Stupid noob mistake

[dylanstraub]

I was at my local dog park shooting pictures the other day and all went well until I started PP. The shots looked a bit darker than usual when I started PP but then I realized I had left my polarizer on the lens. I was able to tweak a few shots in Photoshop. Tell me what you think.

1:

2:

3:

 

[tirediron]

Hate it when that happens! Overall, I think less depth of field and an off-centre crop would improve them significantly.

 

[Robin Usagani]

But should have mattered since the metering is done trough the lens?

 

[KmH]

Red Eye Alert!
Red Eye Alert!
Red Eye Alert!
In #2.

 

[bazooka]

Why does it matter that you left your polarizer on? That doesn't have any affect on your metering.

 

[Overread36]

I'd say you need two things to really make these step up the scale;

First you need to get your flight light higher otherwise you're going to keep getting those demonic dogs coming right at you with their glaring red eyes! If you're using the popup flash its not going to work; if you're using a speedlite flash get a flash bracket (loads on ebay, though some are better than others) and an offcamera flash cord and raise the flash up higher.

Secondly (and I don't know what lens you're using, you might need one with a wider max aperture) I find the fence in the background distracting - especially so since these are pet photos not captive animal zoo shots. I think that, difficult to focus as it will become (because you'll have a much smaller depth of field) using a much wider aperture would help a lot in dropping the depth of field off and giving a natural blur to the background. You might also (depending on the size and shape of the enclosure) shift your shooting direction so that there is more distance between the dogs and the fence background.

 

[dylanstraub]

I'd say you need two things to really make these step up the scale;

First you need to get your flight light higher otherwise you're going to keep getting those demonic dogs coming right at you with their glaring red eyes! If you're using the popup flash its not going to work; if you're using a speedlite flash get a flash bracket (loads on ebay, though some are better than others) and an offcamera flash cord and raise the flash up higher.

Secondly (and I don't know what lens you're using, you might need one with a wider max aperture) I find the fence in the background distracting - especially so since these are pet photos not captive animal zoo shots. I think that, difficult to focus as it will become (because you'll have a much smaller depth of field) using a much wider aperture would help a lot in dropping the depth of field off and giving a natural blur to the background. You might also (depending on the size and shape of the enclosure) shift your shooting direction so that there is more distance between the dogs and the fence background.

Most of the shots I took on this day came out significantly darker than intended so I assumed that i lost a few stops of light due to the filter. I am using a 60 mm prims lens and some of these have been cropped mostly because I don't want too many distractions in the shot. The park I shoot at is fenced in on all sides and very crowded so I'm always having to crop something out. If someone has a better lens suggestion I'm all ears. My lenses are listed below. Thanks for the input.

 

[Overread36]

A Canon 85mm f1.8 or 50mm f1.4 (or 1.8) would be possible options depending how much space to shoot - a tighter telephoto would be more ideal, though of course requires that you've the space to move back far enough to take shots. There is other options on the market, though the prices will be higher; sigma also have some options, but generally speaking canon AF is a little faster (very rough comments here).