1st of many to come! =)

[oOoERYNoOo]

I'm new to the DSLR world, but not new to photography. I've been taking pics for as long as I could find a camera that would take a pic... lol Anyway, I just got my Canon Rebel XTi this past Tues and that evening I went out and took just a couple pics of my dogs and 1 of my cats. Tried to take pics of my horses but they FREAKED out over the flash on the 1st shot so no horsie pics yet. They better get used to it though!!
Here are just a couple for C&C... I know they're not probably anywhere close to being good, but hey they're my 1st pics and I'm learning!! There will be wayyy more where these came from!

1.)Boomer

2.) Shelby

3.) Rowdy- eh don't like that his tongue is sticking out or that i chopped his front feet off! But kinda funny capture.

4.) Bubba the disappearing cat- he was there when I took the pic and was gone in the instant when I took the cam from my face... I think the flash might have skeered him a little bit...

 

[doylie]

wow i LOVE #1! what a beautiful puppy!

 

[rufus5150]

With pets, you can improve pictures 10-fold simply by getting down on their level rather than shooting down at them. You might try ditching the flash and shooting with available light as well.

 

[Mgw189]

I like the second shot best actually. They are all showing signs of harsh on camera flash lighting and under exposed. Rufus is right about getting down to their level. The same goes for kids as well. The cat photo is pretty cool the more I look at it. The only suggestion would be to bring the elements of the photo that are just barely visable down to black so all you see are the white spots of the cat and its eyes.

 

[manaheim]

Having the dead-on flash is going to kill you (and your horses) every time. My recommendation would be to try to avoid using it, and to get a flash you can bounce as soon as you can. If you want to go on the cheap, cutting up a translucent film canister and sticking it over the lens will diffuse the light somewhat.

That being said, interestingly, the picture of the cat is actually pretty amusing the way it is... ignoring the fact that it's underexposed and such.

Still, gotta start somewhere and shooting and playing is how to learn! Congrats on the cam! Keep it up!