Suitable lens for dog photography

[Auslese]

Hello, I have a Nikon D5100. I'm interested in dog photography mainly (and animal photography in general) and it turns out that the 18-55 VR is not enough for me. It was a good start but I need an upgrade. I was thinking about a variety of lenses (55-300VR, 18-300VR, 70-300VR)-i am more into 70-300 mm VR but any comment would be really helpful-, i need the extra zoom for dog sports events and fast focus on moving subjects even at 200+mm. Any other suggestion on this budget would be nice.

PS. If there's any dog photographer here I would really appreciate some tips-any tips and would love to check your work (on flickr for example)

thank you, i'm looking forward to hearing from you.

My best lens for dog and wildlife photography is an 80-200-2.8D, they stopped making this for a while I believe and now have resumed production. One thing you need to know is that VR is beyond useless for high speed dogs and wildlife, I have an 18-200G VR and also the 80-400 VR, they are both lackluster in VR mode, but this can be turned off, but then you have extra parts that just decrease efficiency. I am considering the 135 F2 for dim light conditions, but with my 80-200 99 percent of my shots are 80 or 200, and the photos still need to be cropped because my dog runs in excess of 35 mph on a chase. Here are some examples of my shots. Auslese's

WOW awesome photos...beautiful dog...... just beautiful...... except for the one with the leg and hoof in his mouth.... i will look into info about this lens in the near future.. thanks for sharing

Thank you, I do believe however that the deer leg find was the pups favorite shot ever.....Thanks again

 

[Photo Lady]

Hello, I have a Nikon D5100. I'm interested in dog photography mainly (and animal photography in general) and it turns out that the 18-55 VR is not enough for me. It was a good start but I need an upgrade. I was thinking about a variety of lenses (55-300VR, 18-300VR, 70-300VR)-i am more into 70-300 mm VR but any comment would be really helpful-, i need the extra zoom for dog sports events and fast focus on moving subjects even at 200+mm. Any other suggestion on this budget would be nice.

PS. If there's any dog photographer here I would really appreciate some tips-any tips and would love to check your work (on flickr for example)

thank you, i'm looking forward to hearing from you.

My best lens for dog and wildlife photography is an 80-200-2.8D, they stopped making this for a while I believe and now have resumed production. One thing you need to know is that VR is beyond useless for high speed dogs and wildlife, I have an 18-200G VR and also the 80-400 VR, they are both lackluster in VR mode, but this can be turned off, but then you have extra parts that just decrease efficiency. I am considering the 135 F2 for dim light conditions, but with my 80-200 99 percent of my shots are 80 or 200, and the photos still need to be cropped because my dog runs in excess of 35 mph on a chase. Here are some examples of my shots. Auslese's

WOW awesome photos...beautiful dog...... just beautiful...... except for the one with the leg and hoof in his mouth.... i will look into info about this lens in the near future.. thanks for sharing

Thank you, I do believe however that the deer leg find was the pups favorite shot ever.....Thanks again

Your welcome.. and thanks for the info..

 

[Photo Lady]

Don't forget about your 50mm 1.8....I've gotten some great shots with this basic lens.

okay.. will check this one out..thanks

 

[Auslese]

Don't forget about your 50mm 1.8....I've gotten some great shots with this basic lens.

okay.. will check this one out..thanks

I am also considering the 50-1.8 and 85-1.8 as well, they will both give you excellent shots providing that the subject is at hand, and posing, I do not know what wildlife will ever fit that description. They would be great for close dog shots as for portraiture as well. I have done experimentation with my 18-200vr at 50mm and 85mm and come to the conclusion that my wildlife shots would be much clearer with a 50mm or 85mm 1.8, but that they would be so far away that computer cropping would be needed and that in many situations this would negate the fast aperture as you computer zoom and lose sharpness, so it's a tradeoff. If I had a 50mm1.8 I would get fantastic shots on the trail, as long as it was on a second body and my tele was always at hand, because most wildlife really hates to be close to humans, which is what keeps them alive and wild in the first place.

 

[Jim Walczak]

While I'm a bit behind here (went on a second camping trip and have a few other things going at the moment), here's a few comments on the image of Lady V...

The single thing I don't like about this image is simply that the dog is looking away from the lens. Often times this is (obviously) unavoidable and in this case (obviously) the dog is looking at something, however more often than not, dog/pet/critter photos are the same as human photos...in short, it's "all about the eyes". As they say, the eyes are the window to the soul and this goes equally for animals. As I believe I mentioned earlier, I'm not above keeping a squeaky toy in my camera bag, precisely for such occasions. In this case, I think a quick squeeze of a squeaky toy (along with a FAST shutter finger) might have given that almost classic human model "over the shoulder" look.

Now in situations such as this where you're trying to capture the moment of the dog (critter) intently watching something, I might have done two things. First, I would have tried moving to a different angle, where again you could see the dogs eyes. Second I would have allowed for more "space" in the frame for the dog to be looking "through"...as the image stands now, it almost looks as though the dog is looking right out the back of the picture. Had this of been video, perhaps the framing might have worked...the emphasis for example might be on a "wagging tail", however as a static image, it leaves the viewer more with a sense of what the dogs look at than the dog herself.

I also think the image may be just a hair over-saturated, but that's strictly an artistic opinion. I like deep, rich saturation as well (in my film days I was often a Fuji shooter for that very reason), however I think I might back off there just a bit.

Anyways, hope that helps and enjoy the lens!

(looks like I beautiful dog btw...would love to have seen her face!)

 

[Auslese]

While I'm a bit behind here (went on a second camping trip and have a few other things going at the moment), here's a few comments on the image of Lady V...

The single thing I don't like about this image is simply that the dog is looking away from the lens. Often times this is (obviously) unavoidable and in this case (obviously) the dog is looking at something, however more often than not, dog/pet/critter photos are the same as human photos...in short, it's "all about the eyes". As they say, the eyes are the window to the soul and this goes equally for animals. As I believe I mentioned earlier, I'm not above keeping a squeaky toy in my camera bag, precisely for such occasions. In this case, I think a quick squeeze of a squeaky toy (along with a FAST shutter finger) might have given that almost classic human model "over the shoulder" look.

Now in situations such as this where you're trying to capture the moment of the dog (critter) intently watching something, I might have done two things. First, I would have tried moving to a different angle, where again you could see the dogs eyes. Second I would have allowed for more "space" in the frame for the dog to be looking "through"...as the image stands now, it almost looks as though the dog is looking right out the back of the picture. Had this of been video, perhaps the framing might have worked...the emphasis for example might be on a "wagging tail", however as a static image, it leaves the viewer more with a sense of what the dogs look at than the dog herself.

I also think the image may be just a hair over-saturated, but that's strictly an artistic opinion. I like deep, rich saturation as well (in my film days I was often a Fuji shooter for that very reason), however I think I might back off there just a bit.

Anyways, hope that helps and enjoy the lens!

(looks like I beautiful dog btw...would love to have seen her face!)

While I'm a bit behind here (went on a second camping trip and have a few other things going at the moment), here's a few comments on the image of Lady V...

The single thing I don't like about this image is simply that the dog is looking away from the lens. Often times this is (obviously) unavoidable and in this case (obviously) the dog is looking at something, however more often than not, dog/pet/critter photos are the same as human photos...in short, it's "all about the eyes". As they say, the eyes are the window to the soul and this goes equally for animals. As I believe I mentioned earlier, I'm not above keeping a squeaky toy in my camera bag, precisely for such occasions. In this case, I think a quick squeeze of a squeaky toy (along with a FAST shutter finger) might have given that almost classic human model "over the shoulder" look.

Now in situations such as this where you're trying to capture the moment of the dog (critter) intently watching something, I might have done two things. First, I would have tried moving to a different angle, where again you could see the dogs eyes. Second I would have allowed for more "space" in the frame for the dog to be looking "through"...as the image stands now, it almost looks as though the dog is looking right out the back of the picture. Had this of been video, perhaps the framing might have worked...the emphasis for example might be on a "wagging tail", however as a static image, it leaves the viewer more with a sense of what the dogs look at than the dog herself.

I also think the image may be just a hair over-saturated, but that's strictly an artistic opinion. I like deep, rich saturation as well (in my film days I was often a Fuji shooter for that very reason), however I think I might back off there just a bit.

Anyways, hope that helps and enjoy the lens!

(looks like I beautiful dog btw...would love to have seen her face!)

I disagree, as a Dobie can see thru walls with it's ears, the photo shows the animal on guard of it's home, thus this is actually an action shot with no motion. If you disagree the Dobie will know, which is what the shot conveys.