My first pics on here (scared)

[Nathan Strefford]

These are my 2 dogs mollie the collie and scrappy the lakeland / jack russel cross on a pebble beach in porlock north devon

 

[Hamish Gill]

What ya scared of man, we a friendly bunch!
(just edited the post to get rid of the superfluous IMG codes - I you get the IMG image from photobucket the is no need to click the insert photo button)
Cute dogs, I can't image what having 2 completely different breeds is like... Ours (bing mostly whippet) just run circles round us giving me little opportunity to capture anything other than a yellow or black blur!!
What camera are you using Nathen, is the 16 x 9 format pre selected?
My advice would be to use a more even sided aspect ratio for this type of shot, and don't be scared to shoot a little more zoomed out when taking photos of subjects prone to eratic movement ... You can always crop after!

For eg, take the first shot ... Fine as it is, but try cropping out some of the pebbles either side ... You should be able to bring more focus to the subject ... Does that make sence!

 

[Darren Turner]

Hi Nathan

nothing to be scared off we are a friendly forum.........!!

nothing wrong with these really, just check your composition a Little more carefully before pressing shutter.

Pic 1 would be a bit better if dogs tail wasn't chopped off

Pic 2 would be a little better if that fence didn't hide the dogs legs.

Hope you dont mind me mentioning this.

Daz

 

[Thomas brookes]

Hey nathan no need to ne scared mate, I myself found it a bit daunting posting my first pics up the beauty of this place is everyone is really friendly and offer suberb constrictive criticism I have learnt so much of old post and peoples comments, you have come to the right place!! Love the scrappy pic he looks awsome as hamish said try a crop on either side. the pebbles are awesome but by doing so you will draw the eye to scrappy.

 

[Hamish Gill]

like so ..

you can actually get away with having chopped off the tail by the position of the dog in the frame ...
see what i mean?

I hope you dont mind the pointers Nathen?

 

[Nathan Strefford]

What ya scared of man, we a friendly bunch!
(just edited the post to get rid of the superfluous IMG codes - I you get the IMG image from photobucket the is no need to click the insert photo button)
Cute dogs, I can't image what having 2 completely different breeds is like... Ours (bing mostly whippet) just run circles round us giving me little opportunity to capture anything other than a yellow or black blur!!
What camera are you using Nathen, is the 16 x 9 format pre selected?
My advice would be to use a more even sided aspect ratio for this type of shot, and don't be scared to shoot a little more zoomed out when taking photos of subjects prone to eratic movement ... You can always crop after!

For eg, take the first shot ... Fine as it is, but try cropping out some of the pebbles either side ... You should be able to bring more focus to the subject ... Does that make sence!

Hi Hamish, My camera is a sony A55 i set it to 16x9 when i set it up, and to be honest i forget it is changeable as it has so many settings. (new and learnnig dslr).

At the present all my pics are as taken as i dont use a program to adjust them, any recommendations are welcome.

 

[Hamish Gill]

I though i remembered you saying you had the a55
...
I would certainly consider changing the 16x9 to 6x4(3x2) or 4x3 you will find composition comes a little more naturally on either of those!
3x2 is a traditional format, and for good reason ... it does lend its self to easy composition of most subject matter!

as for software ... well ... thats not such an easy question to answer ... all software is going to require a learning curve!
I am going to be consistent and recommend lightroom ...
It will cost you, but you can download a 30 day trial and give it a go ... http://www.adobe.com/uk/products/photoshoplightroom/

a bit more info ... if a little cheesy ... http://tv.adobe.com/watch/getting-started-with-adobe-photoshop-lightroom-3/what-is-lightroom/