Advice welcome

[HarryMac 10]

I was asked by a couple to take a few portraits of their dogs so i went along on Sunday morning, never photographed dogs before and it was a little hit and miss with the dogs buzzing around but when i got home i got to work on the processing and framing options.

 

This is the first time i have tried anything like this and am hoping that some more work will come from this as Helen is wanting to take the final picture to the kenal club, fingers crossed.

 

The mount and frame are there to give Helen an idea of what the print will look like when mounted and framed.

 

Any advice very welcome. Cheers, H.

[starmag 10]

They'll love it, because its their dogs, but personally I wouldnt buy it as it is. In terms of visual language, it isnt very engaging. They're both looking outside the frame which immediately takes your eyes away from the photo. The leading lines just don't compute. There is nothing more engaging than someone (or a dog) looking straight at the camera (or at least looking pensive off centre). It just doesnt draw me in. It may work better if they were side by side looking towards each other as you have a lot of empty space around the subjects, they look a little lost.

Not to mention that they just look like headless dogs...I'd maybe include a little more of the necks and shoulders if possible..

The background is far too light around the top dog, it's getting lost in there. I'd maybe put some drop shadow or a gradient of darker colour around the image to make it stand out...it also needs to be straightened up, its a little jaunty.

Its a lovely first effort, and like I say, the owners will be over the moon with it. From a professional point of view (and where you want to make money) it's still great but not quite professional enough. Its all a matter of practice and we all have to start somewhere...

good job HarryMac

[HarryMac 10]

Thanks for the comments and advice, I see where your coming from with the background and that does need a little work (bit of a pain in the but having a white and black dog for the choice of background) As for the poses, am not a great fan of people and animals looking direct into the camera, doesn't do anything for me, never has but i suppose that is all down to personal taste and am not not really one for following a rule book at times lol.

 

Cheers, H.

 

 

 

I have also tried this side by side and it didn't quite float mi boat

[starmag 10]

Its all well and good having your own personal taste and 'not following the rule book' but if you want to make money taking professional photos of other people pets, then your own taste sometimes has to take a back seat. By all means stamp your photos with your own style but if someone is paying you for some photos, they don't necessarily have to float YOUR boat.

In order to break the rules, you have to understand them. a little like Les Dawson playing the piano!!

[HarryMac 10]

aaaaaaaaaaaah, rules are always there to be broken if customers like the results they are paying for but i am working on the background that you mentioned with a touch of shadow around the top of the head on the westy to split from the light background.

 

BTW i do understand rules and thats why i break them sometimes, as our hobby would get very boring plus, a paying customer would get bored with us all doing the same thing wouldn't they, i know i would. The advice is very appreciated though.

 

Cheers, H.

[Crayfish 10]

Why don't you flip the top head horizontally and have them both staring in the same direction?

 

It'd let you line them up better and might be a bit more stylistically appealing.

[starmag 10]

If you think customers get bored with people doing the same old thing, then you should check this place out: http://www.thisisventure.co.uk/

I worked there for a while and people parted with thousands of pounds in cash every day for photos that all looked like every other photo on the walls. It sometimes took about 15 minutes to 'edit' the pictures, and an hour to take over 100 tried and tested shots....you'd be surprised what the public are after...

I like Crayfish's idea..you could even overlap them a little to add a bit of depth?...you could crop in closer and lose some of the background too?

Looking forward to your results!

[BJan 10]

They'll love it, because its their dogs, but personally I wouldnt buy it as it is. .....

Not to mention that they just look like headless dogs...I'd maybe include a little more of the necks and shoulders if possible..

 

 

I agree with these - my first thought was they looked like decapitated dogs. As you say difficult having a black and white dog to get the right background!

[HarryMac 10]

Right here we go, after receiving some advice, i have implemented some of the suggestions mentioned and discarded others to get this result.

 

Changes made, included more neck on the scotty (alot better), a slight shadow on the westy head and a subtle tone on the background.

 

Helen is really happy with the final result.......and off to print we go, Yippeeee! Helen told me that she is looking forward to taking it to the Kenal club.

 

Thanks for the help guy's.

Cheers, H.

[starmag 10]

thats much better. I hope everyone at the Kennel Club comes and orders and some photos from you!!! Well done!

[mattsando 10]

I have to say they look like headless dogs. You know those pet portraits done by an artist, where they do a painting of your dogs head on a plain background? That's what these look like. Sorry, not a fan of headless dogs with no context.

 

[HarryMac 10]

lol Mat.....headless dogs .......they are bodyless, not headless