New to the Forum #1

[Barbara Ponder]

I am new to the forum and looking to find ways to better my photography. I welcome any and all suggestions and critiques. Here are a couple of shots of one of our beloved pups! One of my most photographed subjects. Look forward to meeting ya'll and learning from you.


Happy Birthday Aggie



Dreaming

[Shadowman]

Nice images.

[Barbara Ponder]

Thanks!

[kap55]

Nice photos - nice looking dogs.

[bnnrcn]

Nice images, lovely dogs

[Barbara Ponder]

Thank you!

[Barbara Ponder]

Thank you!

[rpcrowe]

Great shots, both of them. The first really shows the smile of an American Eskimo (I am pretty sure that is the breed) and the second shows a dog in a typical pose...

[Barbara Ponder]

Thanks! She is actually a Great Pyrenees. They are known for their smiles. Same dog in both pictures one was when she was 4 months old and the other when she turned one. Here she is at Halloween

[IzzieK]

Barbara -- very nice doggies. Richard is the expert on dog photography here. You will learn a lot from him. Anyway, I dropped in to ask you to fill up your profile so we will know where you are from, etc...t'would be nice...

[Barbara Ponder]

Izzie, I am sorry didn't realize I hadn't done that will do it right away. I will be looking for posts from Richard, thanks for the heads up!

[IzzieK]

Thanks. Now we will get to know you better. Please do not forget either to look for out for other nice posters here and respond to them so you can make friends too. We are all a family here, not too big but as Dan said to me once, chummier.

Izzie, I am sorry didn't realize I hadn't done that will do it right away. I will be looking for posts from Richard, thanks for the heads up!

[Barbara Ponder]

Izzie, I will most certainly do that! I have been looking around the forums the last couple of days and am in awe of all the amazing photographs and photographers here. I love that everyone is so willing to share information and tips. It's exciting to have found a place where I can both learn and make friends.

[rpcrowe]

Thanks! She is actually a Great Pyrenees. They are known for their smiles. Same dog in both pictures one was when she was 4 months old and the other when she turned one. Here she is at Halloween

Another nice photo of an absolutely beautiful dog - she does look likie an angel. If I had seen the Halloween image first, I would have instantly recognized this dog as a G.P., they are one of my favorite dogs, although I have not been around G.P. puppies...

I have often though how neat a pair of dogs, Great Pyrenees and a Newfoundland would look together. Among my own dogs (as opposed to our rescues), I have a big (although, not G.P. size) beautiful Goldendoodle who is a lovely buff color. She often gets groomed at the same time as a Wheaton Terrier + Black Poodle mix who is a mirror image of my Goldendoodle, except that he is a shiny black color. These dogs get a lot of attention when they are walking together.

You are doing everything right with your portraits. Getting down to the dog's eye level, using a shallow depth of field, etc. You are also not losing detail in the white coat which is quite important. Your color balance seems right on.

When photograph my white rescue dogs (I do a lot of Maltese and Maltipoos) http://rpcrowe.smugmug.com/Pets/MALT...RNIA/i-x9HN2FM I will always shoot in RAW. I will use the white balance eye dropper in ACR and get the white balance off the dogs coat. I want the coat to be white and am willing to accomplish that at the expense of the rest of the image...

I will also make sure that there are no off color reflections in the dog's coat. If there are, I will select that area and reduce the saturation to get rid of the reflected color. The most difficult color for me to work with is red. I hate the red reflected up underneath the dog's chin so, I most often use a red fleece background with colored dogs...

[Shadowman]

Nice capture of the angel.

[IzzieK]

Your "angel" Barbara is a little bit on the roundish type...how heavy is she? I asked because I have an overweight rottenweiler who is at the moment, 10 kg. roundish too...

[Barbara Ponder]

Richard, I love big dogs. As a child my parents would not ever allow us to have one and see what happened. She is one of the two we have. Our other is Sophie, a rescue who is much older and does not really like to have her picture taken. Occasionally she will humor me, but not often. We worked many years with the breed rescue and found it very rewarding. The dog we had prior to Aggie was a male rescue, who I miss dearly.

I LOVE Newfies and we even considered getting one when we were looking to add to our family. I agree a stunning picture could be made with a Newfie and Pyr. and just think if you added in a Lanseer (a Newfie that is both black and white) even more so. I also love standard poodle mixes they are so smart and the fact that they don't shed is an added bonus.

There is so much I don't know about photography and I am very non-technical when it comes to shooting. I know just enough about the settings to get by but am hoping to change that. With yours and others input I know I can learn so much and it is much appreciated.

Here is a picture of sweet girl Sophie

[Barbara Ponder]

John, Thanks but truth be told she is much more devilish than the picture would lead you to believe

[Barbara Ponder]

A lot of that is fur! She is actually not overweight but is very fluffy. I think she weighs about 115 lbs. She just turned a year in September so will continue to grow for another year. Her parents were 147 and 149 lbs. so she will be a big girl although I doubt as big as they are. Our Sophie on the other hand tends to be a little on the "roundish" side on occasion. She has been getting much more exercise since Aggie came along and has been a little more fit.

My husband loves Rotties, I do as well but he especially is infatuated with them. They seem to have such great personalities and are so regal.

[vaez]

nice image 2is better