Portraits of Remi

[Marie Hass]

Not sure about these. My issue is more with my processing. Pictures were dark and the dog was sliced by grass and a white fence. A crappy job of planning on my part.

Please tell me what I need to know.

1a. Original


1b. PP


2a. Original


2b. PP


Thank you for looking and commenting.

Marie

[Shadowman]

Nice captures, I like 1b and 2b for the rich colors.

[bnnrcn]

I like the edits Marie , especially 2b

[rpcrowe]

Hi Marie...

Remi is a great looking dog. I certainly think that you improved the portraits with your P.P.... However in 1b, I'd like to see a bit more of difference between the top of Remi's head and the background. You achieved this in 2b.

I like that you left extra space in front of Remi's nose in 2b. I'd like to see a bit more in 1b. i would also like to see less room over Remi's head.

I also think that these images would be great candidates for vignettes.

I still haven't gotten around to getting my Photoshop CS6 running again. I have had a lot of other things on my plate over the last few days, luckily everything has worked out well. Hopefully I will have the CS6 up and running tomorrow!

[Marie Hass]

John and Binnur, thank you for commenting.

Richard, I did have to build in room on the left side (left as you look at each image) of both images. I cannot thank you enough for your observations and critiques.

Marie

[rpcrowe]

Occasionally, I am also forced to "build room" to assist in composition. IMO, still life photos, landscapes and even most people portraits are relatively easy to compose in comparison to shooting dog (especially puppy dog) pictures. I have goofed up on any number of images because I was watching the dog rather than the borders of my image.

I consider the skills for shooting dogs somewhat akin to shooting sports. You have to concentrate on the subject which may be moving erratically but, still be cognizant of general composition. Often the image is there for the capture for only a moment! Sometimes I just shoot when I see something good and miss parts of the border as I did, below, when I cut off the boxer puppy's paw.



Actually, I wasn't even in position to shoot when I saw the one puppy looking at the dad with admiring eyes. This was just a grab shot cropped from the image below. However, better to cut off something than to miss the entire shot. The pup only held that pose for a split second.



BTW: a helper or helpers using those thin show leads are great for controlling the poochies. The leads can easily be cloned out! If I remember correctly, my friend had one lead in his left hand and another between his teeth. That left his right hand to help position the dogs.

The great advantage of digital over film is that we can shoot large numbers of images with no worries about the cost. One caveat, if you are shooting with flash, ensure that the batteries in the flash are fresh. It is frustrating to miss a shot because the flash did not recycle...

IMO: shooting multiple dogs is geometrically more difficult with each dog added to the equation...

Finally... it is easier to get good photos of cute dogs rather than ugly ones. The same thing applies to people of course... AND it is far easier to work with trained dogs rather than untrained dogs or puppies...