Lonely Little Puppy

[newtocanon]

New to DSLR and finally registered with CS to get some critique from the experts in here so as to improve. Anyway... here goes.

1. in what area is critique to be sought?
I would appreciate if someone/anyone can tell me how I should have composed this shot if it sucks or if it is not ideal. Also, I did not use flash for this. Would it be better?

2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
To me, the puppy looked very lonely so I hope I managed to capture it.

3. under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
Taken in Kukup. Late afternoon around 5-6pm. Sun was beginning to set then. As mentioned, I did not use flash so could someone comment on this? Whether I should have or shouldn't. I used a canon 500D + kit lens.

4. what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture
I think to me... it looks alright but what do I know? If I did, I wouldn't need to be criticised.

I value all negative and constructive criticism and thanks for taking the time to go through this.

 

[madmartian]

Pretty good shot. Bg is ok but would prefer that you left the out the 2 white distracting door or window. Could have shot a little lower (then the you won't get so much of the white space at the back) & giving more foreground where the puppy is lying. Good DOF on the face Composition wise is good. Could have also waited longer & taken a few more shots of it looking into your lens. Be kind to animals. At this close range, its better not to use the flash. It might do harm to the eyes of the puppy (unless its well diffused) & it might scare it away.

 

[faineant]

Your subject is certainly sporting a good pose

I think the top is de-valuing a real nice photo. Firstly, the background(even though in bokeh) is not particularly helpful.

I would give maybe a bit more foreground on the wooden boardwalk, by taking 1-2 steps back(unless you can't because you would fall into the sea?)

I believe you set the camera on the ground? So it's good you didn't take a shot from above the pup.

Just too much headroom in my opinion.

 

[raysonyong]

Hi,

the shot is good... and it really tells the story about how the dog feel and is really very nice, in addition to that, the dog gave you a very good pose to take.. wonderful..

but i think probably to my opinion though i myself just started to learn photoshooting... i think as mention, the shot should maybe just move a little lower... which i think not too much of the space at the back. probably if you can, photo shop a little, enhance the concerntration to the dog... i think it would be extremely nice!

hope my 2 cent suggestion is fine

 

[Richter]

What I like: The shot that is really close to the ground. It makes me see the world at the same eye level of the animal making it interesting.

What I dislike:
- The choice of lens. You seems to have chosen a wide angle lens shooting really near to the animal. As the head seems larger than the body. Try to imagine how the dog and background will look like if a normal or telephoto focal length shot is taken.
- The paw and the mouth area was a little outside the frame. Like what most have pointed out above by others to show more foreground.
- The 2 windows like they say that do not serve much purpose unless of cause if the interior of what seems like warehouse is more exposed which could make the background more interesting.

 

[newtocanon]

Thanks for all the advice from you guys.

Yup, I should have taken a few steps back to ensure the whole puppy was in it esp the paw and the mouth... and also to remove the distracting background. Thanks alot! Will keep this in mind the next time.

Richter>> I did not use a wide angle lens. Unless you are referring to me using the kit lens at 18 mm. But I can't remember my setting already haha. Can you explain more on this issue? I'm having a little trouble trying to imagine wat it would look like using the said lens you mentioned. Thanks

 

[nysheng]

is it me or the picture doesn't look sharp:dunno:

the two bright parts of the bg on the left and right are a little distracting. could do with more space below the dog as well..

 

[r0n1n]

the face looks quite sharp for me. very cute

 

[soons]

Nice pose, so cute.

I like the colour of the dog, very netural.
I do agree the 2 white thingy is distracting. Not sure if it worked better if we give this picture a tight crop around the dog.

 

[hanqiang1011]

New to DSLR and finally registered with CS to get some critique from the experts in here so as to improve. Anyway... here goes.

1. in what area is critique to be sought?
I would appreciate if someone/anyone can tell me how I should have composed this shot if it sucks or if it is not ideal. Also, I did not use flash for this. Would it be better?

2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
To me, the puppy looked very lonely so I hope I managed to capture it.

3. under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
Taken in Kukup. Late afternoon around 5-6pm. Sun was beginning to set then. As mentioned, I did not use flash so could someone comment on this? Whether I should have or shouldn't. I used a canon 500D + kit lens.

4. what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture
I think to me... it looks alright but what do I know? If I did, I wouldn't need to be criticised.

I value all negative and constructive criticism and thanks for taking the time to go through this.

I think to me it looks pretty decent enough. Perhaps showing a full left paw and the lips of the puppy fully. It is cropped out from the main photo, diff ppl have diff views... But the overall ambience suits the title.
:thumbsup:

 

[KY1977]

This puppy is cute. I think using flash does not help. Try composing the picture lower as the lower jaw is clipped off unnaturally and the top seems very empty. Lastly, sharpen the image. My 2cents.

 

[newtocanon]

Thanks again for feedback from everyone. It has been a good lesson. Why? At least now I know that the two white 'things' at the background are distracting. Will try to avoid such situations in the future.