My Dog Butters

[dsnyder1001]

Random photos of butters all opinions welcome. sorry last post of flowers forgot what forum I was in.

[Muriel]

I like picture one the best but like the focus in two better. Were your going for the soft focus in picture one?

[rpcrowe]

First of all, welcome to CiC, David. I hope this is just a start of a long and happy relationship.

I am hope that you wanted some critique of the images of your very cute dog.

Regarding Image Number One. I am assuming that you were shooting with avalable light and that your aperture was pretty wide open. I always shoot my dogs with bounce flash and a Joe Demb Flash Diffuser Pro to modify the light. That way my images come out sharper because:

#1... I can use a smaller aperture and get greater DOF
#2... The flash will stop most image motion indoors
#3... The flash AF assist helps to nail the focus

There are times when my wife needs to hold a dog for the image. This is particularly true when shooting puppies. We usually cover my wife's hands with a piece of fabric. I have six or eight fleece throws, in different colors, which I use as backgrounds for my dogs when I shoot them on an easy chair and which we cover my wife's hands when we are holding a puppy. That way, the image doesn't contain my wife's hands or fingers. I get the throws at discount stores or on Amazon.com and they average around six U.S. dollars each.



We also use a "show lead" to stabilize the dogs for portraits. A show lead is a very thin lead with a loup at the end, rather than a clip to attach to a collar. The show lead is easily cloned out.

My gallery of rescue Maltese is at: http://rpcrowe.smugmug.com/Other/MAL...896317&k=76UMt

Lately, we have used a Lazee Boy chair for dog portraits. We put one of the fleece throws over the seat, back and arms of the chair. This makes a reasonably good place to put the dogs for portraits. It restricts their movement qite a bit. I sit on a rolling chair to shoot so I get eye level shots of the dogs. I can roll around to achieve a good angle.



I most often shoot my dogs (indoors or out) using a crop camera and a 70-200mm f/4L IS lens. I love a longer focal length for both people and dog pictures.

Finally, I always try to have a camera with flash mounted and a fresh CF card installed ready, in case the dogs do something interesting or funny...

[dsnyder1001]

Thank you for your insight, actually at the time of the pictures I had just received the camera as a gift and was just snapping away learning the different functions. I think I got lucky with these photos. I didn't realize how much there is to learn. I am committed to getting better. thanks again

[dsnyder1001]

By the way GREAT photos I absolutely love them.