first dog portraits c&c please

shefjr · Jun 9, 2012

IMO the reason you are not getting a lot of positive feedback is simply because to me anyway they don't evoke any emotion from the photos. How do these photos make you feel? With a photo like what Gary put up, I feel a little connection. The dog looks sad or something. With your photos I feel disconnected like they are snap shots of dogs in a yard not much for catch lights in the eyes or anything to keep me interested. This is only my noob opinion though so take it with as much salt as you need.

number 4 does have something I kind of like. Next time I would use some fill flash and have someone hold a diffuser or take the photo in the shade.
Best of luck.

JClishe · Jun 9, 2012

iPhoto17 said:
only rarely have i come across photos that have been photoshopped that dont even look like they have been, that is editing id like to learn in the future

I don't think you realize that nearly ALL of the photos you see have been processed for exposure, color corrections, etc.

Seriously, scroll through this Flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/pool/. Every. Single. Image. In that pool has been post-processed. Are you honestly implying that:

1) Only "rarely" are there pictures in that pool that don't look photoshopped, and
2) You don't want to be able to produce images like any of those?

charlie76 · Jun 9, 2012

charlie76 said:
Yep]

cgipson1 · Jun 9, 2012

iPhoto17 said:
no offense but i like how you say "get some photoshop" like its not a 700 dollar piece of software, im working on saving up for NX2. im not much of a photoshop person because personally it feels like cheating, although itll help with some stuff i just dont see myself doing drastic changes to make up for the cost of such software

You have some choices..

#1 learn to shoot properly so that the shots come out as close to perfect as possible in camera (and then lightly enhance then in PS, LR, or your choice of editors)

#2 Buy photoshop (or at least download GIMP) and learn to use it well enough to fix the mistakes you made shooting.

#1 is the preferred way of doing it...... #2 seems much more popular. (Cheating? lol! So I suppose in the film days.. doing anything in the darkroom was cheating also? Ansel Adams was a BIG Cheater then!

)

JClishe · Jun 9, 2012

cgipson1 said:
iPhoto17 said:

no offense but i like how you say "get some photoshop" like its not a 700 dollar piece of software, im working on saving up for NX2. im not much of a photoshop person because personally it feels like cheating, although itll help with some stuff i just dont see myself doing drastic changes to make up for the cost of such software

Click to expand...

You have some choices..

#1 learn to shoot properly so that the shots come out as close to perfect as possible in camera (and then lightly enhance then in PS)

#2 Buy photoshop (or at least download GIMP) and learn to use it well enough to fix the mistakes you made shooting.

#1 is the preferred way of doing it...... #2 seems much more popular. (Cheating? lol! So I suppose in the film days.. doing anything in the darkroom was cheating also? Ansel Adams was a BIG Cheater then! )

There's also option #3, which is post process in Lightroom. It's a great value at $150 and arguably more intuitive than GIMP.

cgipson1 · Jun 9, 2012

On your shots...

#1 and #3 lack proper focus... they are not sharp! Manual focus may have helped here... or Spot Focus. Labs lack contrast.. makes it harder for AF to lock on. Because of the lack of sharpness, I wont cover the lighting, background or composition!

#2 Front dog is relatively sharp.. but there is no interest.. no eye contact, bad lighting, legs cut off, bad distracting background, etc.

#4 somewhat sharp.. but very contrasty due to overhead harsh sun, background is sharp and distracting. No real interest to anyone but the dog owner.

I am not trying to be mean.. just giving honest C&C! I could tell you how to fix all these things too... but there is so much of it, that I don't have time or the desire to type a book that probably will not be read. If you have specific questions on certain areas... post them, I will try to help.

I would highly recommend reading your camera manual, and practicing everything in it. There are also the following to start with....

Amazon.com: Understanding Exposure, 3rd Edition: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera (9780817439392): Bryan Peterson: Books

Amazon.com: Light Science and Magic, Fourth Edition: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting (9780240812250): Fil Hunter, Paul Fuqua, Steven Biver: Books

Amazon.com: David Busch's Nikon D3000 Guide to Digital SLR Photography (9781435456334): David D. Busch: Books

cgipson1 · Jun 9, 2012

JClishe said:
cgipson1 said:

iPhoto17 said:

no offense but i like how you say "get some photoshop" like its not a 700 dollar piece of software, im working on saving up for NX2. im not much of a photoshop person because personally it feels like cheating, although itll help with some stuff i just dont see myself doing drastic changes to make up for the cost of such software

Click to expand...

You have some choices..

#1 learn to shoot properly so that the shots come out as close to perfect as possible in camera (and then lightly enhance then in PS)

#2 Buy photoshop (or at least download GIMP) and learn to use it well enough to fix the mistakes you made shooting.

#1 is the preferred way of doing it...... #2 seems much more popular. (Cheating? lol! So I suppose in the film days.. doing anything in the darkroom was cheating also? Ansel Adams was a BIG Cheater then! )

Click to expand...

There's also option #3, which is post process in Lightroom. It's a great value at $150 and arguably more intuitive than GIMP.

True.. and it is powerful. However.. PS is more powerful, and there are some shots that need a lot more than LR can provide!

I suggested PS based on the OP's photos! ( p.s. I modified my first post based on your post!)

IByte · Jun 9, 2012

iPhoto17 said:
no offense but i like how you say "get some photoshop" like its not a 700 dollar piece of software, im working on saving up for NX2. im not much of a photoshop person because personally it feels like cheating, although itll help with some stuff i just dont see myself doing drastic changes to make up for the cost of such software

PP is as part of digital photography as my shots is part of my pints. If you can get a discount on photoshop as a student do it. I would get Lightroom 4, not only will you be able to do light PP, but also mange your portfolio as well all for less than $200.00. Or use GIMP 2 for free.