Poppie Dog

[Tri Danimal]

I got a Sony A6500 yesterday so I decided to try a short series featuring my favorite four-legged adventure buddy. Take a look to let me know where you think I could improve.


Did someone say treats!?!?!!
f5.6, ISO800, 1/160sec, 135mm



I'm pretty sure you said treats.
f5.6, ISO800, 1/100sec, 53mm



Yeah man, you said treats, I don't trust you anymore.
f5.6, ISO800, 1/50sec, 90mm



Oh, you mean to say WALK!!
f3.5, ISO2000, 1/15sec, 18mm
This isn't a good quality picture, but I really wanted to share her excitement for being on the trails.

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[pschlute]

The second is the best for me. Close framing which really shows off the character of her. 1+3 have too many distracting elements.

Always try to get down to their level, even if that means dirtying your clothes in the process. Experiment with wider apertures to isolate the face. Experiment with fill flash which can really make the subject stand out.

[Manfred M]

+1 to what Peter has written. Animals and people (especially children) usually come out best when shot at eye level.

I also agree with him that #2 is the strongest of the group because of the simple background and focus on just the dog. The others have backgrounds that are not quite as clean. #3 has the dog's feet cut off in a very awkward way, so when framing your shot take care to ensure that it either does not happen or is done in a non-distracting way by cutting above the foot joint.

[Tom Barry]

Yes, No. 2 is the best shot here for all the reasons previously posted.

[zen]

Ditto.

[Tri Danimal]

Awesome, thanks for the tips. Much appreciated. Just be ready for more pictures of the pooch in the near future.

[rpcrowe]

Nice series of a darn good looking dog.

I agree with the above comments. If you cannot get physically down to the dog's level; bringing the dog up to your level by putting the pooch on a chair or couch will help. I do that and then sit on a rolling office chair to help me get down even further but still be mobile...

Here's my Sasha, who could be a sister to your Poppie, posed on a chair. I covered the chair with a length of fleece fabric which gave me a background that is plain and of a color which I think compliments the dog. I probably have twenty lengths of fabric in different colors that I use for backgrounds with various rescue dog portraits.



Plain backgrounds are often the ticket with most dogs but, terrier type dogs are sometimes best shown on the ground. I wish I could get a shot of Sasha chasing a rabbit

BTW: We use a thin dog show lead to keep the dog in one place on the chair when photographing. My wife holds the lead from behind the chair and I edit out the lead in Photoshop.

I always try my very best to get the eyes in focus and to ensure that hair is not obscuring the eyes. This is sometimes difficult with a dog like my Goldendoodle (second row) who has deep set eyes and hairy eyebrows.

My dog pictures can be seen at: https://rpcrowe.smugmug.com/



Sometimes standing off a bit of a distance and using a long lens will make less of an apparent angle between the camera and the dog, giving the impression that the image was shot from the dog's level when it was actually quite a bit higher than the dog...



I am getting an A6500 which should arrive at the end of the week. I have been told that eye focus on that camera works as well with dogs as with humans. If it does, it should be exciting to use

[Tri Danimal]

Nice series of a darn good looking dog.

I agree with the above comments. If you cannot get physically down to the dog's level; bringing the dog up to your level by putting the pooch on a chair or couch will help. I do that and then sit on a rolling office chair to help me get down even further but still be mobile...

Here's my Sasha, who could be a sister to your Poppie, posed on a chair. I covered the chair with a length of fleece fabric which gave me a background that is plain and of a color which I think compliments the dog. I probably have twenty lengths of fabric in different colors that I use for backgrounds with various rescue dog portraits. Plain backgrounds are often the ticket with most dogs but, terrier type dogs are sometimes best shown on the ground. I wish I could get a shot of Sasha chasing a rabbit

BTW: We use a thin dog show lead to keep the dog in one place on the chair when photographing. My wife holds the lead from behind the chair and I edit out the lead in Photoshop.

I am getting an A6500 which should arrive at the end of the week. I have been told that eye focus on that camera works as well with dogs as with humans. If it does, it should be exciting to use

Im shooting on my a6500 with the sony 18-135mm. I dont get a lot of shooting time with my A73 (my partner uses it for the business), So Im looking forward to learning from you as well, I need to sheck out that eye tracking feature.

if there is anyway you would be willing to share your technique on how to photoshop the lead out, I would love to learn it. i just got my toes wet in photoshop and realized how massive the pool is.

[rpcrowe]

Daniel...

I like to separate the point where the lead is connected to any part of the body using the Clone Stamp Tool

Then in removing the lead, I usually select it with the lasso tool and then use Edit > Fill > Content Aware Fill
Sometimes, I still need to clean it up with the Clone Stamp Tool...

Another way to get rid of a lead that is in a straight line is to separate where the lead touches the body (or anything else) using the clone stamp tool and then use the spot healing brush in a size that covers the width of the lead and then place the Spot at one end of the lead, keeping the shift key down, place the healing brush spot at the other end of the lead. This should get rid of the entire length of the lead.

A trick used in separating the lead (or anything else) from the body is to use the Clone Stamp Tool at a slightly larger size than the lead with half the spot being selected on the body and the other half on the background. Select this at a point at other than where the lead hits the body. You can then move the Clone Stamp To the position over the lead, ensuring that the line of the body is followed (you can see what you have cloned and follow the body line) and then the clone stamp will replace the lead with the background color...