New pup photography tips?

haalumni

So as many of you know form my other thread, I am super excited to welcome my new Shikoku pup pretty soon an I'm sure I'm going to go photo crazy! Since many of you on here take such amazing pics of your dogs I was wondering if you would share some photography tips? I have a cannon T3i (and of course my iPhone).

Crispy

Hey! That's the same camera I have... it's really easy to use and pretty fun. I usually use the manual focus and the automatic "no flash" setting on the top wheel... because I'm lazy. When I do anything else, I mess around in the program settings.

I don't know if ANY of this is going to be useful, but here it goes...

I don't really have any advice on setting a shot up. Most of the time I just point, focus, and click until I get something and go with what "feels right" through the viewfinder.

Some of mine with the T3i. I don't know how much you've played with your camera, but basically all of my shots have been happy accidents. I just hope I'm focusing correctly while I'm pointing and clicking. I often find myself lining the shot up through the view finder - those little "dots" inside there remind me, pretty often, that I'm attracted to the "rule of thirds", lol. I love those little dots. They're my best friend in photography.

The first picture I ever took with it...


Practice... this was my first manual focus image I liked. Just "no flash" setting.


I don't remember what settings I was messing with for this shot, but I remember thinking "this doesn't even look real" when I looked at the result. This was an overcast day. I have another picture from this day I'll include, just so you can see how overcast it was...


Not nearly as bright as the first image. Only about an hour later.


With puppies, it was hit or miss. No in-between. This one was taken on the "no flash" automatic setting. Because I'm lazy and puppies are too fast to spend time toying around with settings!

haalumni

Lol Thanks Crispy! I love those shots at the beach and the one in the field. I know exactly what you mean about happy accidents. Every now and then the pictures I take come out so perfect I surprise myself.

I took both of these just playing around with stuff in the yard.




We'll have to see how well Miya does with photos. Good or bad I'll be taking a ton of them! lol

CrimsonO2

I second the idea of don't use flash. With regards to your phone, hold it as close as possible. I've done pretty good shots of my dogs using my phone by holding it upside down so it's close to the ground and near them and no flash. I just rotate the picture 180 degrees after I'm done with it.

PoetikDragon

No flash, always!

I tend to use Tv, no flash auto, or sports/action mode the most. Focus trap is invaluable if your camera supports it. Some smart phones do, not just DSLRs.

For indoor shots of moving / wiggly puppies, have as much light as possible so the aperture doesn't have to be open as long. The longer the exposure the blurrier a moving subject will be. Lots of light means less exposure time needed.

haalumni

I usually don't use flash indoors but on the occasion I do I use a cool little gadget call a light scoop which works wonders!


@poetikdragon - what do you mean by focus traps? I'm not sure what that is.

PoetikDragon

Focus trap is a feature of some touch screens. You tap on the area you want to be in focus, and it will autofocus until that area is sharp and clear (the "trap" is sprung) and then take the picture.

T_Dog

The position of the dog is important to some. Having a proper stack to show the dog in its best position. I don't know if that's something your thinking about. But I guess it might depend on what your using the pictures for. I personally like a picture of them in a full stride run and candid shots. But some people like the free stack.