looks a smasher and great shots.
 
Hi Jason, Very nice set of pictures overall.

As some constructive critique,

1. you have positioned him too far on the other side of the bridge and chopped his legs off - lol
You have nice leading lines to him however he's almost lost in the pic - a bit more compression from longer lens will have helped, a tighter crop losing the right side may help too.
2. crop some of the tree on the right side - he is also a looking a little flat & dull (editing) - very good position of dog..
3. great positioning, needed the background more oof, (tree) again looking a little flat & dull (editing)
4. again excellent positioning, needed the background more oof as he has 'antlers', also looking a little flat & dull (editing)
5. lovely colour of dog & glossy coat, just cropped a little tight near his feet - picture is however lovely... works very well with the leaves.. I like this a lot & just would have just been nice to see at least one eye.. lol
6. best foreground, needed the background more oof as he has tree sticking out editing is very close,
7. great timing, composure, just needs a little more punch.
 
Thanks for the detailed C&C Pete. I found it really difficult to bring much detail out of Frank as he is so black. Its almost impossible to see his eyes and now we're in lockdown, i dont know how we're going to get him groomed. Hes so active i wouldnt dare go near him with scissors. As to getting more detail out of Frank, how would you go about this?
 
Jason, regarding the editing take another look at your pictures - he is almost brown in some of them - I think going a - 3rd to 2/3rds may help as you are probably exposing for the whole picture & not the subject.

Try this article.

www.learnpetphotography.com

10 Essential Tips for Beautiful Black Dogs

You'll be capturing gorgeous shots of black dogs in no time with these ten handy tips, focusing on lighting, choosing backgrounds and dealing with colour casts.
www.learnpetphotography.com www.learnpetphotography.com

Some good advice there in that link
You are at the 90% stage - as in if you just soften the background a little more by shooting at 200 (or beyond LOL), watch your exposure, get your editing more precise (practise lol) & then look into remote flash (s)...
Your basic eye and setup of the picture is pretty good, you have taken care to get the picture you want, Now all you need to do is polish ... ha ha ha..

Black dogs are not easy.
 
jpgreenwood said:
Thanks for the detailed C&C Pete. I found it really difficult to bring much detail out of Frank as he is so black. Its almost impossible to see his eyes and now we're in lockdown, i dont know how we're going to get him groomed. Hes so active i wouldnt dare go near him with scissors. As to getting more detail out of Frank, how would you go about this?
Click to expand...
Cut his hair around the eyes yourself - with 2 of you.... just needs a trim..
 
For me the st one is best but the rest are all OOF, with shutter speeds in the range of 1/125-1/160 I would say they are too slow.
 
Graham said:
For me the st one is best but the rest are all OOF, with shutter speeds in the range of 1/125-1/160 I would say they are too slow.
Click to expand...
The dog is stationary, and the one where he is running is at 1/4000 so don't see how the shutter speed can be too slow.
The focus on most of them is on the chest rather than the eye, so nothing to do with shutter speed.
 
Last edited:
My gut feel is the lens need BF adjustment.. I used to have the same lens and it was a fair way out.
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
The dog is stationary, and the one where he is running is at 1/4000 so don't see how the shutter speed can be too slow.
The focus on most of them is on the chest rather than the eye, so nothing to do with shutter speed.
Click to expand...
Tbh i didn't look at the ss on all of them so my error. Nonetheless, still oof
 
“Comments and tips very welcome”

Most important tip . . . Get a different coloured dog !

Sorry to be frivolous, I had a black labrador, so difficult to photograph.
At least Frank has a nice white patch which helps.

Good attempts, don’t feel you have to position him central, remember the ‘rule of thirds’
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top