Dog Photos

I love the Canon brand of cameras. I use a Canon Powershot A527 and a Canon SII. The quality of both is excellent. I use the Powershot on the dog photos. It's small and very reliable. The SII is a bigger camera and has a 12X optical zoom. I use it mostly for distance photos at sporting events and such.

Hi Tish sounds great. My camera is just little and still has a bit of delay, someday I hope to get a high quality one.

As a breeder and shower of Scottish Terriers, an AKC Earthdog Judge, and an HP digital imaging guy (HP Photosmart cameras, printers, Scanjets, etc) – this is an area near and dear to my heart. I take lots of photos of dogs both at events and at home. As you can imagine, I typically use an HP Photosmart camera (R-series) for most all of my photography. For casual and candid shots around the show – it is great. Non-obtrusive, less 'threatening' to people than a large DSLR and, in general I get great photos. Outdoor events are easier to deal with than indoor – where lack of light will put a real strain on compact digital cameras – film cameras as well. Posed shots are actually easy – people and pets are static and cooperative. Here are a few tips that I've found useful: – Pre-focus. Dogs and people move which makes focusing a challenge. Most of the "shutter delay" people experience with their digital camera is due to focus time. So learn to use the focus controls on your camera. Most HP Photosmart cameras as well as many other brands have a 2 stage shutter button. Pressing the button 1/2 way causes the camera to set focus and exposure. Pressing the rest of the way snaps the photo. So – if you are taking a photo of an event and you want to capture action at a particular spot – frame that spot _before_ the dog gets there and press the shutter button 1/2 way down – and HOLD it. The camera will focus and be ready to shoot. Then, when the dog moves into the frame, press the button down to capture the shot. You will find the camera responds very quickly. – Some cameras have an 'infinity' focus setting. For outdoor shots at moderate distance, infinity will be a good focus and, again, that shutter delay will be minimized. – Use action or 'fast shot' modes if your camera has them and the action subject is moving. (action is designed to freeze motion, fast shot will minimize shutter delay). Indoors – much tougher. You will be challenged by lack of light. What may seem bright to you does not seem bright to a digital camera. The more you zoom – the harder the camera will struggle. Tips – - Turn off the flash if you are more than, say 10 to 12 feet from the subject. Compact digital cameras (all makes and models) have very limited flash range – that is one of the tradeoffs for makeing them small. You will often get a better photo with the flash off. Of course, you need to hold the camera steady (tripod or monopod) and if the subject is moving, you will have motion blur. – Try turing up the ISO (not too high or you will not like the grain!) or using a digital stabilization mode to keep the exposure time shorter and freeze motion. Note – optical stabilization may hurt more than help in this situation because it allows the shutter to stay open longer and if the subject (dog) is moving, they will blur. Optical stabilization helps with camera motion, not subject motion. – If you do use the flash – what about those pesky "pet eyes". Pet eyes, like red-eyes in people – is a reflection of the flash off the retina of the eye. Some cameras have red-eye removal (HP is the leader in that feature) which will remove red-eye from people after the picture it taken. (red-eye removal is actual image editing in the camera rather than the double flash red-eye reduction practiced by most cameras). – In addition – this summer HP introduced some models with the first in-camera pet-eye fix. You can finally get rid of those glowing dog eyes – and do it right in the camera. In summary – indoor dog events are some of the toughest photography I often have to do. Poor lighting, subjects that are moving and a reluctance to use the flash (don't want to disturb the competitors) are some of the challenges. Learn how to use your focus controls – and experiment with flash off setting as well as steady photo modes and higher ISO.

Hi Bob, thanks so much for your comments and your explanations. Always nice to have more photography tips!