Hi I'm Julie a dog lover and photographer...

My two dogs, Cowboy and Flash...

I should actually say I'm an animal lover instead of dog lover because I love all the critters. I look forward to learning how those of you in the pet photography business are doing.

Welcome Julie, cool photo! Kind of looks like they are walking on water.

Diana

Thanks Diana!

I burned in the dog and cloud reflections to hopefully make it look that way.

Julie

Hey Julie,

Welcome aboard - and beautiful photograph. The ONE critique that I would like to give is that I think that the horizon should be straightened a bit. I hope that we see a lot more of your work in the neat future.

Cheers
James

Thanks James for alerting me to the forum and the compliment. It's interesting that you say you feel the horizon should be straightened. I intentionally tilted a bit to give the dogs movement. I went a little further down the beach and shot this image and purposely kept my camera in line with the horizon since I was shooting a landscape instead of a portrait. (not that I think all landscapes need to be straight).

Julie,
welcome. With the name of "Julie" and two dogs as ready practice subjects, you have every chance to be successful as a pet photographer -- just ask Julie Poole and Julie Ford .

A comment about image manipulation for the sake of "creativity": tilting, burning, doing B&W or sepia conversions, HDR, etc. are all excellent creative tools if used judiciously. They are not things to be done simply to make a good image better IMHO. The shot of Cowboy & Flash is good enough without the horizon tilt which actually tends to look like a mistake rather than an enhancement.

The best way to find out how everyone is doing in terms of pet photography is to ask specific questions. You'll find that we're more than willing to share.

Jim

Hey Julie,

You are welcome. LOL, actually, I should be thanking Jeff. Having said that, this is an art - and you are 100% correct that there is a definite sense of movement in the image as a result of the tilt. I was reacting to the water, and my feeling that I did not want to sense that movement as much. I hope you don't mind the small critique on your fist post - and it is indeed very nice.

Thanks for sharing, and again, welcome.
James


Thanks James for alerting me to the forum and the compliment. It's interesting that you say you feel the horizon should be straightened. I intentionally tilted a bit to give the dogs movement.

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the warm welcome.

I agree that throwing images off axes, using too many actions, hdr, burning, dodging, etc just to do it without thought is not a good thing. In this case I felt tilting, burning and adding green with some B&W (no hdr here) to the image enhanced it. I'm coming from a more contemporary direction, not quite as traditional, therefore I break the more traditional "rules" from time to time. I'm not saying that this image is exactly right and maybe the photograph *would* bother a lot of people with it's horizon off, but I meant to do it to keep it from being static. Here are more of my pet portraits to show where I'm coming from...

HI James,

I don't mind a critique in a non critique section. The reason I'm defending that image or rather style of imagery is because I meant to tilt it and because I may be coming from a more contemporary view point than some others here. I cut parts of heads off if I feel an image will have more impact that way and angle an image if I need to include more parts of the body than I could otherwise, etc. I'm not saying I can't use a critique because I definitely can. I am saying understand where I'm coming from 1st and then critique me based on that.

Julie,
love them! Here it's clear what you're trying to do and it is definitely contemporary but none of them look like it was a mistake . There's nothing wrong with breaking the rules as long as you -- and your viewing audience -- know you're doing it.

Jim

Hi Julie...Welcome to the forum. Thanks for sharing some of your work.

As for breaking the rules, I believe that if you are making a career of professional photography the main rule is to create photographs that your clients will buy. Maybe you select your clients based on your style, maybe they select you based on their tastes. If you match yourself up with enough willing clients and generate enough sales to have a successful business then what does breaking the rules really mean?

My critique is that I would like these better if they were pictures of cats

I would be interested in the technicals for the 3rd image of the second set (ball in mouth). I really like the perspective.

Thanks for welcoming me Preston. Your profile pic is fantastic! So you are a cat person -- lol.

About that image: It was late day as you can tell from the sun being down by the horizon line...
f/5.0
1/400
1 stop overexposed
ISO 320
5D Canon and I only bring my 24-70 to the beach 'cause I'm afraid to bring my good primes there. That will eventually have to change. I shoot a lot with the TS lens so eventually I will bring that too. I'm most likely at 24

Hi James & Jim,

Now you have me rethinking my 1st shot. Maybe I'll straighten it but I think I'll loose the people, suds or top of clouds.

Really nice photos Julie.

Like the others, I think the first photo is very attractive but am also not fond of the tilt. Now there is a strong tilt in the one with the dog with ball in mouth but the rise to the upper left is offset by the dog in the upper right and the total intense look on his face smack dab in the middle of the photo. I really like that one a lot. Were you on the ground with that photo or do you have a top viewer on the camera? It looks like the camera was on the ground.

Diana

Hey Julie,

LOL, I have no problem with breaking the rules at all. It was just that one shot. :P For example, the shot that Preston mentioned (with the dog in the mouth) with the folks watching also has a horizon on a tilt - but I LOVE IT. It was really well done..BTW, the shot leading to it and the shot after are also beautiful.

BTW, did you help the blur along in PS with the shot of the doggies nose? It's very cool.

James

Thanks Diana,

I often shoot from my foot area without looking. Like shooting from the hip I guess. As long as I have the dogs face fairly centered in the composition I know it will be in focus if I stop down a bit. I recompose sometimes as long as the dogs not moving. In this case he was bringing the ball back that I had just thrown.

Thanks James,

I didn't blur that image in PS. I shot it at 2.8 most likely.

Julie

Welcome Julie, Cowboy and Flash. Great to see your style added to our group. I know that it was said someone would be happier if they were cats ( ) but I am very happy with your pups since they look like they might have some husky in them- hence the leash??
I really like the images and the use of them with your name. Great advertising pieces. Your use of space is wonderful and I am looking forward to more images and your participation about others work.
Two cents...To tilt or not to tilt, balance is great with the foam. Love the lead in to the people. Like a titer totter, it creates movement.

Thank you for the welcome and including my two new boys, Cowboy and Flash. I put my logo on the images as a deterrent because the images are on flicker. I have had images stolen before. Thanks for the compliments and two cents too.

Julie

julie W,

Thanks for the info on the shot. I enjoyed the series.