Vigilant
by AKPhotoGal

Comment:
Nice profile portrait of this dog! The snowy backdrop really allows his/her chocolate brown coat to visually pop. Lighting is wonderful. A good shot but it could be even better if you bring us closer to your main subject - say a straight head shot. There is too much of the background included in the shot that really does nothing to improve the shot. You can still have the shallow DOF of the snowy trees as a backdrop but by bringing us closer to this dog's face you bring us closer to your subject. I love the play of the light on the coat showing off the variations of rich browns. Bringing us closer would show off the lovely color of this doggie. We would also see and appreciate more detail in the texture of the fur with a closer head shot.

Maestro
by Strikeslip

Comment:
I wonder what symphony he/she is conducting:-) Nice shot with some action from the cat. Lighting and focus are good. Some nice details in the fun and paws. Would have liked the left paw to be a tad lower so it does not obscure the face a bit - but with pet portraits expecially when they are in the act of doing something it is especially hard to get it *perfect*. I like the action and the lighting & focus is good but there is something missing...I just can't put my finger on it. Hmmm, maybe I am thinking it needs -just- one more element to compliment the cat. Something like a backdrop of instruments (bokeh or shallow depth of field) to complement the action going on.

Ranger @ 10 weeks
by Rob O

Comment:
Cute shot of this puppy! Nice pose..I like that slight tilt to the head as if he is giving the camera a curious stare. Lighting is good and focus is good. We see many lovely details in the way the light plays on the fur and the texture of the fur. The eyes have some nice twinkle in them from reflected light. First reaction from looking at the thumbnail was that puppy looks like Marley from the 'Marley & Me' book (a great read and enjoyable book btw):-) While the pose, lighting and focus are great the B&W tones need just a little more boost to make them more dynamic and stand-out. Also the muted tones of backdrop does not allow Ranger to visually pop off the page - In the B&W his fur has more lighter shades so a direct contrast would be darker tones or black that would give the composition more visual pop.

I know you are there.
by hellfish1066

Comment:
Nice shot capturing both cats in a active storytelling scene!!!! Love how the foreground kitty seems to be 'sensing' the presence of the other cat on top of the CD bookcase. And the cat in the backdrop is in stealth mode:-) I wonder how many will not notice the cat in the background. Anyway this composition is a great 'story' to tell photo. It has a huge potential to rise out of the slightly above average category up into the stellar category if you remove some flaws. Your main subjects are the two cats so you really need to play them up more in this scene. Crop out the left portion such that the cat on the bookshelf would then be in the top left hand corner of the photo. It would make him much more visible as a key player in this story. Crop out the lower half and the right hand portion such that the foreground kitty's head and neck dominate the lower right hand corner of the photo. That will put the spotlight more on your main subject PLUS make the "I sense something" pose even more front & center. It also removes all the background objects that do nothing to compliment the action/story taking place. Lastly, color can be good and eyecatching but sometimes color hues can be distracting or overpowering. While the yellow walls paint the scene with warm tones they mostly offer nothing to the scene other than to distract attention away from the main subjects here. I really think the visual would have far greater impact in B&W with some nice dynamic tones in the light and shadow.

wet dawg
by mimsydotes

Comment:
This has such 'aawwww' factor. The poor doggie looks like he is imploring for you or someone just off the the side to "please take me out and dry me". Good focus for we see some really nice details in the long and wet hair of the dog. Pose again is good (especially the tilt of the head where we see the eye) for it is very emotive. I have this as an above average shot but it could more into the exceptional category if you bump up the contrast a tad more so that your B&W tones become more dynamic. I think you did a good job in the framing but there is one little detail that would have made this even better. I think the impact of the dog being in the tub would be even STRONGER if you had included the curve of the tub on the left hand side...mayhap even adding a bar of soap to cement the imagery of bathtime more solidly. Lastly just a small critique, but if you cropped a little more from the right side you would remove the glare seen on the back bathtub wall.

Joey - Austrailian Cattle Dog
by wingwham

Comment:
The lighting on this pet portrait nicely illuminates the dog - love the sheen you see in some areas. The lighting also added some nice twinkle to the eyes. While the lighting is good it could be better. On the left hand side it sheds less light than the right half. But that does not bother me, what IS odd is that that light has more bluish tones while the more powerful lighting on the right has yellowish tones. Be careful in the choice of lightbulbs or lighting choices for some give off bluish tones while others cast more yellow tones. The result is what you see here, is that the dog has the left side with slightly bluish tones while the right has more yellow tones. The easiest solution is to make sure you use the same type of lighting for both sides. The solution to correct the exposure after the take is to play with color levels to play down the yellow tones so they are not as dominant or even play with sliding down the red hues to balance it more. The pose of the dog is good but the backdrop is not at all complementry. The white sheet in the backdrop shows folds and/or wrinkles which catch the light and shows shadows in the folds. Aside from ironing (which I dislike) and starching the darn sheet, you could easily bypass it by using a more shallow depth of field where the backdrop is blurred and the foreground subject is in focus. There are a few ways you could do this. One is move the sheet a few feet farther back such that when you focus on your main subject will have the backdrop more blurred. The other is that you adjust your camera focus specifically on one feature, let's say it is the eyes of the dog. Depending on your choice of aperture say 2.8 to 5.6 you will get some nice sharp details on the face and the backdrop will appear as a solid blurred 'wall' . The drawback however is that the paws will most likely be soft due to being further away from where you set your camera focus.

Home Sweet Home
by armin

Comment:
A very cute and humorous shot. A house that provides shelter AND food - what more could a furry little creature want?:-) The plain white backdrop works nicely to call and keep our attention on your main subjects - the bread house and the hamster. There are some nice sharp details on the bread but some areas of the hamster are soft (the little paws and the fur around the head to point to two areas). I suspect it is more due to the fact that these little critters don't stay still for too long rather than a problem with your focus. I don't know what settings you used but for the future you might want to consider an ISO of 280+ and the widest aperture setting 2.8 or less for faster shutter speed to freeze the moment. Lastly, the eye of the hamster is a very flat black...almost looks he/she has no eye. Using flash would increase the possiblity of the eye to catch some light such that you capture some nice catchlights/twinkle in the eye.

My Regal Beagle
by claygarrett

Comment:
I absolutely love the warm tones and lighting in this composition! The warm lighting perfectly illuminates the beagle and complements the dog's breed...the autumn colors make me think of painted hunting scenes and the beagle's breed is a known hunting dog. Focus is nice and sharp giving us some lovely details in the texture of the fur. The fact that the beagle is not looking at us does not bother me but I feel it complements and adds interest the the scene. The viewer wonders just what it is that has captured the dog's attention and thus with our curiosity peaked you capture and hold our attention. One critique on this composition, there are times a composition calls for a full body shot and this is one of them. Let us see the full body of this regal beagle in this beautiful natural setting.

Will you be my Valentine?
by strongsarah524

Comment:
Great pose captured in this photo! The hunched over look and over the shoulder glance makes this poor doggie look like he is sheepishly asking the question but expecting to be rejected. The pose just fits the title wonderfully. With technicals the black coat of the dog contrasts wonderfully with the white snowy backdrop. I have marked this is an above average shot but there are a few things that could be improved that would move it into the exceptional category. First, while you have an exceptionally emotive pose, the tongue hanging out on the dog conflicts with the sheepish expecting to be rejected idea (the tongue out makes me think he/she is telling us neener-neener). Now yes, animals rarely stay still and he/she might have stuck the tongue out JUST as you snapped the photo. Sometimes is is best to take a quick burst of photos in quick succession to counter something like this from happening (I don't know if your camera has that option but if you do, you might want to take advantage of it in the future expecially with action shots) My next point, nothing major, but it would be nice if you had captured the full body of the dog with it's tail. I like the catchlight/twinkle seen in the right eye and there is certainly a nice sheen on portions of the coat but on the top portion of the body a shadow is blocking the light from illuminating the fur. I don't know if there was a way or opportunity to 'remove' whatever was blocking the light but if the sheen that is on the lower half of the dog's body continued up to the top half you would have a more dynamic shades of black rather than the flat black and thus add more visual appeal to this portrait. Lastly, the chocolate brown border is not complementry to the scene captured. It justs adds another color that competes with the black and white tones for the viewer's attention.

Sharp Dressed Man
by sfmorris

Comment:
Now look what you have done - I have the ZZ top song playing in my head:-) Very sleek and nicely 'dressed' cat:-) I like the pose where he has his head slightly down, it is like he is striking a pose - aloof and cool and the same time. Good focus that captures some nice sharp details from his fur to the whiskers. Tonal range of the B&W is good as well but could possibly use just a little more contrast to add a tad more depth. The biggest thing that draws this photo's potential down is that the dark hues of the cat's fur is in direct competition with the dark tones of his backdrop. The dark backdrop does not allow the dark tones of the cat to contrast and thus he does not visually pop or contrast off the backdrop. A lighter color or hue closer to white would be better so that he could truly stand out and shine.