Bella, Chillin....

[AndyB1975]

Couple of quick questions on this picture of my beautiful Black Labrador chilling in the garden.

Firstly, does the crop work? I thought I would cut out the paws but not sure If I should go even closer, especially for the back legs?

Secondly, this was shot at F4. In hindsight I should have gone to F8'ish and I can notice the drop off in focus towards her rear end. Does this distract from a nice picture??




Thanks in advance.

[FrankMi]

Hi Andy. For me, when showing the entire body, cutting off limbs is an uncomfortable view. I would include the limbs or go for a head and sholders portrait which I think would work very well here.

[Donald]

Agree with Frank. I think this one is a bit 'betwixt and between'; i.e. stuck in the middle between being two things.

[lightdrunk]

I'd like to see the whole dog.

[AndyB1975]

Thanks very much. Very useful comments as always, another step on this learning curve

When home from work I will have a play around and see how the full dog view looks. I tried to get a crop for a head and shoulders picture, but her back is in view very close to her chin and I just couldn't make it look right.

[rpcrowe]

Absolutely beautiful Labrador. Her glossy coat is wonderful...

Perhaps a lower angle would help isolate her lovely head from her back and facilitate a head and shoulders crop...

I am very cognizent regarding shooting dogs from standing position rather than crouching down for a better angle since my arthritis prevents me from doing a lot of bending these days. In lieu of squating down, I will often shoot from a longer distance with a longer focal length lens. This tends to mitigate the angle at which I am shooting...

When I shoot portraits of my dogs in my house, I like to place them on a elevated platform (table or chair) and sit down on a rolling office chair so I can manipulate my position...

[AndyB1975]

Thanks Richard. This was taken from a seated position if I remember correctly. Being 10 months old she doesn't stay still for very long and is rather excitable (to say the least!) so I have to get a picture wherever and however I can. If I squat down or lay on the floor with the camera she takes her chances and just wants to eat the camera (typical Lab) or lick the lens. Maybe as she gets a little older and calms down I will be able to compose the shots a bit better.

She looks like butter wouldn't melt in this picture, but the little bit of mud on her nose tells a different story. One of her digging up the flowers I had lovingly planted that morning!

Her glossy coat is beautiful, but being black and shiny does makes it very hard to get a well exposed clear picture.