Bull Dog Frank

[The Lady of Hillsboro]

1st post!
Amateur with new Nikon D40 (my first SLR) and no photoshop. boo
Having a ball, but I desperately want to learn more.
This site is a gold mine for someone like me who knows no real photographers personally.



Shot of Frank (10 week old Bull Dog) straight out of camera, natural light.

[xxpinballxx]

Beautiful pup! Really nice shot of the pooch. The natural light adds some interest to the photo too. I might crop it if it were my getting rid of a bit of the torso and the lighter side to the right of the dog putting him on the right side of the shot looking into the frame.
Congrats on the camera same one I got and is a great little DSLR.
Welcome to the forum and enjoy. There are alot of great people here with alot to offer.

[jiminyClickit]

The Lady of Hillsboro, Welcome

Whatever else you do, hang on to your ability to spot the moment to take a photo. Not sure that's a teachable skill, but you have it, according to this shot. I went the other way, learning post processing before photography, so you have loads of time to learn both. Your choices of subject, time, angle and light can render post work unnecessary, almost.

Given a choice, I'd think a portrait crop of Frank would bring him forward and remove the lovely (and distracting) material in the right side background. Wonderful eyes, great shot of them.

[The Lady of Hillsboro]

I really want to use my camera to it's fullest potential, especially since I do not have any good processing software. But I can crop!

Thank you both

[jiminyClickit]

The Lady of Hillsboro,

If you haven't looked into it yet, Flickr has a Pro account ($25 a year) that allows more than the 200 photos on the free version, and larger file uploads. I mention it because they have added picnik, a very handy edit service. I've just tried it, find it has even a thing or two my program doesn't, and would mean I could get a comment, go to original on Flickr, edit and replace on DPS. Right now I must go offline to my program, edit and re-upload that to Flickr, then DPS. If you just wanted to experiment in post processing, it looks like a good way to get started, at a bargain price.

[The Lady of Hillsboro]

Oh my - mere moments ago I was wondering what the advantages of a pro account might be!

Just signed up today for this purpose and because I have hundreds of images I need to archive/backup. And edit! no doubt.

A decent edit service seals the deal, Pro it is.

Thanks so much for the tip, Jiminy.

[jiminyClickit]

The Lady of Hillsboro,

Hope it works well for what you need. Glad to recommend Flickr, it's a winner.