All
I went to bed last night feeling a bit deflated. I got up this morning and read three pages of replies by the people who's views I really do value - those of you at APUG - I suddenly feel quite positive again! Thank you all so much for your views and comments.
To clarify the circumstances, I was trying to broaden my experience of canine photography, I was lucky enough to be invited to a training day by my local police force. All the dogs are police dogs. The little one is a sniffer dog. The Shepard is used for bringing down thugs and hooligans! Trust me when I say I did not want to worry him!
Here he is again in a not so relaxed state, and
here he is again 10 seconds before I just lay down flat on the ground with my hands over my head whilst he investigated me at very close quarters! If I had got up and ran, he would have taken me down! Remember this is a dog in training, not trained!
The reason for posting on IRC was not to have the images themselves critiqued. This is a general IRC channel, mostly full of digital shooters but many are experienced. A discussion about Delta 3200 came up (which was unusual) so I posted one of my images to kind of say "Look, it's a nice film...." for which all this abuse then followed. I was rather shocked. I only ever go there when I want an instant reply to something - I wish the APUG IRC was busier as I would always ask for advice here if it was.
Eric said "I'll have to say the photos on your website look much better than the 4 examples you have given us here. Maybe the issue is with the scans." - the whole sets of scans were all a bit weak, but then the generic batch of prints were not that great either. The hand printed one's of the B&W looked good though.
Eddie said "I would disagree with the comment that the one with the leash is weak. I find it compelling and menacing. If that was your intention, it was successful." - it was, and thanks. The reason for the large space to the right was due merely to the fact that I wanted a "top left to centre" line of interest but I was too far away to get that right bit cropped. In print, I could achieve this of course, and did for the dogs handler. Her print does not include that large area to the right so the dogs face is off centre to the right, but I digress. For showing to you guys, I didn't want to cheat by cropping the digital scan. The subtle showing of the word 'police' on her top was also deliberate to add context to the shot, though I'm not sure if many notice it.
pentaxuser said "I think the second photo is an arresting image. " - thanks for both of your comments pentax.
Paul said "There are two kinds of comments I fear the most; totally positive and totally negative. I'm never that good and I'm never that bad." - that has to be put in a quotes book somewhere! Super line.
Eddie also said "Don't go to websites where anonymous idiots make useless comments. Come here, where anonymous geniuses make useful ones.." As I said above, I usually do, but sometimes I need a quick reply to something. Though APUG posters are pretty quick, sometimes you need to find something out in an instant.
David said "A professional photographer I know makes a great living doing pets, and his work is stellar, but he is smart and does it in his studio where things can be controlled." - I know of a few that do the same, though my style is not really studio work. I prefer the grittier "dog at work" kind of stuff, which is what I was trying to do here. Out of interest, do you have his website address so I can look at his work?
Elias said "All four shots seem to be the start of a story that could be developed with more shots of the same subject " - you're right. I will post the full gallery link, just for a day or two (its not really a public page) and then I'll emove it :
Its here.
Worker said "It took me a minute to figure out what he was chewing on. Maybe you could change the angle of the shot so the viewer can see what the dog is doing. The second one is a police dog in training. Right?
It makes me think, "If it wasn't for that handler with the collar on that dog, he'd tear my leg off!...With that in mind, I'd give a solid 8, overall." " - lol...Yeah, I agree with you about the leg chewing! The dog is chewing a hard blue training ball in the colour shot. I take your point that it would value being noticeable.
Matt said "if the criticism was in the nature of "the brightness of the foreground grass is distracting" or "the wayward single strand of grass near the top" draws attention away from the eyes" or "the blue colour near the mouth is confusing" than the criticism would be constructive" - yes, quite right. And that is constructive. The blade of grass you refer to I noticed as soon as I saw the print, but I didn't notice when I shot the photo :-( !!
Marcus said "I love your photographs! Great low angles, wonderful subjects and well photographed! 3 x I had to look at the lovely images as they convey so much. " - thanks mate!
As I say, the rest of you who said positive things and also provided cosntructive criticism - thanks many.
Ted
