Wander at the Park (Gratuitous Dog Photos)

[robboh]

Hijacked a mates Mal out of his kennel and took him for a wander at the dog park with our girl today. Thought it was a good day to take the new 70-200VR for its first foray as well.

Also trying out Fotogenics v4.2 +3 P&S custom curve. I like the results of the curve (these are all straight out of the camera apart from a D-Light in NC on the first one and a 1/2 stop bump in EV on #5). Only thing I notice is that the curve seems to create more noise, the pics generally seem 'grainier' than they should on ISO200. Anyone else experienced this or can comment?


Arent I Pretty?? (Ayla looking photogenic for a change)


Hi-Speed Pass!
I was playing around with panning on a slow shutter to get some movement in their feet etc. Went a bit slow on the shutter unfortunately and there is too much movement now for my liking. What you think?


Lover's in the Flowers
Blame the other half for these flower shots, but quite suitable coz these two are just such good friends


Ha, Got the Camera to Myself!
He is just so full of himself at the moment, having won the last 5 out of 6 sled races he has done.


Posing for the People (under duress). Mt Eden in the background, not to mention a branch that I failed to notice in the viewfinder


Wolf on the Skyline
Saw him coming over the hill, popped up the built-in flash and filled him in. Hope the D200 still has a flash, though Id drop the flash in favour of a bigger viewfinder.

[cyanide]

Mooties!!!!!!!

Gorgeous, gorgeous dogs. I love the "romantic couple flower shot"!

I don't mind the second one, where they are running, although I think you are right - it could have been better with a slightly faster shutter speed. Still effective, and the feeling of exhuberant movement matches the grins on their faces...

[Alpha_7]

Wow, gorgeous dogs they look like real characters (High praise from a non-dog person)

The shots are really nice, each time I see somone and their VR lens... I'm developing a serious case of lens lust...

[stubbsy]

Robboh

The first pic doesn't work for me probably because of the sun on her head (the one with the red tag is your girl I assume), but the last three really stand out (one for your GLW even!).

The interesting thing about these shots is it shows just how great an effect you can get with these dogs if you have a light background behind their ears to bring out the detail of the dark border around them. It's the real killer part of those two shots for me. And the dog on the left in the last shot (sure hope that one is yours) looks much better - facial expression is a real winner - nice and alert.

[robboh]

Alpha7. Yes they are real characters and they all definitely have their own personality, though there are a few breed traits that they all seem to have. One is that they are VERY sloppy drinkers. They'll drink, stand up, let the water in their mouths dribble out and then sneeze!! But yes, we do get a lot of comments about her (and him), people will be driving along in their cars and stop and get out and pat them and ask things about them. Can make for long walks somedays

Stubbsy. Unfortunately mine is the slightly dozy looking one on the right
Her ears are set in a different place to Astro's (the boy) and they are shorter, plus she is lazier with them. All that combines to typically looking fairly dopey in pics, though she's definitely the smarter of the two (even Astro's owner says that ).

I agree about the first photo. Its got a huge contrast range in it and I couldnt get her to move completely into the sun (or shade) without losing the pose. That pic had about a 1/2 EV reduction in exposure to get some texture back in the face and then about a '65' in the shadows in DLighting in Nikon Capture to bring the shadows up.

[Greg B]

Great shots robboh, I particularly like #5

Excellent work

[Hlop]

Hi Robboh,

Great shots and great dogs. One thing I should tell - there is certain bluish cast on shots 3 and 4 - that's often happening in the shadow. Try to play with white balance

[KerryPierce]

The last 3 shots look pretty good to me, Rob.

[robboh]

The first pic doesn't work for me probably because of the sun on her head (the one with the red tag is your girl I assume), but the last three really stand out (one for your GLW even!).

Stubbsy, I meant to ask about this, this is an acronym I havent come across before?? What is a GLW?
The red tag is the council registration tag, changes colour each year. Last years was blue.

Kerry, Alpha, Greg et al. Thanks for the comments.
HLop, I noticed that too. I often get a blue cast on the side of her face (i think because its so white) but the pics looked funny if I increased the overall WB very much.

[Hlop]

HLop, I noticed that too. I often get a blue cast on the side of her face (i think because its so white) but the pics looked funny if I increased the overall WB very much.

Try Color Balance if you're using PS or GIMP - Red +10, Blue -10, Green 0, this makes image warmer

[stubbsy]

The first pic doesn't work for me probably because of the sun on her head (the one with the red tag is your girl I assume), but the last three really stand out (one for your GLW even!).

Stubbsy, I meant to ask about this, this is an acronym I havent come across before?? What is a GLW?

GLW = Good Lady Wife