dog photos, need ideas

mercphoto

A friend wants photos of her two dogs. About 35-40 pound animals. Trying to think of what type of backgrounds I want in order to help choose a location. Needs to be outdoors. Will be after work in evening sun. Thanks for any suggestions.

luckydog

I don't know what the landscape is around where you are but I guess the breed of dog may help inspire you.
Example being if they were a cattle dog a rural/farm type shot might work.
or if they are fluffy little spoilt things a posh/upperclass room or background may work.
A scruffy bitsa might look good in an old alleyway or some sort of homeless setting.
Otherwise open fields, beaches or somewhere with a non distracting background outside would be a start.

What breed are they and do the owners want portraits or something artsy and fresh?

mercphoto

luckydog wrote:

What breed are they and do the owners want portraits or something artsy and fresh?

Red Healer, and a mix with much German Shepard in her.

ginger_55

mercphoto wrote:

A friend wants photos of her two dogs. About 35-40 pound animals. Trying to think of what type of backgrounds I want in order to help choose a location. Needs to be outdoors. Will be after work in evening sun. Thanks for any suggestions.

Happy dogs! These were taken at a dog park, but they could have been almost anywhere. Except in a bare backyard with a chain link fence. But to show you, this is my favorite:




I was so please with that shot, then there was my other Corgi, Skye, I felt bad because he just did not do a photogenic thing. So I worked up what I had from the same day. and this is the one everyone likes, the one of Skye below, so go figure and get you some happy dogs, lots of photos. High enough shutter speed, they usually move. I don't know the f stop here. I often keep it at about f8, or f11 in a situation like this.




Can you imagine: the top one is such a classic, beautiful dog, nice background, the right amt of DOF, but everyone raves about the second one.
So I would shoot a lot. I try to get a photo of the two dogs when they are together. I could show you that, but I am practically taking over your thread here. I take all the photos I have available on my CF cards. A lot! I have been known to take like 400 photos, probably 300 having a dog in them.

I checked, the ISO was 200, it was very sunny, f 8 like I thought, 1/1000 sec. And I had my 70-200L lens on the camera. These were between 100 and 150 mm s.

Just enjoy the day, oh evening. Keep that shutter speed up. I take photos of them at the beach as the sun goes down, or as it comes up. The thing is, many are out of focus. I keep my camera on AV, and the shutter speed is too slow in the low light, so keep an eye on that. I took photos for a friend, of her dogs, in the early evening, late day, and I kind of messed up. It was a year ago. Fortunately I had some indoor shots, too, where the dogs were still. So watch the shutter speed.

Oh, and focus on the eyes. I never remember that.........one reason for not opening the lens all the way.

That is all I can advise.

I left out Katie, can't do that!



ginger (the catch light in the eyes, I accentuated what was there, or almost there, or should have been there, I did it in PS, with a small white paint brush, a pixel at a time. I think it worked well.)

mercphoto

I really like the first and third photos Ginger. Giving me ideas. Will try tomorrow.

ginger_55

I was thinking, you do know to get down to their level, often, don't you?

I just sit there and snap, it settles them, usually. Besides I hate standing when I can sit.

ginger