Hey all, I'm relatively new to this game and would like some advice / constructive criticism on these photos I took of my dog last weekend. I have a k100d and was using an fa 50mm 1.4. The last shot was taken on 1.4 and seems to have vertical lines in the top centre. Wondering what causes that?

Cheers, Druitt

[Chocolar]

Are you sure it's not something in the background? Btw, I like the last shot best.

[Peter Zack]

First welcome to the gang. OK well you asked for my 2 cents, so here goes.

1) The first shot is very good. But seems to be a little soft. Did you crop it much? Are you using spot focus or multi point? The exposure is good but the shot suffers from some back light problems. It's tough with an animal but if you can always consider the light first and foremost. The light is behind the subject and you'll get a slightly silhouetted image. I bet if he was turned around, this would have been a winner. Use spot focusing as much as possible, particularly with a portrait style shot. It is critical to get both eyes in sharp focus. That means focus on a point of one eye and use enough DOF to get the other sharply captured.

2) I like the fast moving capture and that's tough for anyone. Sharp and clear. The following is of course under ideal situations because many factors are hard or impossible to control. It would have been nice to capture the ball in the shot if you could. Second the above advice for camera shooting angle to get the best lit subject applies again. He's a bit too dark. Try and watch your backgrounds. Tougher with action shots but still worth trying to work on. This background has a bit too much busy stuff with the blown out sunlight.

3) Freakin' love it Wish his paws were all visible and he wasn't right in the center but I love this shot. Good exposure, nice colours, sharp, great expression captured, nice blurred background. Well done.

4) Again a great shot idea. But f1.4 is just too fine a focus point for a portrait. This is so close to a perfect shot but the DOF is just too shallow. Only 1 tooth is in focus. I would have stopped down some to make sure the tip of the nose is in focus. Otherwise a wonderful idea and although there could have been improvement, it's still a winner.

As for the vertical lines in the background, I don't see too much of an issue. This is most likely something from the background that was rendered this way because the lens was wide open. They do seem rather parallel but unless this keeps happening, it could simply be something in the shot that caused it. Easily fixed in PP.

[m8o]

Those last two are amazing, with my favorite the 3rd. Welcome. Hope you find the "Your Pet A Day" thread an post-up.

It seems to be a JPG conversion artifact. Do you have JPG on the highest quality setting?
I wonder if you were to shoot RAW and convert externally, if you would see the 'bars'; with the assumption you'd be getting a better quality conversion with an external program like Lightroom or Lightzone..

[kjask]

great series! congratulations!

[craftsmansky]

i think the horizontal lines are from the siding on a building in the background that is out of focus...

[druitt]

Thankyou all for your input, Chocolar and Craftmansky I think your right about the background. There is a corrugated fence there which would explain the lines.
Peter, yes I did crop the first shot down how did you pick that? As for spot or multi point focus I’m not sure what you mean. Thanks for your advice Peter, looking back at the photos now I see what you mean. A little more work in framing would have also paid off. The last shot was taken by a fluke, I was trying to take a pic of a small flower in the grass when my dog did a jump and roll right in front of me and I snapped it. Though somewhere around f2 may have turned out better

[Peter Zack]

With the first shot I looked at the third one (posted directly below Dog and ball) This lens produces a good blurred background (bokeh). Have a close look at the blurred grass in the first and then the one below. See the difference? The first looks rough and harsh. The one below is smooth and has better colour. It also softens the image and the others were generally sharp. Cropping in computer is necessary but needs to be at a minimum if at all possible. You're loosing too much data and it effects the picture quality. Lots of people do this to create fake "macros". Don't do it if you can. Spend a second to think about how the subject is framed and also how the background/distracting objects appear.

Hey the 4th shot is still great but if you get the opportunity again, try to take the shot around f4 or so.

Focus is adjusted in the menu (pg 128 I think). There are 3 choices. Selecting a focus point, multi or spot. For all the sophistication of the camera and the focus system, I still use spot focus 90% of the time. Focus on the subject, hold the locked focus and frame the shot before shooting. Now if you're doing a good job as the camera is, don't change. But give it a try in certain circumstances as I mentioned above.

[druitt]

Ah I see, Yeah the first was cropped down a fair bit. Ok ill gave that a try I think mine is set to multipoint at the moment

Cheers