Portrait of a Weinerdog

[isfppoet]

I was looking at this photo, and I almost think the wide open aperture I used was a little too much. The tip of Max's nose seems kind of out of focus to me. Is this a bad thing, considering the length and pointyness of said nose?

In all seriousness, does this detract from the photo or does it emphasize the shape of his muzzle in a good way? I really, really liked how this photo came out, especially considering this is my first time using a SLR/DSLR, but now I'm wondering if it's really all that wonderful. Any thoughts?

How about the framing of his head, also? Do you think I should have left him more "room" or even framed his body rather than just his head? I like the pleasing blurriness of the brick behind him, but perhaps I overdid it when I cropped out everything but his head in the frame (even part of an ear, lol).

Lastly, do you like this photo in general? It's definitely the best pic of a pet I've ever taken hands down, but I can't speak for its efficacy in stirring deep emotions in the viewer. :P

• Camera: Nikon D3000
• Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
• Aperture: f/5.6
• Focal Length: 200 mm
• ISO Speed: 100

[CiiVii]

That's a cute shot. I have similar thoughts/questions when it comes to animal portraits in regards to depth of field. With humans, we are told to focus on the eyes, and sometimes it is nice to have ONLY the eyes be completely in focus. My thinking is that it works because people have flat faces so the effect is small and works well. When it comes to creatures with longer faces, I prefer having the whole face in focus. I think it looks sloppy otherwise, like it wasn't done intentionally. This might be my opinion only, we'll see...

When the artist was unable to get everything from tip of nose to ears in focus on a long-faced creature, I call that the Sarah Jessica Parker effect. :-P

[sinophilia]

Hi, it's a very good picture and I don't think a deeper DOF would have added much to it. Although I must say that when viewing it large the focus seems to be more on his forehead than on his eyes (I'm nitpicking here).
Since you asked, yes, I think you could have cropped it a bit larger - I would have liked to see more of his neck. Just a thought

[falafelicious]

Nice shot, I don't think the DoF is a big issue though I agree with CiiVii that having the whole face in focus would be a slight improvement. A bigger improvement, IMHO, would be not having his ear cut off. That bugs me a bit But other than that it's a very nice shot, and I like the DoF.

[isfppoet]

Thanks for the input ya'll.

I kind of agree too on the cropping. It was just kind of a quick capture cause Max was moving around so much, but if I'd had time to compose it more it would have turned out a little better probably, hehe.

And yeah the focus looks slightly off from the eyes when I blow up it in the original. I personally can't really tell that much on the smaller sizes. That was another side effect of having to take it quickly while I had the chance, haha.

My dad says I should just use autofocus, which kind of surprised me since he's an old SLR veteran. For most things, he's probably right, because you're less likely to miss something that you're unprepared for, but autofocus seems to goof up focus on faces in particular at times, since you often get a nose instead of eyes in focus.

Anyhow, sounds like we're in agreement, haha. If I can get him to actually sit still, I'll try again sometime. Thanks again, everyone.

[sinophilia]

If you used manual focus you did very well, I have a hard time photographing my cats so I can only imagine how it must be with a lively little dog!

[denskii05]

I think you've done excellent job in this composition my friend. The DOF for
me compliments well on Max's color giving him direct focal attention.

You have really captured emotion on his eyes. The framing is okey for me
as this pictures suggest that Max is looking on a certain direction which is
one key element on portrait pictures.

Well done my friend. TFS.

[isfppoet]

I appreciate the compliments, hehe. I intentionally tried to give him space to "look into" since I've read (and subsequently observed) that that creates a more interesting portrait in most cases.

I noticed something on further observation; his left eye (our right) appears more in focus on the original photo than his right eye. Since his forehead and left eye are more in focus, being at greater distance due to the angle of his head, I think it's just his right eye that's not quite in focus.

His nose is definitely not quite in focus, although part of that could be him moving his head around, hehe.

But yeah, overall I am pleased with this one, but I still wanted to see what other people had to say with regards to "next time."

[falafelicious]

Originally Posted by isfppoet

My dad says I should just use autofocus, which kind of surprised me since he's an old SLR veteran. For most things, he's probably right, because you're less likely to miss something that you're unprepared for, but autofocus seems to goof up focus on faces in particular at times, since you often get a nose instead of eyes in focus.

Auto-focus is almost indispensible when you're working with a subject that moves around (like most dogs). It can be a pain sometimes to get the focus perfect with wider apertures but in manual the dog usually moves before you can get the focus spot-on anyway. I say use auto-focus and pay close attention to your aperture and test shots. You can learn how to aim it so that you get your focus exactly where you want it with AF, it just takes practice.

[isfppoet]

Originally Posted by falafelicious

Auto-focus is almost indispensible when you're working with a subject that moves around (like most dogs). It can be a pain sometimes to get the focus perfect with wider apertures but in manual the dog usually moves before you can get the focus spot-on anyway. I say use auto-focus and pay close attention to your aperture and test shots. You can learn how to aim it so that you get your focus exactly where you want it with AF, it just takes practice.

Yep, that's kinda what I've resigned myself too. I need to get over the fact that I can focus manually now and go back to using autofocus, at least for certain things, lol. For moving subjects, certainly, hehe.

I also need to practice using different apertures. Typically I'm shooting with it wide open, mostly because I love a shallow DOF, but sometimes too shallow seems to spoil a shot, or makes it harder to get the focus exactly where I want it also.

So yeah, I agree totally, haha. Thanks for the advice. I consider myself moderately well-prepared for BECOMING a good photographer, i.e., I understand some of the underlying concepts fairly well now, but I definitely have a long way to go as far as learning to instinctively put it to practice.