First Pet Portraits!

Hi all! So here's my first offering to the forum, a couple of shots of two pets. George is my friend's boxer and Boris, my dad's kitten. I wanted to do a couple of portraits which I could give to the owners and they could cherish. I look forward to finding out what you think!

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Beautiful, really seems to capture their personalities. Great shots

Cheers Steve! I love the paw shot on your critique page!

thanks! Pets make great photos huh?

VEry nice shots!

I have a boxer and I really dig like the one you posted.

#1: Noble and proud.
#2 On an adorability scale of 1-10, 9.5.

Great work.

Over all I think the shots are pretty well done but I do have a couple of small suggestions...

#1 I would either have put the dog further over to the left side of the frame so he/she is not right smack in the middle or I simply would have gone with portrait instead of landscape.

#2 Check your white balance...there's a yellowish cast to the whole picture. Also I think your focus may have been just a tich off here as the eyes don't look quite as sharp as they should. With the shallow DOF, it looks like the focus locked on closer to the kittens nose than the eyes.

Peace,
Jim

I had 3 boxers, so they hold a huge
love for me.that is a fabulous photo, brindles are a tough nut, and you got him perfectly.Just give it a little crop which will push him from front and center.

Kitten is adorable, but it does seem a tad yellow to me as well.great shot though.

The image of the Boxer is your standard studio pet portrait but technically perfect..You have nailed the lighting and exposure..You could probably reshoot this with a simliar if not identical result..

BUT.....the shot of the kitten is gorgeous..I love the way the paws are splayed out...This shot would be difficult to reshoot..

#1 is technically perfect. But it screams for 'Portrait' orientation. Landscape is probably less impactiive here. There's more negative space than I want to see, but geesh, you nailed the capture!

#2 The kitty shot is a great shot. Boxer shot is a greater shot.

i think both shots look fantastic if you ask me... the cat looks as if it's been caught with its hand in the fishbowl!

may i ask if black was not the original background for the dog? it looks like you just erased the background and then feathered into a black background. i like the landscape orientation on both. the cat shot is more interesting but it would've been better if didn't have such a thin depth of field. i would've used a smaller aperture.

Thanks for all the comments so far! Dr Fill, yes I did replace the background in Georges shot, the background just didn't do him justice and it was shot in my bedroom with only on camera flash. I totally agree I think the blending is most obvious on the right hand side of his face but not bad for a first attempt at a total change of colour. Practice makes perfect!

I also concur that the white balance is off on Boris' shot. the original was flat and uninviting but i think i may have oversaturated it. This was the first photo I took with my first D-Slr and I think i'd do it slightly differently now ie. smaller aperture etc. I will have a tinker with the saturation and wb

As to making George portrait, i'll have a go and see what i think. My intent for this shot was to put it on canvass for the owners birthday and I thought it might look better as it is A1 size. Still, I do take the point about framing.

Great to have criticism from other snappers!

That first one reminds me Winston Churchhill.....

Nice portraits if i had paid for these i would have been a happy client

Animal shots aren't usually my thing, but these caught my interest for sure! I love them...the owners, I'm sure, will be really pleased. Great job.