Not too good.. Just like doing it.. LOTS of pics..

[DCFLA]

I have a Nikon D50, I usually just take photos of my dog's around the house,
and sometimes when I go on vacations, not too often.. Here are pictures I have..

Help me out if you want to give me some pointers, photography really interests me and I like to take photos, just a little confusing to me to take great pictures, which I see a lot of on this site!

Feel free to give me any pointers !

My Golden Retriever..

1.

2.

3.

4.

My Black Lab..

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

Butterfly Garden..

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

Pond..

18.

Chesapeake Bay..

19.

( I know spot on lens)

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Is this a new record?

25?

Here is my favorite of them all.

 

[Mturulski]

I really like the angle/composition of the first and fifth shot. In my humble opinion, the lighting is a little harsh in the first, but an easy fix in photoshop or whatever.

 

[chammer]

5 is simply stunning. love it! 10 looks like a whole bunch of fun, and 12 is just awww sad! love em!

stunning clarity and color on 17 too!

 

[thenikonguy]

i think you've got some nice pics there.. but you'll get better critque to help you, if you only post 3 or 4 pics.. pick your favorite 4 and then we can give you solid advice on how to improve..

 

[inTempus]

I think you have some GREAT angles and perspectives. You have an eye for composition, that's for sure.

You just need to work on your focus/settings skills. Many of your shots are soft or way out of focus. This is most likely due to having too slow of a shutter speed when you shoot. Also, be sure you lock focus on the eyes of the pet, not the nose or other feature of the face. If the eyes are out of focus, the whole image seems out of focus to the viewer.

If you're at a focal length of say 60mm be sure your shutter speed is at least 1/60 or faster to avoid blur which makes the image soft. I like to go a litter faster than the rule of 1/x just to be sure I don't blur a shot.

 

[DCFLA]

Thanks for the comments.
#7 is my favorite.

Sorry for posting so many, I was going to post only a few but this is my first time posting pictures on this site and I just wanted to show what I had.

Tomorrow I am going to take some more if it's not raining.
Because my lab is so photogenic.

 

[PhilGarber]

I think you have some GREAT angles and perspectives. You have an eye for composition, that's for sure.

You just need to work on your focus/settings skills. Many of your shots are soft or way out of focus. This is most likely due to having too slow of a shutter speed when you shoot. Also, be sure you lock focus on the eyes of the pet, not the nose or other feature of the face. If the eyes are out of focus, the whole image seems out of focus to the viewer.

If you're at a focal length of say 60mm be sure your shutter speed is at least 1/60 or faster to avoid blur which makes the image soft. I like to go a litter faster than the rule of 1/x just to be sure I don't blur a shot.

I agree. You have an eye for composition and a will to learn, plus the foresight to realize that you're no Ansel Adams (yet-no offense intended). Three most important things in photography, IMO. To add on to what Tharmsen said about shutter speed, my general rule is no lower then 1/100 of a second without a tripod. Take that with a grain of salt though. I'm only an advanced amateur.

 

[member666]

Don't have experience to critique your work but I will critique your dogs .... they are very handsome dogs! :thumbup:

 

[DCFLA]

Don't have experience to critique your work but I will critique your dogs .... they are very handsome dogs! :thumbup:

haha thank you

 

[DCFLA]

I think you have some GREAT angles and perspectives. You have an eye for composition, that's for sure.

You just need to work on your focus/settings skills. Many of your shots are soft or way out of focus. This is most likely due to having too slow of a shutter speed when you shoot. Also, be sure you lock focus on the eyes of the pet, not the nose or other feature of the face. If the eyes are out of focus, the whole image seems out of focus to the viewer.

If you're at a focal length of say 60mm be sure your shutter speed is at least 1/60 or faster to avoid blur which makes the image soft. I like to go a litter faster than the rule of 1/x just to be sure I don't blur a shot.

I agree. You have an eye for composition and a will to learn, plus the foresight to realize that you're no Ansel Adams (yet-no offense intended). Three most important things in photography, IMO. To add on to what Tharmsen said about shutter speed, my general rule is no lower then 1/100 of a second without a tripod. Take that with a grain of salt though. I'm only an advanced amateur.

Ok well thanks for the feedback, but as i said all of this stuff really confuses me, i know what shutter speed is, but i really dont know how to change it, because when i change to the setting on the camera that are already made can i change the shutter speed on them? for example like in portrait mode?

and also, when i take photos with my flash on i get a black shadow on the bottom of my pictures, in the shape of the flash on the top of my camera , because it pops up automatically when it thinks it needs the flash, how do i stop that? would i have to buy a flash that mounts on top of the camera?

dont know if i sound stupid asking these questions, but like i said i really dont know much about photography..

 

[Dagwood56]

Wow, that's a lot of photos in one thread. But you have some really nice stuff here for the most part. Very unique angles and perspectives that you shot from. You need to work on exposure and DOF though. I Love #5 best of all I think. The expression you captured here is so candid. Also the look on the dogs face in #12 is priceless, but i wish you'd had better focus. I also liked 19, 24 [over exposed though] & 26. You're off to a good start. :thumbup:

 

[PhilGarber]

I think you have some GREAT angles and perspectives. You have an eye for composition, that's for sure.

You just need to work on your focus/settings skills. Many of your shots are soft or way out of focus. This is most likely due to having too slow of a shutter speed when you shoot. Also, be sure you lock focus on the eyes of the pet, not the nose or other feature of the face. If the eyes are out of focus, the whole image seems out of focus to the viewer.

If you're at a focal length of say 60mm be sure your shutter speed is at least 1/60 or faster to avoid blur which makes the image soft. I like to go a litter faster than the rule of 1/x just to be sure I don't blur a shot.

I agree. You have an eye for composition and a will to learn, plus the foresight to realize that you're no Ansel Adams (yet-no offense intended). Three most important things in photography, IMO. To add on to what Tharmsen said about shutter speed, my general rule is no lower then 1/100 of a second without a tripod. Take that with a grain of salt though. I'm only an advanced amateur.

Ok well thanks for the feedback, but as i said all of this stuff really confuses me, i know what shutter speed is, but i really dont know how to change it, because when i change to the setting on the camera that are already made can i change the shutter speed on them? for example like in portrait mode?

and also, when i take photos with my flash on i get a black shadow on the bottom of my pictures, in the shape of the flash on the top of my camera , because it pops up automatically when it thinks it needs the flash, how do i stop that? would i have to buy a flash that mounts on top of the camera?

dont know if i sound stupid asking these questions, but like i said i really dont know much about photography..

Ok, I can answer one of your questions.

i know what shutter speed is, but i really dont know how to change it, because when i change to the setting on the camera that are already made can i change the shutter speed on them? for example like in portrait mode?

On the Canon 350D (Rebel XT, EOS series) you cannot change settings in the "automatic" modes (portrait, macro, speed,scene etc). I am 95% percent sure that Nikon does not allow this on their DSLR's either. Keep in mind that this is a bit of a case of the blind leading the blind because I have no experience with Nikon cameras. If you want the control to change settings (at least on Canon cameras) you must use a semi, or full manual mode (manual, tv, aperture priority, etc). Keep in mind these options may be named differently on Nikon cameras.

Hope that helps, for more assistance find someone with experience with Nikon cameras and/or consult your manual.

 

[PhilGarber]

I would also very highly recommend Bryan Peterson's "Understanding Exposure". I found that the book really helped me grasp the basic concepts of photography and I still refer to it today!