Let sleeping dogs lie....

[casil403]

This is my dog Chase, trying to get a few zzzz's and me attempting to get a shot of him. Aside from the light issue to the upper right of the shot, did I almost get this right? Thanks for your thoughts :)

[casil403]

I spotted some flaws (face and couch) and tidied it up a bit....

[Marko]

This is a very cute shot but to me it looks a bit overexposed. This is a black lab right? but i don't see deep blacks here. In addition the eye should be much sharper here as the dog looks really relaxed and is not moving too much. Finally, the lighting is harsh and has clipped in certain areas.
Hope that helps - Marko

[casil403]

Is this any better? The eye seems a bit sharper in this shot. What could I do next time to change this? I'm still trying to learn the settings and other basics on the camera..... Info is as follows....
Shutter priority 1/6
ISO 800
Shade setting for white balance
f4.0
Exposure bias .50

Any help is most appreciated to help me figure this out! :)

[kiley9806]

one thing that would make a difference is if you had the dog looking towards the light source (im guessing window behind the couch, so could be tricky, try another spot, move the chair around etc). that would get rid of the blow out on the top righthand side, and it would catch his eyes and light them up. although you did much improve this shot in pp - the clean up on his snout & especially the little light star in his right eye look great. much more detail is visible in his hair texture as well.

[Marko]

The problem with sharpness is directly related to this setting that you chose.
Shutter priority 1/6

Ideally that number should be 1/60 or at least 1/30

That's the shutter speed. Most living things cannot stay still enough for 1/6th of a second (they need 1/60 even if the camera is on a tripod). You got lucky here because dooger was in full rest mode supporting himself. If dooger was standing up, this shot would have been way way blurrier.

Given the intensity of the light (backlight no less - a harder light to work with), with a black dog, this is not the easiest shot.

Hope that helps
Marko

[Mad Aussie]

That last PP on the shot is much better there Casil. The added sharpness to the face and eyes really does make a huge difference.

I know you wanted people to ignore the bright spot but that has a large effect on the exposure of the photo depending on the metering mode you used.
Use a more centre weight mode or even spot if you camera has it in this case so it gets the dog better exposed and shows those blacks Marko mentioned.
A Curves adjustment in PP might have given a similar effect also.

If your camera has the ability to adjust the auto focus points then select a single point to land on the dogs eye.

Lastly, unless you really wanted a narrow DOF then the f4 stop was a bit low for this. I realize that the lighting restricted you somewhat as you were already up at ISO 800 though.
Having a reflector might have helped as that bright light source in the upper right could have been reflected back to the dog.
The 1/6 shutter speed is also too low for an object that's breathing even.

After all that is said and done ... it's actually a nice shot now you've adjusted it. Most people out there would be very happy with it.

[Marko]

I agree MA - this is an excellent fixup given the conditions.

[casil403]

Thanks everyone! I wish he was still in sleeping so I could get another crack at him. Now he wants me to play ball!

I just read more of the instruction manual (it's huge!!!) and how to work all the settings in "M" mode so I'll try that one next time.