Atherton & District Amateur Photographic Society

Sorry not been on for quite some time - had lots on and lots of changes,
hope everyones well.

Recently went up to nefyn, to stay in a friends van, lovely place.
Took some pictures of her dogs whilst there.

need opinions on this one (please) - theres something about it,
i like it, but feel theres something missing, just dont know what.
Was taken on the beach on a verry dull rainy day.



And also need an opinion on this one.


jane

Welcome back jane-f and thanks for posting the images.

The second one first. Robins pose very nicely, and you've taken full advantage of that. This image is crying out to be cropped in closer, removing the distracting background top left and making the robin fill more of the frame. That done, you've got it right and there's nothing else to do.

The first one needs a lower viewpoint I think. If you get down to the same level as the dog you make it more important in the frame - an equal. However, it's pretty good as it is and just needs a different crop. I'd go in close so that only twigs and dog are in the frame, plus some space to right for the dog to be seen to be moving into, and the powwer of the shot increases dramatically.

Hope that helps!

Ta John

Will have a play with them tomorrow me thinks.

It was fairly difficult to get down to dogs level on the day, as its what i would normaly do,
but with a deerhound and two other saluki's charging round behind me -
was a bit risky. Would have ended up flat in the wet sand

Jane-f,

Firstly, sorry for editting your photos myself, however, a picture speaks a thousand words and all that business.
For the robin, I agree with John and would pick a crop similar to this:
You also have a 'streak' somewhere in the middle on the right, which I have removed with Picasa.

As for the deerhound, it's a pity it is too straight on, however, any hunting dog will automatically stand like this.
I would crop as I have below, however, if I was to put the photo into photoshop/gimp etc, then I would be tempted to turn the dog around to look towards the sticks.

When the colours in a photo are so close, I always veer towards black and white to get some contrast, so I have done here. The only thing you didn't say is what the intention with the photos are, whether they are for competition (in which case ignore most of what I've said), or for a website/printing/gift.

Before I start to edit any photo, I quickly put them into Picasa and start cropping/black and white and even hit the 'I'm Feeling Lucky' button for a couple of minutes or so, before deciding the best thing to do.

Hope no offense is caused.

jane-f wrote:
need opinions on this one (please) - theres something about it,
i like it, but feel theres something missing, just dont know what.





And also need an opinion on this one.

1) Dog
The thing that's "missing" might be the dog's fourth leg? Just joking...

I actually quite like this photo and I personally think it works in colour just as well as in mono. The dog looks a bit static in the middle of the frame, though the central placement doesn't bother me too much. I'd probably crop an inch or so off the top of the frame though to below where the black blob is in the sea.

I think the image may benefit from brightening it up a tad and perhaps a bit more contrast. Have a play and see what you think...


2) Robin
As stated, crop it, clone out the rain streaks, clone out the light blob to camera right and see what that gives you...

Best regards
Paul

Sorry for late reply - have been at the E of E show ground all weekend.

No offence taken at all philip - the dog in the photo is a saluki ,
the deerhound was messing around behind me lol, all opinions are verry much apprechated
no matter how there given, the photo of the dog will just be given to its owner, she verry kindley let us have her challyvan(sp)
for the weekend.
Im still learning lots - and the photo of the robbin was an opertunity that i couldnt pass on,
i had just got in my car and was about to leave, when it sat right on the post to the side of the car,
it wont be entered in to anything - took pictures of it to practice.


Funny you should say that Paul - the other dog i took pictures of is a 3 legged dog lol,
i could always clone another leg in
will have more of a play with them - once ive recovered from this weekend.