Rafe

[jabfinger]

Hello,
First timer here on the critique forum. I took some shots of my dog today in front of some tall dry grass. They are all pretty much the same as far as color, and the contrast between my dog and the grass. My questions are do you think the contrast between the dog and the grass is to light, and since it is a cropped is the composition appealing.

thanks



Nikon D5000
Lens: VR 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6G
Focal Length: 50mm
Aperture: F/6.7
Shutter Speed: 1/1000s
ISO 800

[karen_s]

What a great looking dog! He is such a nice poser too. His sweet demeanor really comes thru. And it looks like you got the eyes AND the nose in focus which can be a challenge. Dogs have such bigger noses than people.

As to your question about the grass, I would say yes, the contrast between subject and background is a bit light. There seems to be more contrast in the background (light strands of grass against dark empty areas) than there is between the subject and background. The background is just a bit busy.

One thing you could do is just crop a little tighter, especially in from the right. It's nice that you have space for him to look into but that space is just a bit busy and it steals attention. His eyes will still be on the top third so you are good there If you have some editing software like photoshop, you may be able to bring up the (I'm guessing on the color here) browns/yellows/reds a smidgen on the dog and lessen them a smidgen on the background areas. Not too much though or it will start looking fake.

Something that might help you for future shots is to have your dog sit further away from the background. It looks like he's pretty close in this shot. I try to be closer to my dog than he is to the background and I also shoot with the 70-200. I like the longer focal lengths for most portraits because it tends to give me more pleasing backgrounds than my 17-55. I also look for complimentary backgrounds. One of my dogs is a Golden mix (rather reddish) so I know he looks great on green since green and red are compliments on the color wheel.

Give him a pat on the head for me :-)

(Added: You might be able to get away with a lower ISO, say 200-400 and a slower shutter speed too. ISO 800 is not wrong but just may be more than needed for this type of shot.)

[Eileen D]

Such a handsome dog and I agree with Karen that you did a fantastic job keeping him clear and capturing his personality. But he definitely gets a bit lost in the background. For example, when I look at his body, it is difficult to distinguish the transition from dog to grass since the tones are so similar.

Karen has provided some great suggestions for making Rafe stand out more in the image and I do hope we get to see more of him soon!

[LenDog]

Gorgeous Hund! I think the background works very well, especially against the blacks in his face and the darker tones around his chest. It's actually complimentary. No changes required, the DoF separates the background very nicely, great photo.

Check the ISO, this would be incredible noise reduction at 800 ISO, perhaps misread (EXIF not available for the photo).

[jabfinger]

Thanks guys,

I followed karen_s advice and croped in a little tighter and and made the grass(weeds) a little lighter. I left his color the same. He does stand out a bit better.



I double checked on the original image in ViewNX and iso was set 800 probably would have set it lower if I would have thought about it .

Thanks for the great critique.

[karen_s]

He is SOOOO handsome! (Now I even kinda like the grasses in the background too )