Dachshund photo session

[CherylL]

A few photos from a photo session with 2 dachshunds. A business client of my husband's asked if I would take photos. He saw my work on FB. I've never met him and his wife or the pups so really didn't know what to expect.

When I arrived at their house I sat on the floor with the pups for about 15 minutes for a meet and greet. I then got my camera out of the bag and let them sniff it. Next step was to press the shutter a few times to let them hear the click. I did turn off the AF beep. Shot a few photos in the house of them on the couch with the 50 f1.4 and just to get them acclimated.

Outside chased them around the yard a bit with the frisbee and shot the outside photos with the 85 f1.8. I overshot for motion blur, missed focus, head turns or eyes closing. I got about 40 keepers out of 100.

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[tirediron]

Forty out of 100 is a pretty good average, especially in case like this... These guys can move! I quite the like the last one for pose and composition, but it feels like the DoF might be a bit... thin?

 

[CherylL]

Forty out of 100 is a pretty good average, especially in case like this... These guys can move! I quite the like the last one for pose and composition, but it feels like the DoF might be a bit... thin?

The keep rate is what only a mother would love. There were some not perfect, but showed their personalities. The DOF could have been more with the last one. I think that one is about f2.8.

 

[K9Kirk]

Cute guys. Nice set but they seem a little bright.

 

[Photo Lady]

they are adorable rascals... i can see they were very comfortable with you

 

[SquarePeg]

They’re super cute! You did a great job. Dog action photos are tough! I’ve been trying for months to get The Perfect Photo of our puppy in action. Something that shows her personality and her cuteness. Got some good shots in focus, some great action that just missed being sharp sharp and a ton of almost perfect but...very frustrating.

 

[vintagesnaps]

You seem to have done well engaging your subjects, letting them get to know you and your camera a bit first.

The first one in particular could use some cropping to bring the viewer's attention more to the subject. The frisbee was a fun idea but next time it might be good to ask if you can wipe it off; the black particularly shows dust/dirt. Or maybe another type dog toy could be fun and look better in photos.

 

[smoke665]

No such thing as a photo with dogs that isn't cute as are these. There's a private group of only Dog Photographers, that I lurk around in, trying to pick up tips. Couple of trends that seem to produce the better images is with a lens in the 100-200mm range shot at f2.8. Being further away they get good separation but still maintain a little wider DOF, for sharp eyes. Another trend is up close with a 35mm, you still get a good DOF and any distortion becomes a creative element.

Over all IMO like others have mentioned they could use some adjustment to the WB, though the one above went to far to the magenta side. The brightness may be a factor of the overall exposure. The background is bright enough that it's distracting from the subject, maybe use a radial filter in Lr, to decrease the background exposure, to shift the focus back on the dogs.

 

[CherylL]

Cute guys. Nice set but they seem a little bright.

they are adorable rascals... i can see they were very comfortable with you

They’re super cute! You did a great job. Dog action photos are tough! I’ve been trying for months to get The Perfect Photo of our puppy in action. Something that shows her personality and her cuteness. Got some good shots in focus, some great action that just missed being sharp sharp and a ton of almost perfect but...very frustrating.

You seem to have done well engaging your subjects, letting them get to know you and your camera a bit first.

The first one in particular could use some cropping to bring the viewer's attention more to the subject. The frisbee was a fun idea but next time it might be good to ask if you can wipe it off; the black particularly shows dust/dirt. Or maybe another type dog toy could be fun and look better in photos.

A few photos from a photo session with 2 dachshunds. A business client of my husband's asked if I would take photos. He saw my work on FB. I've never met him and his wife or the pups so really didn't know what to expect. When I arrived at their house I sat on the floor with the pups for about 15 minutes for a meet and greet. I then got my camera out of the bag and let them sniff it. Next step was to press the shutter a few times to let them hear the click. I did turn off the AF beep. Shot a few photos in the house of them on the couch with the 50 f1.4 and just to get them acclimated. Outside chased them around the yard a bit with the frisbee and shot the outside photos with the 85 f1.8. I overshot for motion blur, missed focus, head turns or eyes closing. I got about 40 keepers out of 100.

There seem to be quite a few fragile souls on this forum, so I hardly dare to say anything anymore. Nevertheless, I want to make a serious and well-meant comment about your images, of course this is entirely my own vision and not intended personally. For me, there's still some extra post editing to be done with these images. There's a clear cyan colorcast over the photos and the images are slightly too light for my taste. I especially find the blue haze on the dog's fur very annoying, but easy to correct in post. Too bad that the total sharpness and depth of field are paper thin, see for example the grass in the foreground, very sharp, but unfortunately the paws of the dog(s) are not. A f/8 or f/11 aperture would have been better here. I think with a slightly lower position of the camera, it would have become even more interesting and this would also have helped somewhat for the depth of field, but of course that's all talking afterwards! In addition, I'd absolutely opt for a little more crop. The following is a quick edit, certainly not perfect, because it's a jpeg in such small format.

View attachment 181598

No such thing as a photo with dogs that isn't cute as are these. There's a private group of only Dog Photographers, that I lurk around in, trying to pick up tips. Couple of trends that seem to produce the better images is with a lens in the 100-200mm range shot at f2.8. Being further away they get good separation but still maintain a little wider DOF, for sharp eyes. Another trend is up close with a 35mm, you still get a good DOF and any distortion becomes a creative element.

Over all IMO like others have mentioned they could use some adjustment to the WB, though the one above went to far to the magenta side. The brightness may be a factor of the overall exposure. The background is bright enough that it's distracting from the subject, maybe use a radial filter in Lr, to decrease the background exposure, to shift the focus back on the dogs.

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated! I do see the blue tint now. Curious on the brightness. How too bright? 1 stop 2 stop? It did cross my mind on the dirty frizbee and thought about cleaning it up in photoshop.

The youngest one is not quite 1 year and he barked at me for the first 10 minutes and then decided I was okay and I got puppy kisses.

@gk fotografie, no worries on the fragile souls. I appreciated that the feedback I get is with good intentions to help me grow. Thanks for taking the time to edit.

 

[smoke665]

Curious on the brightness. How too bright?

Brightness is a relative term based on location within the image. I did a quick edit in Lr, to show some adjustments. There was a substantial adjustment to WB to the warm side, without a white the only thing I could do was sample the black buckle on the collar which might not be correct. More accurate adjustment would come from shooting a white, gray and black target. The overall exposure was only dropped 3/4 of a stop, but I used a radial filter to drop the background down another 3/4 of a stop, and could probably use a little more. The eyes I used an adjustment brush to boost the sharpness, exposure and saturation. So they were pretty much back to your original exposure. As stated, exposure is a variable "no one size fits all" in an image.

Next time take along a wide angle lens if you have it, puppy kisses are a great time to get in close, and make for some interesting shots.

 

[K9Kirk]

A few photos from a photo session with 2 dachshunds. A business client of my husband's asked if I would take photos. He saw my work on FB. I've never met him and his wife or the pups so really didn't know what to expect. When I arrived at their house I sat on the floor with the pups for about 15 minutes for a meet and greet. I then got my camera out of the bag and let them sniff it. Next step was to press the shutter a few times to let them hear the click. I did turn off the AF beep. Shot a few photos in the house of them on the couch with the 50 f1.4 and just to get them acclimated. Outside chased them around the yard a bit with the frisbee and shot the outside photos with the 85 f1.8. I overshot for motion blur, missed focus, head turns or eyes closing. I got about 40 keepers out of 100.

There seem to be quite a few fragile souls on this forum, so I hardly dare to say anything anymore. Nevertheless, I want to make a serious and well-meant comment about your images, of course this is entirely my own vision and not intended personally. For me, there's still some extra post editing to be done with these images. There's a clear cyan colorcast over the photos and the images are slightly too light for my taste. I especially find the blue haze on the dog's fur very annoying, but easy to correct in post. Too bad that the total sharpness and depth of field are paper thin, see for example the grass in the foreground, very sharp, but unfortunately the paws of the dog(s) are not. A f/8 or f/11 aperture would have been better here. I think with a slightly lower position of the camera, it would have become even more interesting and this would also have helped somewhat for the depth of field, but of course that's all talking afterwards! In addition, I'd absolutely opt for a little more crop. The following is a quick edit, certainly not perfect, because it's a jpeg in such small format.

View attachment 181598

Curious on the brightness. How too bright?

Brightness is a relative term based on location within the image. I did a quick edit in Lr, to show some adjustments. There was a substantial adjustment to WB to the warm side, without a white the only thing I could do was sample the black buckle on the collar which might not be correct. More accurate adjustment would come from shooting a white, gray and black target. The overall exposure was only dropped 3/4 of a stop, but I used a radial filter to drop the background down another 3/4 of a stop, and could probably use a little more. The eyes I used an adjustment brush to boost the sharpness, exposure and saturation. So they were pretty much back to your original exposure. As stated, exposure is a variable "no one size fits all" in an image.
View attachment 181603

Next time take along a wide angle lens if you have it, puppy kisses are a great time to get in close, and make for some interesting shots.

Well, there's an old saying, "Put up or shut up." and it appears that a couple of fellow members have "put up" for me and I appreciate them very much for that.
As you can see in the edited pictures, what was once bright and washed out now looks toned down with darker, richer colors that are more pleasing to the eye. It's true a picture says a thousand words and hopefully you see what I meant by "a little bright." In the end you're the boss and you do as you like because it is relative after all. Have a great day!

 

[Raw photographer]

Curious on the brightness. How too bright?

Brightness is a relative term based on location within the image. I did a quick edit in Lr, to show some adjustments. There was a substantial adjustment to WB to the warm side, without a white the only thing I could do was sample the black buckle on the collar which might not be correct. More accurate adjustment would come from shooting a white, gray and black target. The overall exposure was only dropped 3/4 of a stop, but I used a radial filter to drop the background down another 3/4 of a stop, and could probably use a little more. The eyes I used an adjustment brush to boost the sharpness, exposure and saturation. So they were pretty much back to your original exposure. As stated, exposure is a variable "no one size fits all" in an image.
View attachment 181603

Next time take along a wide angle lens if you have it, puppy kisses are a great time to get in close, and make for some interesting shots.

Nice edit, really makes the image that much better, nicely done.

 

[smoke665]

@K9Kirk we are all somewhat like The Blind Men and the Elephant we each see things slightly different. Doesn't make anyone right or wrong.

 

[K9Kirk]

@K9Kirk we are all somewhat like The Blind Men and the Elephant we each see things slightly different. Doesn't make anyone right or wrong.

I totally agree, when I say something about someone's pic I'm not so much disagreeing with them as I am trying to make them see things in a way they may've not imagined just yet. Maybe not the best analogy but I'm sure many people that only knew plain, peanut butter sandwiches were very pleased when someone suggested they try one with a little jelly on it.

 

[Derrel]

I think the dual dog image would have been outstanding had the lens been stopped down a bit more. F / 2.8 often leads to depth of field that is insufficient for more than one individual, and I think that had a photo of the two dogs been made at F / 5.6 it would have had a better overall look on the two dogs, yet there still would have been an adequately-defocused background. I think that the color and white balance edits as done by gk and by smoke665 were a big step in the right direction.

Both parents and family, and pet owners are typically more concerned with emotion and expression and good presentation of the subjects, even at the expense of technical quality, but when you boost the technical quality the pictures are even better. There is no doubt that expression trumps techical quality and these few photos seem to have good expression/ presentation of the subject. I would consider 40 out of 100 shots pretty darn good in a situation like this.