Please critique

Yesterday I took some pictures of my lovely girl. It was the first time since a long time I used the camera to 'mindfully' shoot instead of taking pics with full automatic. I am sure there is lots to improve, please share your thoughts on what to pay attention to and how to do it better.



1. One of my first shots. I like it but it's not that I great. I can't say what's wrong with it either. Is it the reflection in her eye?


2.


3. This picture is #2 cropped. I like it a lot, but her eye is obviously not sharp anymore.


4. I love how the covers make her 'float' as if she is in the clouds. However I am not so sure about the overexposed window at the background. Is it annoying?


5.


6. They usually say not to take pictures from above, but I tried it anyway because of the even background you get this way.


7. Here I closed the doors to prevent overexposure from the backwindow

Thanks for taking the time!

Evita,
Your girl is lovely and these a very nice photos of her. Since you asked, I'll offer some constructive criticism. It seems to me you're too concerned about the technical aspects of your images and too little concerned about getting your subject to look her best. Doing portraits by yourself is difficult because you both have to handle the camera and bait your dog. I've learned to be able to handle the camera with my right hand and my "bait" -- whether it's food or a toy -- with my left. Or, you can use a tripod. The whole thing about pet portraits is expression: getting your dog to look the way she looks when you say to yourself "gosh, she's just beautiful!" A squeeky toy will get that expression and get her ears up so she looks as beautiful in the pictures as she does when you're not taking her picture.

From a technical standpoint, when you have a dark dog, try to put it against a medium background. Personally, I use black even with my Rotties but I have studio lights and I know how to pull them off of the background. But if you balance the color of your dog against a medium colored background, you'll not risk blowing out the background or under-exposing your dog.

Here are a couple of examples: first up, our Golden, Crash, in an informal shot in the yard.



Notice that his ears are not plastered back and that toy is so "him" I had to let him hold it.

And here's a studio shot of our oldest girl, Cassidy Ann, in my preferred low-key style. Notice how alert she is and how she's responding to my "rude mouth noises" .



So, my advice is to concentrate less on the technical aspects and more on getting that expression from your dog that you love so much. And have fun. If you're not stressed out about the photo session, she won't be stressed out either.

Jim

Thank you so much for your criticism!
I have seen your pictures they're very nice. The more I appreciate your comments.

Just to explain why I did what I did. Noa doesn't like the camera that much and she is a mellow dog inside the house unlike outside where she is the 'crazy bitch'. So I tried to make nice pictures of that mellow dog with here and there a little direction (moving her around).

I'll now go and put your advice to use!

Evita,
I understand about some dogs just not liking the camera. We have a boy that stays with us when his family is on vacation. His name is Max, he's gorgeous and, since he's out of my boy Rowdy, we've known him since birth. But every time I get behind the camera, he gets very serious. Normally, he has great expression with ears up and mouth open (I like my Rotties to smile) but when I'm shooting him, he's a different dog. Here's a shot of him taken inside in a formal setting:



That's Max in the middle with his half-sister Cassidy and his half-brother Harry Potter.

And here's Max in an informal portrait taken outside.



Personally, I like the naturalness of his face in the outdoor shot. But, in both cases, his ears are forward and his expression is alert. That's the key regardless of where you shoot your dog.

Jim