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Hi all, it's been quite some time since I've posted on here. Any-hoo I've had a crack at taking some pics of my dog, Moe, it's proving a little difficult as his attention span can be best measured in nano-seconds.



Anyone have any feedback and tips on how best to get decent photos of pets?

I think you need to bribe them with some treat or have someone out of the frame playing with them. Don't dispair and keep taking photos regardless. They are a bit like children and you need to be quick. The only sugestion I can offer is to crop it tight and get rid of as much as you can.

micka wrote:
Anyone have any feedback and tips on how best to get decent photos of pets?

micka, my first suggestion is to buy a decent flash and bounce it off the ceiling to give you nicer lighting. my second suggestion is to learn as much as you can about flash photography. here's a good place to start:
http://www.planetneil.com/tangents/flas ... echniques/

for that particular photo, if you bumped your iso up to around iso800 you would have had a much nicer balance of ambient light and flash light.

i love those dogs, they are so cute.
i agree with more bounced light

Thanks for the suggestions. As a follow on, how do the sb-400 perform? I've played with an sb-600 a bit and would happily get one of those (used to have one, but priorities changed) but if I can get away with the smaller size without sacrificing too much else, that would be good. Can't justify the extra expense of SB-900 (as much as I'd like to :p), as was the debate I had a few years ago with sb-600/800.

An external bounced flash would be helpful but not essential. One could use tungsten lamp(s) bounced off walls with some success but you will have to sacrifice ISO and aperture. Probably the worst option is the onboard direct flash as the main light source. If you use a prism, you could redirect the onboard flash upwards......

Maybe try during daytime with window light ?

Once you get your light sorted, one could start thinking about how to show his personality on the photos etc....