Calamity - more sheltie photos

[PhotoByTrace]

Took these over the weekend but only just had a chance tonight to download them. Just Calamity this time round... all taken at f/5.6 at 170mm with ISO 500 only shutter speed varied
1. 1/350s

2. 1/500s

3. 1/500s

4. 1/350s (should have increased the ISO at about this point)

5. 1/500s

[Mike Buckley]

I always enjoy your photos of your dogs and these are no exception.

[Donald]

I'm not sure whether this ..................

......... or this ..........

....... is the more wonderful image.

Probably the first one because we get a clearer view of the dog's eye. Brilliant stuff. The whole story is there. Dog. Ball. You don't need to know any more.

[tbob]

I love the pure joy in the facial expression. Anyone who has seen these dogs working or playing is hard pressed to deny there is conscious thought going on.

[travis4567]

Gorgeous dog..I own a beautiful Sheltie myself. Nice shots!!

[PhotoByTrace]

Thanks all! It certainly helped that I had an "assistant" along to throw the ball on the weekend. Normally I catapult the ball then grab the camera and usually the best I can get is photos as the dogs are returning to me; so head-on and lacking some of the fun action. On the weekend I found I could position myself better and the focus wasn't as much head-on which made my job easier and gave me some nice opportunities.

These were taken with an 18-200mm DX zoom; light, compact, versatile and reasonably sharp when not fully extended. However I am contemplating a full-frame camera which means also thinking about the lens with which to replace this one with at the moment... Full frame will have me "further" from the action; adding a teleconverter might be an option on a fast enough lens; but wow it adds up... Oh my

[PhotoByTrace]

I love the pure joy in the facial expression.

That right there is the reason I get so much pleasure from photographing these guys at the beach doing what they love so much

[rpcrowe]

I love all these great shots of that beautiful sheltie! However, I think that #4 is my favorite. Keep up the good work and keep posting!

[PRSearls]

Wonderful shots that capture Calamity's excitement and energy. We've had two Shelties and they are wonderful. They're both gone now but live on in our memories and hearts.

[Anne22]

Wonderful shots, wonderful dog ...

[djg05478]

Another great set. Your dog looks like he's soo much fun. I miss having a dog that is 'ball obsessed'. The clarity in your photos is fantastic...you can practically count the grains of sand.

Debbie

[PhotoByTrace]

Thanks Richard! It was actually some of your advice early on that helped me improve my dog shots, so thank you for sharing! Thanks Anne. Glad you enjoyed the photos
Debbie, part of the clarity was from the lovely light that afternoon, but I've also found with long coated pups in motion that using high pass sharpening with hard light blend mode in layers usually helps bring out some of those details. Though I tend not to use this method with my prime lens as it feels too extreme.
Paul, I'm glad to hear that you have those sheltie pawprints forever etched into your heart

[Tri Danimal]

Awesome shots. Reminds me of our late Shelties, one was 15.5 years when she passed and the other was 14 years. They truely are great pups.

[groovesection]

Truly inspirational photos, Pic #5 is full of anticipation and you can see the dog is totally lost in that moment concentrating on you / the ball.
Taken as a lone image it makes you wonder just what he is seeing out of shot,