First Pet Shot

Britishbouncer · Apr 21, 2007

I am fairly new to Photography, still building up my skills and I always welcome criticism. It was a lovely day here in London, so I thought I would take some shots of my Dog Katie. I used a Canon 400D, f/3.5, exposure time 1/800sec. Would like to see what people think of it, the photo is the original photo and not been retouched in Photoshop.

hamburger · Apr 21, 2007

Unusual perspective - but you don't see much of the dog and the background is very cluttered...

Alex_B · Apr 21, 2007

my parents used to have a similar dog when I was young

I do not think the background is cluttered in a negative sense, it carries the dog's usual surroundings, most likely his home. I think the background makes it interesting.

the nose seems to be in focus, but not tack sharp. I like the shallow DOF but something about the framing is a bit odd, cannot name it yet

.

darich · Apr 21, 2007

Alex_B said:
my parents used to have a similar dog when I was young

I do not think the background is cluttered in a negative sense, it carries the dog's usual surroundings, most likely his home. I think the background makes it interesting.

the nose seems to be in focus, but not tack sharp. I like the shallow DOF but something about the framing is a bit odd, cannot name it yet .

I'd pretty much agree with everything - except - my parents never had a dog :lol:

The framing that seems a bit odd.......could be that the horizon seems to be tilted a bit anti-clockwise. The lamp post coming out of the dog's ear could be taken out but it's a pretty good shot.

JustAMom · Apr 21, 2007

the framing is odd because of the poor composition (in my opinion) the focal point of the photo is the gods head, which is right smack dab in the middle of the photo.

read up on the rule of thirds

Alex_B · Apr 21, 2007

JustAMom said:
read up on the rule of thirds

sometimes having things centred is much better than forcing them into any third ... (not referring necessarily to this shot). the rule of thirds can be useful sometimes, though.

I do not think it is poorly composed, just the way part of the dog is cut on the left side bothers me a bit.

maybe having it tilted by 30 or 45 degree would make it interesting.

jimiismydaddy · Apr 21, 2007

Cute picture.

I dont mind the nose being in the center, it works. The DOF is maybe just a tad shallow. Im debating whether I think the background is busy or not.

gmarquez · Apr 22, 2007

I'd consider it less than ideal composition...either include the dog's legs, or only include the head. I think it feels strange to have a subject chpeed like that...a bit like taking a portrait of someone and chopping them off at the knee.

I do like the exposure and the colors, and the idea (shoot from low) seems to work.

Britishbouncer · Apr 22, 2007

Thanks for all your advise, its always nice to here from people who know what they are talking about. I would never have thought about the cluttered background until it was mentioned, and now I notice how it could distract from the main subject, but then it can also help the viewer understand where the dog is. I was very happy with the colours and exposure of this shot too. As you say Alex_B if I had twisted/tilted the camera 45 degrees I could have got the whole of Katie in, which perhaps may have sorted out the composition, with her legs disappearing to the back of the shot, rather than the side. I tried to also get to her level, as I did take some shot from above, but they didn't quite look right.

smyth · Apr 29, 2007

JustAMom said:
the framing is odd because of the poor composition (in my opinion) the focal point of the photo is the gods head, which is right smack dab in the middle of the photo.

read up on the rule of thirds

it does follow it somewhat, seen as the nose is right along the bottom third's line.

Mithlondor · May 5, 2007

Two things Id like to note:

The two white flowers in the foreground make up for the centered composition because of the way it kind of draws your attention down a bit (not sure Im getting across what im trying to say here...).
One thing that I would photoshop would be cloning out that light pole right above your dogs head. I think that would make your background a lot more appealing.