Sneakin' Up

by Jannilynn
(Windsor Ontario Canada)

This is my beautiful pup, Tonka Toy, a purebred Chow Chow. He is my everything ! (even a good model).

I was trying to get in close to show his facial expressions. Tonka is a big ham for the camera and I think I caught "that" in this photo.


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Photos of pets can often present problems for photographers.

Animals just don't perform in front of the camera as you'd like. But put the camera away, and there's the shot you wanted (they know, I swear they do!)

But here Jannilynn seems to have the perfect model! Tonka Toy seems quite happy to just lie there and have his picture taken.

So are there things I would change about this photo? Just a couple . . .

First of all, there's a vignette on this photo, which may have been deliberate. I just don't know how I feel about it.

It certainly draws the eye into the photo. But it seems a little dark for such a friendly looking fella! Click to read more about how to create an artistic vignette.

The other thing I would try is to sharpen the photo. Tonka Toy appears a bit soft (and I'm sure he is!), and he could do with a little sharpening.

This is easy to do using software. The best tool to use is the somewhat confusingly named 'unsharp mask' tool (it actually sharpens the image – the name comes from a darkroom technique). If you don't have that tool in your software, just use the standard sharpening tool.

A little sharpening will really bring out Tonka Toy's eyes – make them sparkle. And that always helps with any portrait – even dogs!

Thanks Jannilynn for the submission.

Ed.

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