my dog

[Jovi]

Hi, I'm new on the forum, I hope I don't screw up my first post I red the rules and I think I got it all right.

Here is a portrait of my dog, I like the picture itself, but there is something pale about the background. Allthough the sky was complete white/grey it still feels.. unatural? Does the sky really bother you guys?



I'm using a Nikon D60, 18-55. The Photo is taken with 55 mm, ISO 800.. puff.. Did I forget something?

Cheers, Jovi

[Kate Howells]

The sky doesn't bother me as there is enough in the foreground to keep my attention. I love the yellow daffodils. It looks like the focus is at the tip of the dogs nose as it appears fractionally sharper than the eyes. I've looked at it long and hard, but it is difficult to tell with the size of the image. Exposure on the dog is good.What aperture where you shooting at?
I am sure this would look lovely in portrait orientation too!

[Jovi]

Hey Kate

Thank you for your feedback! I like the daffodills as well, the shot where for an eastern-picture

aperture is F/5.6
Exposure 1/320 sec

Cheers

[lputman]

I love how the dog's face is framed by the daffodils. The sky doesn't bother me; however, if it is really bothersome for you, you can change it in post production. I personally like it as is though.

[AshNZ]

Hi Jovi, sky is bothering for me at least. As the picture loaded on the screen, first thing that came to my mind is "wow, that's a blown out sky!" Rest looks good, although I would pump up saturation a bit to get the daffodil and leaves really stand out in yellow and green respectively.

[Pitrih]

your dog is lovely and the exposure on him is good, but the sky is blown out (i think turning the photo b&w would make it less annoying, for me at least).

[Jovi]

Thank you guys so much for the feedback, I tried how the photo would look b&w, here is the resault, But I sure miss his golden eyes. Would it be strange to keep only the eyes in colour?



I pulled up the contrast a slight bit as well, I think it added good to his face

Thanks for the kind comments about my dog

[Kelfin]

Personally I think you lose a lot of the great blackness of your dogs coat, not to mention his eyes and the yellow flowers when you convert it to B&W (though it does look much more like a classic postcard hunting dog scene). Maybe you could play with darkening the highlights in your editing program to make the sky look a little less blown out.

[kstiltne]

I definitely don't think B&W is the way to go here. You lose too much that makes this shot beautiful. Without some off camera flash, there's really no good way to have a well exposed subject and sky. It's a beautiful picture of a beautiful dog, and I would leave it as it is.

[bldhndzgng]

Before reading your comment, my first thought was "what a blah sky". The dog, composition, and everything else is very pleasing to the eyes. I know that overcast skies are terrible to work with, but if they were around every day, everyone would have beautiful shots.

After reading the comments and stats, I think the exposure could be brought down a bit, increase some saturation to bring out the yellow in the flowers & the green in the grass. That all depends on how much post processing you are comfortable with.

Black and white does not do your dog justice as stated earlier.

Nice pic overall though. Thanks for sharing.