Mini - Schnauzer

Keagle · Oct 28, 2007

Okay - so I wanted to try out my pet portraits. Unfortunately, they insisted on keeping her on a lead. I thought about cloning it out, but haven't tried it. This wasn't paid - I asked them to bring her round so I could practise taking some piccies on her! I'm thinking of printing this one out and giving it to them.

Thank you,
Kurt

Ajay · Oct 28, 2007

Cute dog and I like your composition, but nothing looks in focus to me. Were you using a slow shutter speed?

Joxby · Oct 28, 2007

the grass is a bit...Kryptonite, and nothing is sharp
no exif data in your pic, so technically I cant help...
the lead is a minor detail comparatively.

skieur · Oct 28, 2007

Trim the hair a bit around the eyes, so you and the schnauzer can see each other, use a regular lens (50mm) and shoot at about f 5.6 for depth of field to make sure that all of the dog from snout to ears are in focus.

skieur

Keagle · Oct 28, 2007

Woah - thanks for the quick replies, and constructive too! :d Aye - I was using 1/30sec. Joxby - thanks!

I'll bear that in mind...with the grass!

Skieur, thanks for that bit of advice!

I wasn't sure about the focus either.

Here's the EXIF:

ISO: 100
Length: 70mm
Aperture: 5.7
Shutter: 1/30

Thankie

Sw1tchFX · Oct 28, 2007

It's not out of focus, it's motion blur. You were shooting at 1/30th of a second.

Open your aperture and bump your ISO.

Joxby · Oct 28, 2007

Just to elaborate on that, you can't hand hold at 1/30th of a second, the shutter is just too slow, 1/100th of a second will give you a decent chance of eliminating any motion blur, either from yourself or poochie.
Exif is hugely usefull to you and anyone who offers advice, It would tell whether you'd used a program mode, or if you had the confidence to set manual settings.
To get you up and running, under the lighting conditions at the time of this photo, assuming you used auto, shutter needs to be faster, you need a little depth of focus, opening up the aperture for more light will lose depth of focus, up the sensitivity (iso) to 400, use aperture priority mode, set the aperture to f/5.6, and the camera will choose the shutter speed for correct exposure...hopefully 1/100 or above.
Lock your arms/wrists/stance tight, be still, tell poochie no bone if he moves.
You can faff about with colour/contrast/hair style stuffz when your confident of getting a nice sharp good exposure.

Mike Jordan · Oct 28, 2007

Don't cut the hair away from the eyes... the fall of hair over dogs like this is the same as sun glasses to a human. And it's part of the dog. we have a bunch of Bouviers that are the same way... sometimes I get the eyes and sometimes I don't because the hair is over them. That's the nature of dog photographery, knowing what is natural for the dog you are shooting.

Besides motion blur (was it windy? That looks like hair movement blur as well), you have a short depth of field with the f5.6. You want a depth of field that will let you focus on the eyes (or where the eyes should be

) and get in focus from the ears to the tip of the nose. I like shooting at f11 to f13 but f8 will do for shorter focal lengths if you get the eyes in focus.

Cute dog. Sometimes it's better to leave a leash on a dog, paticularly outside if they aren't in an inclosed area. Keep in mind though if you shoot a well behaved dog, that not only take the leash off but also the collar... unless the collar is part of the personality of the dog... for instance a spike collar on a real tough looking dog. I usually try to take the collars off though. Watch out for dog tags too. You don't realize how much they ditract until you look at the image and see the light reflecting off of them.

You did get down to her level, which is good. Keep practicing. Dog portraits can be fun.

Mike

Keagle · Oct 29, 2007

Joxby said:
Just to elaborate on that, you can't hand hold at 1/30th of a second, the shutter is just too slow, 1/100th of a second will give you a decent chance of eliminating any motion blur, either from yourself or poochie.
Exif is hugely usefull to you and anyone who offers advice, It would tell whether you'd used a program mode, or if you had the confidence to set manual settings.
Lock your arms/wrists/stance tight, be still, tell poochie no bone if he moves.
You can faff about with colour/contrast/hair style stuffz when your confident of getting a nice sharp good exposure.

I know

I use Opera, if you right click on the picture, go to Image Properties and it shows the EXIF. Not sure if it shows this in IE/FF. This was shot in Manual. Thanks for the tips though!

Here it is if you can't see it

File change date and time: 2007:10:28 17:04:08
Image input equipment manufacturer: Canon
Image input equipment model: Canon EOS 350D DIGITAL
Software used: Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows
Person who created the image: Kurt
Exposure time: 0.0333333
F number: 5.6
Exposure program: 3
ISO speed rating: 100
Shutter speed: 4.90689
Aperture: 4.97085
Exposure bias: 0
Maximum lens aperture: 4.34375
Metering mode: 5
Flash: 9
Lens focal length: 70
Focal plane X resolution: 3954.23
Focal plane Y resolution: 3958.76
Focal plane resolution unit: 2
Custom rendered: 0
Exposure mode: 0
White balance: 0
Scene capture type: 0

Mike Jordan said:
Don't cut the hair away from the eyes... the fall of hair over dogs like this is the same as sun glasses to a human. And it's part of the dog. we have a bunch of Bouviers that are the same way... sometimes I get the eyes and sometimes I don't because the hair is over them. That's the nature of dog photographery, knowing what is natural for the dog you are shooting.

Besides motion blur (was it windy? That looks like hair movement blur as well), you have a short depth of field with the f5.6. You want a depth of field that will let you focus on the eyes (or where the eyes should be ) and get in focus from the ears to the tip of the nose. I like shooting at f11 to f13 but f8 will do for shorter focal lengths if you get the eyes in focus.

Cute dog. Sometimes it's better to leave a leash on a dog, paticularly outside if they aren't in an inclosed area. Keep in mind though if you shoot a well behaved dog, that not only take the leash off but also the collar... unless the collar is part of the personality of the dog... for instance a spike collar on a real tough looking dog. I usually try to take the collars off though. Watch out for dog tags too. You don't realize how much they ditract until you look at the image and see the light reflecting off of them.

You did get down to her level, which is good. Keep practicing. Dog portraits can be fun.

Mike

Thanks for all the pointers! It was slightly windy - and thanks for the advice on the aperture settings. I'll try get the dog and do a reshoot!

Perhaps I'll try taking the lead/collar off and let her run about a bit.

skieur · Oct 29, 2007

Joxby said:
Just to elaborate on that, you can't hand hold at 1/30th of a second, the shutter is just too slow,.

It is possible to handhold at 1/30 of a second but no small dog will stay sufficiently still to be sharp using that shutterspeed.

skieur

Peanuts · Oct 30, 2007

Schnauzers are a pain to photograph, firstly because (well, mine is a very contrasty salt and pepper, luckily here you appear to have less of a contrasty version

) due to the contrasting shades throughout the fur the focus catches anywhere and everyone, except the eyes (Murphy's Law) and secondly because they are stubborn as anything (that is why we love them right?).

You will need to push your shutter speed I would say to 1/125th at a minimum to cover any slight movement (either from yourself or the pooch)

In my opinion you might want to reshoot before printing.

Keagle · Oct 30, 2007

Thankie for all your advice! Yup - will try do a reshoot on the weekend when it's a nice day! Thanks

Heh - less contrasty Schnauzer

skieur · Nov 1, 2007

Mike Jordan said:
Don't cut the hair away from the eyes... the fall of hair over dogs like this is the same as sun glasses to a human.
Mike

That is an old wives tale. Schnauzers start walking into things because of hair interfering with their eyes. One of the first things a groomer does is trim around the eyes to make sure that the schnauzer can see properly.
My standard schnauzer was always happier when she could see past her hair.

skieur

Mike Jordan · Nov 1, 2007

skieur said:
That is an old wives tale. Schnauzers start walking into things because of hair interfering with their eyes. One of the first things a groomer does his trim around the eyes to make sure that the schnauzer can see properly.
My standard schnauzer was always happier when she could see past her hair.

skieur

No, it's not an old wive's tale. Some of our Bouviers have so much hair that falls over their eyes that you can't see either one. They have no problems seeing with the hair in front of their eyes at all. This serves several purposes besides shading their eyes when they are out in the sun. Another one is that it intimadates other dogs. Dogs don't like it when they can't see the eyes of another dog. Which at one time was important. A Schnauzer is known to have poor eye sight, as does Scotties. But they also have excellent hearing and smell to make up for it.

Many of the reasons for why dogs look, act, and are groomed the way they are has been lost over time. And we all know that many dogs are groomed for the human's benifit, not for the dogs. Just look at what the poor Poodle has to put up with when it's groomed.

Mike