Happy Dog By The Fireplace

[showalt3]

I took this picture of my dog, Maiden, while she was relaxing by the fireplace. I am new to the photography world and have been trying to read as much as I can. I've been practicing a lot but I think I need people to point out areas I could improve on because I'm not always able to recognize the things I'm doing wrong.

A few things I thought might be wrong with this picture - but I'm not sure how to fix - are:
1. Some areas are dark but when I turned on the flash the picture looked either washed out or really fake looking (flat?)
2. The picture might be a little bit too warm
3. I was trying to focus on her eyes but too many other things are out of focus - maybe I should have adjusted the aperture to fix this?
4. I like the ground level and the close up feel but I wasn't sure if it's a good composition to cut off her ears like I did

Any recommendations for how I can learn more in general? Does anyone recommend taking a class or is that not very helpful?



**Picture Info**
Canon EOS Rebel T1i
Aperture: f/5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/13 sec
ISO speed: 1600
Exposure bias: 0 step
Focal length: 55mm
Metering mode: Center Weighted Avg
Flash: No flash, compulsory

[Laurenbiz]

I agree with you regarding the ear being cut off. I, personally, don't like that.

If you are saying 'too many other things are out of focus,' then I assume you were not wanting to achieve the blur in the background. You would have to narrow your aperture in order for more clarity to come through. f/5.6 usually would create bokeh, which is what you used here. A more narrow aperture (your f/stop number higher than f/5.6) would give you less blur.

Built-in flash usually does create flat-looking photos. Good job avoiding that!

My suggestion is that you may want to brighten this a little with post-processing. A longer exposure here would let in more light, but you would run the risk of getting a blurry photo from camera shake if you would increase the exposure without the use of a tripod.

Keep on truckin'

[mrteacherdude]

Indoor pictures can be tricky, and often disappointing, when we don't yet have the equipment that allows us to strive for the high quality we would like to see; I'm working on that too

Responding specifically to your questions/comments:

1. To me it does look like some areas of your photo are a little dark, or perhaps it is just dark in the areas where you don't want it dark. I find my eyes being drawn to the brighter areas in the left portion of the photo, away from Maiden's face. I would assume this is counter to what you are/were trying to achieve. Laurenbiz suggested that a little postprocessing might help brighten up the dark spots. I hope you don't mind, but I played with your photo just a little, brightening and sharpening, to see if it might respond well to PP. I'm not real great at it, and I have a tendency to overdo sometimes, but here is a possibility that I came up with; I also cropped some of the out of focus carpet out of the bottom in front of Maiden.



I also try to avoid the on camera flash but have had some success with knocking the power down on it, and sometimes I manage to hold a white card at an angle in front of it to bounce the light off the ceiling. One trick I used to use many years ago with 35mm cameras with built-in flashes was to put a couple of pieces of scotch tape on the front of the flash to help diffuse the light, and it actually worked quite well. I haven't tried that with my DSLR yet as I'm not sure I would be able to get the flash closed, and I also bought a wider aperture lens to help get the indoor shots using ambient light.

One way of getting more light into the camera is to open up your aperture, but it looks to me like you are probably already wide-open for the focal length you were using (I'm guessing you are using Canon's 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 lens) and trying to capture as much light as you can with the ISO 1600. If you back off on the zoom some, you can capture more of the dog and maybe even the fireplace which was part of your title, and that would allow you to open the lens up some to get more light onto the sensor.

However, item 3 on your list was about some areas of your photo being out of focus. A wider aperture would typically cause the DOF to be even shallower, and so would cause even more of your photo to be out of focus. To my knowledge there is a trade-off between DOF and having enough light for your photos, without adding more light than what is already there. Laurenbiz mentioned longer shutter speeds which would allow you to use a smaller aperture, say 8.0 or more, but then you would likely be looking at really fuzzy pictures unless you use a tripod and the dog stays really still.

#4. I agree with you about the ground level shot - these are often my favorite when it comes to dogs, bugs, flowers, well, anything that is lower to the ground than us. Just my opinion, but I'm thinking it would do Maiden justice if her ears were included with her face

About #2 - (sorry, I can tend to be non-linear at times), I personally don't mind warm looking photos if they are conveying a warm tone, such as relaxing by the fireplace.

[showalt3]

Laurenbiz:
Thanks for the critique!

I did like/want the blur in the background but I wish her nose had been in focus. I was using manual focus and was making sure her eyes were in focus but then that was the ONLY thing in focus...I just turned on the fireplace to try to entice her to lay down again and I'm going to take your advice and narrow the aperture a little bit so that maybe her entire face will be in focus but the background will still be out of focus. Trying to capture something twice with that wiley dog is probably impossible though

My next purchases will have to be some sort of photo processing software (recommendations?) and a tripod. I have been wanting to take more night shots and have so far been using an upside down stew pot in the snow to prop up the camera once it gets dark...my neighbors probably think I'm insane.

mrteacherdude:
Thanks for all the lessons and the post processing picture! I was very excited to see that!

I didn't even think about people's eyes being drawn toward the left. That's a great comment. I'm going to definitely watch out for that in the future - looking at other photos of mine I'm noticing that I sometimes take pictures where there is something bright in the photo that is NOT the subject. In your processed photo it looks like her nose is more in focus too, that's really amazing. Good idea about cropping out some of the carpet too.

In addition to narrowing the aperture a little, I'll have to try turning down the flash or using your scotch tape idea. I tried using wax paper the other day with no success but I think I was holding it unevenly.

You are correct, I am using Canon's 18-55mm lens.

Thank you so much for all the tips, I'm going to play around a little with it and see if I can find a better mix between the shutter speed and a slightly narrower aperture. I think backing up a bit and taking your advice about backing off on the zoom would help. Ears need to be in the picture.

(Maiden's now sleeping in front of the fire!)

[showalt3]

After reading the critiques I tried to get a similar shot to test out the advice (I hope this isn't breaking the rules). Per the advice of Laurenbiz and mrteacherdude I made these changes:
1. I narrowed the aperture a tiny bit (from F5.6 to F7.1) so that the photo would be a little more in focus.
2. I also decreased the shutter speed (from 1/13 to 1/6) to brighten up the shot a little bit and to try to draw your eye to the areas I intended to be the subject.
3. Finally, I backed off on the extreme close up so I could get more of the dog and the fireplace in the frame, although, I feel like the photo is much less intimate now which is a little disappointing (which might have to do more with the change in how she's sitting - new title: A Regal Beast by the Fire).



Did I understand the critiques? I know it's still a beginning attempt at photography but maybe I improved slightly?

**Picture Info**
Canon EOS Rebel T1i
Aperture: f/7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/6 sec
ISO speed: 1600
Exposure bias: 0 step
Focal length: 34mm
Metering mode: Center Weighted Avg
Flash: No flash, compulsory