How to get better dog pictures

For those who want to try to get the same type of photos all I can do is pass on how I did it.

First of all I used a Nikon D300 camera shooting at f2.8 with a fast shutter speed of1/640sec. These settings do depend on how bright the daylight is but gives arough idea. the lens was 70-200mm but this depends on how close/distant you are away. close generally needs a faster shutter speed than futher away

Next is to do pre shots of where you want the dogs to be so that focus is spot on. When the animals are in frame then get the shot as they pass it.

There are ways of doing it as above or tracking the dogs (panning) so the dog is in focus and the backgroud blurred. This can give a sense of speed, same with any fast moving subject. Done the other way the dog is blurred and the background in focus which I thinK is wrong.

There are other considerations to think about as well. You should try and give room in the photo for the animal to run into.

Below I have edited this photo to make it look as if the bird is going to bang its head against the side of the picture as an example




This should be avoided if at all possible.

original photo



Here the second method (Panning ) was used the give that sense of speed, this again depends on what f stop is used to give greater or lesser depth of field. That is how much in front and behind the subject is in focus. Notice now the bird has space to fly into


Same principle with semi head on shots, give the subject room to go into as below





Anyway that is how I do it and may help others and it can be applied to any moving object

What beautiful photos .

I must to admit to not understanding any of what you have said . I just use my phone on automatic

Thank you Alison most of it one does automatically once shown how. Composition can make or ruin a good photo. Take photographing a landscape, or think of it like reading a page on a book. When you get to the end of a line you start again on the next line on the left hand side. Why? because there is nothing more to read on the right. Same with a photo you don't realise it but the eye automatically sees the left hand side of the picture first, , although you may not think so. So on the right of the picture comes to a full stop, this is where something should be such as a tree for example

This is a good example of what I am trying to explain




See how the view comes to a dead end on the right because it is blocked by a tree. Also adds depth to a picture

I could go on about "Rule of thirds" but will leave that as we are getting into more serious photography