This past weekend, Orlando hosted 3 All Breed shows which were held at the Orlando Fairgrounds, an indoor venue which sits on a lovely lake. The weather was bright, sunny, clear and cool.

We were there to watch one of our Cassidy/Blue puppies show for the first time in 6-9 Puppy Class. Jag, owned by forum member Lisa Forbes, did us proud with a 3rd place ribbon and 2 2nd place ribbons his first time ever in a ring. And, more importantly, he got better and more confident each day. It was very cool to watch.

I was asked to shoot a variety of dogs outside of the ring for environmental portraits and it was the first time I really had a chance to use my two favorite primes: my 50mm F1.4 and my 85mm F1.8. I thought I'd share some of the images with you.

On Friday, I photographed 3 Toy Poodles and a pack of 3 Rottie puppies. Both were a joy. I used the 50/F1.4 for all these shots. Here's a shot of JJ, father of James (to be seen later). Shot taken at F2.0.



And here's James, shot at F5.0. Puppies move!



Here's Rottie puppy Kona at F8.0.



And his brother Koda, aka The Chunk, also at F8.0.



The puppy shots will be combined in a collage along with pics of mom and dad to be given as Xmas gifts to their new owners.

On Saturday, I switched to the 85/F1.8 but the light was very bright and even at ISO 100, I really couldn't open up to F2.0 which I like in order to isolate the subjects. Here's a shot of a Rottie girl, Disco at F3.5.



And another Rottie girl, Opal, at F3.5.



Here's a Dobe, Duchesse, at F4.5.



My conclusions about shooting these types of portraits with primes: they are wicked sharp compared to zooms; the wider apertures let you do some things creatively that you simply can't do with slower zooms -- like really isolate your subject with DOF; they focus faster than zooms, which is really helpful with fast-moving black & tan puppies.

The downside: if you shoot like I do on the ground, hand-held, you have to scootch around on your belly when photographing moving subjects like puppies; even dogs that are set up, move from one stack to the next so, again, you do a lot of moving on your belly. In my case, that ain't all that easy .

Clearly, zooms are more flexible and more convenient for these types of situations but I like the results with the primes. I think I'll be using them more outside of the studio.

Jim

I really love the image of the face front sitting puppy! And the Dobie is wonderful. What a pretty girl. Thanks for sharing.

Nice shots Jim. I particularly like the last 2, Opal and Duchesse, they are awesome!

You need to invent an inflatable tire creeper to get around in the grass on your belly! I know the feeling......

An inflatable tire creeper!!! Now, that's a great idea. If I build it, we can file for the patent together .

Jim

Jim, nice subjects. I'm conflicted by the title of the post and what I know about your skills as a photographer.

I was under the impression that this thread would show us how great those primes can be.

I'm sorry but I know those primes, in your capable hands can produce much better images.

All the but the last image is out of focus and most of the other shots are over exposed, but they are not in focus.

Take a look at the first one. It has very shallow depth of field, as we would expect, but it's out of focus and there's little depth, the subject is not isolated in the frame rather it blends into the entire scene. . .

The main reasons to shoot primes are subject isolation and image sharpness, which both are almost non existent in your shots, except the final dobi shot. . .

I know you do a lot better than those. Maybe post a couple more.

Thanks,

Tony