My dog in a backyard..

[zacus]

Taken with my HTC Evo 3D in my friends backyard

The waterfall, I think I did good with the rule of thirds here, I just wish it hadn't been such a gloomy day.

Centered him up nicely here

Playing with the DOF settings

 

[invisible]

I just wish it hadn't been such a gloomy day.

Gloomy days are actually great for this kind of portraits, as the clouds work as natural diffusers of light. If the sun had been out, you would've seen all sorts of harsh shadows that you could've only been able to counter with artificial lighting and reflectors.

That being said, the first photo works for me, and the only compositional problem would be the twig that crosses right in front of your dog. The photo could use some added contrast, and I took the liberty of editing to show you what I mean:



I've also lightened the dog and darkened the background a bit. Total processing time: 70 seconds.

Photos 2 and 3 don't work for me due to the special effects, but even without them the dog looks both too centred and surrounding by an uninteresting environment.

Welcome to the forum, by the way.

 

[412 Burgh]

The 3rd one looks like a fake DoF

 

[thetrue]

The 3rd one looks like a fake DoF

That's because it is. Rather than a DoF, it looks more like a "soft" effect like you see on FB constantly

 

[pic_chick]

good looking pooch Am. bulldog?

the 1st one is very nice.

 

[zacus]

I just wish it hadn't been such a gloomy day.

Gloomy days are actually great for this kind of portraits, as the clouds work as natural diffusers of light. If the sun had been out, you would've seen all sorts of harsh shadows that you could've only been able to counter with artificial lighting and reflectors.

That being said, the first photo works for me, and the only compositional problem would be the twig that crosses right in front of your dog. The photo could use some added contrast, and I took the liberty of editing to show you what I mean:

View attachment 30870

I've also lightened the dog and darkened the background a bit. Total processing time: 70 seconds.

Photos 2 and 3 don't work for me due to the special effects, but even without them the dog looks both too centred and surrounding by an uninteresting environment.

Welcome to the forum, by the way.

Wow that looks much better, what program do you use to edit the photo? And thanks, glad to be here.

The 3rd one looks like a fake DoF

It is, just some setting the phone had to make it look different.

 

[zacus]

good looking pooch Am. bulldog?

the 1st one is very nice.

Thank you, yes he's a pit bull mix of some sort..not 100% sure but I love him to death.

 

[soflatechie]

With the second and third photos, I would crop them in to get rid of the uninteresting background, and get rid of the effects and I think you will end up with pretty decent shots.

 

[Dextersmummy]

I really like them as they are! Though I admit the edited one is lovely to, what program was used? invisable? xx

 

[teribithia]

Very cute but I want to beat it by a stick As its Indifference look.

 

[jackpeter]

Nice buddy....