evaluation

 This is an image i took at cuerdon valley park when meeting some friends with their labradors. The larger lab is called max and the smaller one is murphy.
My idea for taking an image like this came from the photographer Andy Biggar, who does a lot off water shots which i really like.
Before i set off in the morning i knew i wanted a picture like this so i am really happy with it.
I used a nikon D3200 with the telephoto zoom lens attached. I had my shutter speed set at 1/1000 so i could capture the detail of the water and the movement off the dogs clearly.

I edited it using photoshop elements, i changed it from color to black and white. I then used the depth off field tool to add more depth to my picture. I wanted max's face to be in focus and the main part off water to also be in focus. I then increased the amount off blur slightly and increased the sharpness ever so slightly to give the water and the fur on the dogs that bit more detail.
To improve this i would like it to be off just the one dog or both dogs looking down the camera, and find a better bit off water to take it as this was next to an embankment so it was quite difficult to get down to the dogs level.

Techniques and Practice

Photography

Rules and guidelines

Rule of Thirds

The picture above has the main part of the tiger in the left hand third, but the rest off the tiger is in the top third which gives the picture more width.

Natural Frame

Natural frames could be trees, buildings, structures, fences or anything which can act as a frame.

The picture above shows a skyline with a frame using trees, which helps draw your attention to the centre of the picture.

Organising people

Be assertive, balance out the subjects in your image if there is more than one person.

The picture above has the taller people spread out so it doesn't seem as though its leaning to one side.

Think about cropping

Think about if your going to want to crop the picture before you take it and how much off your picture you may lose.

Exposure

Shutter speed : how long the light is let in.

Aperture : How much light is let into the camera

ISO : The sensitivity of the camera.

ISO - international organization for standardization 

Measured in 100s

100 = low sensitivity

1600 = high sensitivity

Shutter speed

1/1000 fast shutter speed, less light

1/4 slow shutter speed, more light

1/60 or slower will probably need to use a tripod to keep the camera steady.

Aperture : controls how much light is let in

F/1.4 - smaller number, bigger hole, more light - shallow depth of field

F/16 - larger number, smaller hole, less light - larger depth of field

The top image shows longer depth of field as everything in the picture is in focus.

The bottom image shows shorter depth of field as it is focused only on the plant in the foreground.