Lets Make Mary K Into An Awesome Stress-free Dog Photographer

[Amateur]

I see advice all over the place ... why dont we all put our top 5 photo tips here all in one place.
Maybe even post one dog photo you absolutely love, with an explanation of how you took it and why.

 

[Amateur]

1. Take photos in natural light outside. Indoor shots may tend to blur as the shutter speed is slower in darker areas or you get too much flash.
2. Get down to dog level. We look down at our dogs every day - its nice to see their full faces when you kneel down a bit.
3. Take pictures at Sunrise or sunset - you get a beautiful artsy glow to your photos that way.
4. Just let your dog do what dogs do. Best photos are spontaneous and they look most happy when they are not being told to stay still.
5. Like I said before - be snap happy and chances are there will be that perfect picture amongst the rabble. Be ruthless and delete the bad shot - tomorrow is another day.

This is one of my favourite photos. My Old dog Whiskey. It was her first big outing with other dogs. Being the slightly separation anxiety type, we were concerned when she hadn't "checked in " with us for a few minutes. Low and behold a few seconds later a Stinky, boggy, mud covered ( cant see the white chest can you ) VERY happy dog came running up to us. All we could do was laugh. I knelt down and quickly took the photo. It may not be perfect but the memory is.

 

[MaryK]

Amateur HUGE thank you I have actually copied all you've said, I sincerely appreciate your help as I do so want to take really good photos of my boys. And yes I will get a decent camera too

I have always wondered why indoor shots came out so badly, now I understand I did manage to turn off the flash, as I dislike flashes in my eyes, and I didn't want to blind my boys. But will go outside in future.

Sunrise sunset, now I understand too why those are the best times. I love that soft artsy glow I see in other photos but never knew how it was achieved. I thought it was some form of filter Nature really is grand isn't she.

I'll get down as low as I can in future!

Will be come snap happy and promise to delete the bad shots (which I haven't done in the past and believe me there are too many to think about).

The photo of Whiskey is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. She looks sooooooooo HAPPY and the white chest - LOL what white chest? I did think I spotted it but then realized what I thought was a muddied white speck was, I think, her registration/name tag, somewhat muddied. I also noticed how you had that lovely artsy glow and the softness of the photo. The way she stands out and the background is just that - background with a soft piece of grass just touching her face, truly beautiful. And I understand about spontaneous photos, you'd never get that 'look' if she had posed.

I too would have laughed, dogs somehow know how to do that, even muddy stinky ones

Love the story too, don't our dogs always surprise us And yes, we never forget those wonderful memories our dogs gift to us do we. They are so precious

Even with my "Barbie" Camera (for now anyway) I'll get better shots and will practice hard so that when I get a decent camera, I'll do the dogs and the camera justice

You've given me so much hope and now I feel much more confidence Partner will no longer be able to laugh at my efforts

Weather permitting I'm going to be out in the garden tomorrow practicing all I've learned

 

[Dogster]

Great idea for a thread, Amateur!!! LOVE that photo, btw!!!
Ugh, Amateur mentioned all the good stuff already... Let's see if I can think of something...

1. Don't be afraid to zoom in. A lot of people I know are afraid to zoom in when taking pics. You shouldn't zoom in too much, just to bring the subject into focus.
2. You should be comfortable to get down to the subject's level. Like Amateur said. You shouldn't be afraid to lie down to take a picture of a butterfly, photographers get into awkward positions a lot to take pictures.
3. Play around with your camera. You'd be surprised what kind of cool functions you'll find that will help you take a fantastic picture.
4. Flash + indoors= Try not to use the flash indoors, instead try to have good lighting. Taking pictures indoors is best done during the day.

I haven't had my new camera for long, but I have my favourite pic, so far. (I'm typing on the new laptop, I'll switch back to the old one and get the pic.)

 

[Dogster]

Okay, here it is...
This has got to be one of my all-time favourite photos. It's not photoshopped, honest. So a dragonfly landed on the metal post, on the dock. Shivon was interested in it (she had never been so close to a dragonfly before), so she went up to it, and started sniffing it. then she picked it up with her nose, until it's entire back end was resting on her muzzle. Talk about being "one with nature". I got to take a couple of photos. Thankfully the dragonfly was cooperative.

 

[Amateur]

P.S. Mary ... I am not saying your camera is bad - I dont even remember you saying what you had -- I was really just teasing about the colour ...

You can have the best camera in the world and still take lousy shots ...

Work on atmosphere and capturing the moment - then any camera will work.
Some of my best pics are from an entry level canon.

 

[Amateur]

Nice shot Dogster ... Black dogs are sometimes hard to get but you have excellent usage of light and a lucky dragonfly !

 

[MaryK]

You guys ROCK Again, sincere thanks Dogster, I'm amazed at how wonderful you all are! No one has ever bothered to help me with taking photographs, just usually laughed at my attempts.

Again, have written down your tips too.

Have to be honest, don't even know where the zoom is Will find it though and practice like crazy.
Will do, just hope no one takes a photo of me at that time Seriously, I will get down and in awkward positions from now on.
Would you believe I am actually scared of my camera I'm so nervous I've felt if I play around I'll do something totally stupid. But I will play around I promise! (and I keep my word too)

Will do, indoors during daylight with good lighting. No flash

Again, another awesome photo. I can see it hasn't been photoshopped (I worked in an Ad Agency with models for a while so I can spot a photoshopped photo pretty quickly). It's another of those amazing photos (like Whiskeys) which you just cannot plan. I love the way you captured the exact moment Shivon lifted up the dragonfly and how CLEAR the dragonfly is too. It's the photo I voted for two in the comp you've entered And Shivon, her face is so gentle. And again, the background is just that background. With that same softness as in Whiskey's photo, with Shivon and Dragonfly 'standing out'. Did you use the zoom?

It's almost as if the Dragonfly knew you were taking a photo and held the pose, beautiful, nature is wonderful isn't she

 

[Amateur]

What camera do you have Mary?

Maybe in a bit we can all play a game like I have done on another site.
It was called get use to your camera. Someone would suggest a photo, some situation, particular lighting, b&w, ect. then people would go out and do their assignment for class.
It could be dog related or of something similar that would later help with pet photos.

 

[MaryK]

P.S. Mary ... I am not saying your camera is bad - I dont even remember you saying what you had -- I was really just teasing about the colour ...

You can have the best camera in the world and still take lousy shots ...

Work on atmosphere and capturing the moment - then any camera will work.
Some of my best pics are from an entry level canon.

Amateur, I know you were teasing, love your humor, it's just like mine I'd have said exactly the same thing Don't mind in the least the joke being on me, when it's done in good fun, I love laughing and you sure made me laugh big time! Barbie Camera love it!

Before all your help, that's exactly what would have happened to me had I had the world's best camera. Now, I can move forward and practice with my camera (which I know is not the best, partner wouldn't bother to buy me the best because he thinks I'm hopeless, has a point but LOL going to change that now). And when I can get a good one Cannon Powershot S100 - right? I'll be ready to take the best photos! Even with my entry level, I can now move forward

I will work on capturing the atmosphere and the moment, that I will do more easily now, as in the past I've been so nervous because I just didn't know how to take good photos and I so wanted to.

Dogster that's probably why my photos were shaky, I DO ooops DID SHAKE like mad, am not kidding either!

 

[MaryK]

What camera do you have Mary?

Maybe in a bit we can all play a game like I have done on another site.
It was called get use to your camera. Someone would suggest a photo, some situation, particular lighting, b&w, ect. then people would go out and do their assignment for class.
It could be dog related or of something similar that would later help with pet photos.

It's a Samsung ES20 LOL pink with a somewhat battered manual, the cat knocked a cup of coffee over and the manual took a hammering! It's still readable but totally incomprehensible to me

I love that idea, would be grand!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[MaryK]

Nice shot Dogster ... Black dogs are sometimes hard to get but you have excellent usage of light and a lucky dragonfly !

Oh dear, Ra Kismet is mostly black - good practice for me though, a challenge!

 

[Dogster]

s100 is excellent for a digital camera. There are many wonderful cameras out there... I don't know much about good cameras, but I like mine. I think you'd like Auto- it adjusts the depth of field automatically, that's what I used for the pic (I didn't have time to change)

There's a thread where we gave camera suggestions to Tigerlily: http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forums/threads/best-video-camera-2-questions.4561/

 

[MaryK]

Thank you Dogster, just been reading the thread and the general concensus of opinion is that the Cannons (seems like just about all models) are the best with the CannonS100 being the favorite.

What was also very helpful was the fact that most are also using the shoot/ click for video and not worrying about buying a video camera. Partner is saying he wants a video camera, so will pass this information on, not LOL that he'll listen to me, but I can try

The other thing I noticed, in one vid in particular, the person said they were using a cheap, discontinued camera, and the vid was really good. And Amateur you said that even with a cheap camera, it's the atmosphere, the moment and that vid did exactly that! I'm learning

Further, I did start to use the Window Editor, which again most people are using for the vids, but partner took over and now we have something else, much harder to understand and I do understand graphic programs.

 

[Amateur]

Most manuals are available for download on the internet Just google in "Samsung ES20 Manual"

And yes many of the videos from cameras are quite good

 

[MaryK]

Most manuals are available for download on the internet Just google in "Samsung ES20 Manual"

And yes many of the videos from cameras are quite good

Thanks Amateur will do

 

[jackienmutts]

These photos are great, as is this thread. Dogster, I LOVE your pic of Shivon and the dragonfly -- I love love love dragonflies, and to me, that is a once in a lifetime shot!!! Mary, just have fun with your camera, that's what it's for, no need to be scared of it, and if you mess up, that's what that "delete" button is for, don't be scared of that either. The more pics you take, the more comfortable you'll become -- and so will your dogs. Mine are so used to my camera, they think nothing of it. It's more of a oh, here she goes again... type thing. I think they almost hurry up and try to do what I want to speed things along.

All really great advice, and it's true, you don't need an expensive camera to take good pictures. Only a good subject - and you've got two!! Keep practicing and just have fun!!!

 

[MaryK]

Jackie, I too love, love, love Dragonflies

I will, you have all given me courage thank you so much

Must find the delete button To date, all I could do was turn on the camera and click the photo taking button Absymal isn't it With the soccer photos of Rakins I posted that was the first time I had managed to upload to the computer from the camera without help! *hangs head in shame* dreadful thing to admit, especially as I have been using computers for a long time!

It's still a hippo wallow outside today. Am hoping it does dry up a bit so I can get down and dirty and start snapping away Will find oldest clothes as Rakins is sure to love all the mud
Yes I know what you mean Jackie. Good friend in Melbourne took loads of photos of Zeus and Tiger Lily and neither dog took the slightest notice in the end. I think with Rakins it's a bit of a novelty, me taking photos, so of course, being the curious, investigative dog he is he just HAS to take a closer look That's about to change!

Changing my mindset RIGHT NOW - to IT'S FUN!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yes, I have two wonderful subjects. Cat's are more of a challenge as they are inside cats so will have to wait for good light inside. But LOL they don't really do much now, just sleep and eat Oh and attempt to help me type!

 

[Dogster]

The delete button is right over.......................................^ here. See the garbage can?? Well, when you go to view your photos after you take them, you press that button, and a delete option should come up.

 

[MaryK]

Thank you so much Dogster *blush* didn't realize that was what it was.