my dog, Jack, my man's red hat and the remoteby
SignaturecardsComment by TooCool: From the Critique Club:
I see that this is your very first entry into a challenge here at DPC. Please don't let your low score discourage you from future participation!
At first glance it appears to be just a snapshot. There is nothing wrong with a snapshot but they only really have value to the person who took them or those that know the subject well. To everyone else there is not really anything to hold their attention.
This shot could be improved in many ways. The first thing is the angle that you shot from. This looks like you shot it from a standing or seated position and from above the subject of the shot. In other words you shot it from YOUR point of view. When shooting kids and pets this doesn't work so well. You need to get down to THEIR level and shoot them more directly! This may mean getting down on your hands and knees or even lying right on the floor. Try this sometime with your dog. Shoot him from a standing position then again from down at his level. You will see a significant improvement assuming you can keep the dog from licking the lens. :-P
The next thing that would help to improve this would be to take out any element of the shot that doesn't really ADD to the shot. In this case it would be the red hat and the remote control. The hat is especially distracting as it is such a bright red color and the rest of the shot is more muted. It just screams for you to look at it and takes all the attention away from your pet.
Your lighting here is not very creative. It looks like you used the flash on the camera. You can see this in the bright spot on the couch cusion and in the harsh shadow behind the hat. It also takes all the depth out of the shot and makes it appear very flat. One of the first things that I learned when I arrived here at DPC was to NEVER use the flash on the camera as is. Sometimes you need to use it but most times you can get away without it with some care. Use a tripod to keep the camera still with the slower shutter speed. Use other lights to light up the scene preferably from one side or the other. Use more than one light. One for the main lighting and another to fill in the darker side a touch (this could even be a simple reflecter like a piece of white poster board). If you think that you MUST use your flash you can difuse it a tad by taping a couple layers of tissue paper over the flash. This will help to soften it up.
The last thing that I can think of off the top of my head to help improve a shot like this is to get closer! This will first off help with the extraneous elements of the shot. It will also allow your camera to record more of the detail (texture in the dogs fur for example). It will also force you to think more about the overall composition.
I know that this is a lot to think about when trying to take a picture but if you practice and take lots of pictures, soon it will be second nature! Once again, please don't be discouraged by your score or your placing in the challenge. We all started somewhere and even the best photographers take bad shots once in a while! I'll be looking forward to your future shots.
Hope this helps
Yours
TC
Photographer found comment helpful.
