Police K-9

My Nephew just finish K-9 school and I was asked to take pictures. This is his partner Badger. How did I do?

I think it is a great photo, wishing your Nephew and Badger the best, may they stay safe.

You needed a larger depth of field. His ears are slightly out of focus and they are a very important part of the picture. Did you consider shooting in portrait orientation to include all of the dog?

I wish you had gotten the dogs entire body. As it s it seems unbalanced with too much empty space to the dog's left and right.

I agree with the above, and would like to add, try getting down at the dogs level where you are looking straight at him instead of down on him. Or you can get creative and look up at him, making him look bigger if it's done right.

Shutterwolf wrote in post #14414764
I agree with the above, and would like to add, try getting down at the dogs level where you are looking straight at him instead of down on him. Or you can get creative and look up at him, making him look bigger if it's done right.

I second this. The distance between the dog's head and ground from your perspective angle is not very much so the background doesn't blur out super smoothly.

So if you crouch down so your perspective angle is parallel to the ground, you may find the background to smooth out much more nicely (that is, if your background is some distance away from your subject). A wider aperture will help blur out the background more but feel free to give this a try before widening the aperture.

I would also suggest that you try firing your speedlite offside of your subject. You may or may not like the results.

Overall, I would say this is an okay shot but give these tips a go, experiment around, and see how you like their effects on your photos--I'm sure you'll find them pleasing.

Hold his ball (or whatever his incentive is) up by your camera and you'll get some great expressions. I've photographed several of our K9's, they are hard to work with!

He is a brand new dog and only 13 months old. He is still a puppy in his head and tough to keep still. He will gain a lot of confidence once he latches onto a couple of bad guys . My sons dog would sit forever if given a command. A lot of great suggestion above. Thank you taking the time to help me improve. Every time I submit a photo for C&C I realize how much I don't know.

I'm a K-9 handler and its the greatest job there is. I wish him lots of luck. Its a lot of hard work but very rewarding.

My son feels the same way....stay safe

A decent photograph of the dog. A couple things that would have made it stronger. A vertical crop, the landscape cropping does nothing to strenthen the photo in this case. It is not necessary to include the whole dog for a portrait, though you certainly could and would not be wrong. All depends on what you want to say about the dog. A second point is, you would have been better serve to shoot at or slightly below the level of the dogs head. It is usually a better approach to photograph pets/animals from their level.

I know GS's love to work beacause Im on my third one,but it bums me that they are used as K-9's. I once saw a sheriffs video where they let the dog go on a suspect and the deputies shot the hell out of it. The handler was P.O.'ed to say the least. I felt real bad for the dog. What a waste.

P.S. good looking dog.

Trust me these dogs love to work. My son puts on his uniform and his dog goes nuts. Every K-9 officer will tell you the same. Attached is a picture that was taken with the sun high in the sky. Sometimes you have no options. Not sure what else I could do. Believe me I can see plenty wrong with the shot. My son is the good looking bald guy.

I don't think it's the dof that's the issue in the first shot, just the composition. I think it'd be better closer to the dogs level and shot portrait to include more of the dog.

Fill flash, or a reflector would have helped the second shot with the two dogs/officers.