My beautiful Ruby

[New to photography]

Well, here's another of my beautiful boxer girl - I wonder if anyone has any thoughts on this? How could I make it better do you think? I'm always interested in reading anything anyone has to say good or bad or just plain indifferent! it's the only way I'm going to learn anything and improve!

[windrider86]

Please include your exif info so we know what your camera settings were. Guidelines

[New to photography]

Originally Posted by windrider86

Please include your exif info so we know what your camera settings were. Guidelines

I would love to - if someone could please explain how on earth I am meant to do that? and what on earth this info is - my name is what I am!!!!

I have asked this question before about this exif stuff and no one replies. I have read the guidelines you put on that link - it says

Please include the following information, if possible, with your image: EXIF info, type of camera, specific questions (What do you think? is not a specific question). A meaningful title, NOT "Critique Please", will also get your post noticed in a crowded section.

I would like to point out the words if possible - if you could please write in simple terms - [and I mean simple], then I will gladly give you the info you need, thanking you.

[windrider86]

it does say if possible. Let me tell you how important it is to know that information tho. You see, for us to view your photo and its out of focus or too dark or whatever, its very hard to know what to say if we dont know what your camera settings were. This is what is know as exif- Exchangeable image file format.
Now, where to find it! The great thing is, this information is always embedded in your image so its easy to find.
In your processing software you should be able to click on image and somewhere it way say image information. Thats where you'll find it there.
Other times you may be able to right click on your image and click on properties. It may say it there.
Or, in many online storage sites such as Flickr you can find it to the right of your photo and will e listed under more properties.
The information should like something like this:
Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT
Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: On, Fired

I'm so sorry no one has answered and to blame as much as anyone. I hope this helps. If not, please feel free to pm me anytime!

[New to photography]

Right, well thank you so much for that info, it seems like flickr was the only way to go with this as I can't find any properties in photobucket, so I opened a flickr account and found them - here they are at last - glad I got that sorted out!!!

Camera: Canon EOS 500D
Exposure: 0.04 sec (1/25)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 270 mm
ISO Speed: 1600
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire

[SriMesh]

Hello there, I really like the pose you have captured in this photo, Your puppy looks very relaxed and content! You have light on the back of the head, and none on the front where the eye is (which is the focal point) It captures the eye nicely on the rule of thirds intersection pretty well.

[karen_s]

Hey there Ruby! You look very happy and content :-)

I'm glad you found the exif data, it is very helpful. I like the shot and love how close in you are, makes me feel as if I'm about to bend down and give her a kiss. The composition is also very nice.

As for Critique, one thing you might try is to get down even lower. When I take shots of my dog like this, I lay on my belly and my camera is often touching the floor. The lower angle might help you catch a bit more of the eyes.

Your shutter speed of 1/25 is probably too slow in relation to the focal length of 270mm. Basically, the more you zoom, the faster the shutter needs to be to avoid camera shake and the resulting blurry shot. If you are zoomed to 270, you would probably need at least 1/500th to get some crispy focused shots and unfortunately, I doubt your long lens has a large enough aperture to compensate for this indoor kind of shot. My suggestion would be to use a shorter lens like an 18-55 and try the wider apertures (smaller numbers). This would allow for slightly faster shutter speeds and increase the chances for a sharply focused shot. If you can't get a fast enough shutter speed (ie, 1/60th), try a tripod. They are cumbersome but can really be a great tool for indoor photography.

Cheers!

[Jim Poor]

Close ups like this can work if done well. This one has a few issues that distract from an otherwise nice mood.

1. The point of critical focus is not on the eye, but rather at a point on the head just in front of the ear. At the distance you were shooting, you don't have sufficient depth of field to get the whole head in focus so the eye must be really sharp to pull it off.

2. Camera shake seems to have impacted sharpness as well.

3. We need to see just a touch more of the eye to get that nice blue color to be a bit more prominent.

[New to photography]

Wow, some really amazing comments there, so helpful, thank you all so much for answering, lots of things for me to think about and give me more cause for playing around abit more with this camera and experimenting with it! I do have bad camera shake I know, it's been flagged up before! I guess a tripod is going to be the next thing on the list! Many thanks to you all again, I really appreciate your help.