Collies imitating other animals....

Gryphon does his famous dolphin impression...



Then his 'breaching whale" one....



and his seal wave riding one....



Shep does his 'Charging Fuzzy Bear' impression....



Spirit does the 'hunting cheetah'......



Gryphon as a racehorse - the tongue is essential for steering....



Wisp does her 'Grumpy old dog grumbling about struggling to keep up" impression. Oh wait, she's not acting.

Sam, great set of pictures (#1 and #6 are the same photo). Love them all but particularly #2.

Jeff

Super set there. 1 and 3 are superb!!

Great set Sam - 1 n 2 are me faves

All lovely shots but number 1 is awesome, a gorgeous capture indeed

No 1 is my fave out of the set, it's wonderful

I like Wisp's style,old dogs are allowed to be grumpy

Sam -- some nice sharp shots there! I like #1 for the frozen action and sharp face. I can almost hear the water splashing!

Starting with the minus/ ideas side of the photos

There appears to be a lot of pixalisation in the pictures (4 to7) the last one especially. Nothing wrong with using Photoshop CS3 but in moderation. Can I suggest being careful as to not overdoing the cropping/sharpening. Working at the 300mm+ lens range is perfectly ok for a lot of pictures, and I understand that sometimes it is impossible to get closer for these types of photos. However in trying to produce a closeup like this there has to be a trade off, and in this case as stated the pixals really show up. I would love to see the same pictures but with the dog a little further away even if it means including more sourroundings. I think the quality of the pictures would improve no end, even if the dog appears a little smaller say at twice/ three times the distance away the bonus in picture quality would outweigh the slight loss of subject matter.
This may be why others didn't pick 4 to7 pictures as favorites

You can possibly get away shooting like this with a camera that has 24 meg pix to play with but not for one with only 10 meg pix such as the one you have the Canon EOS 40D.

I note you must have been using your Canon EF 100-400 1:4.5-5.6 L IS lens which may be a little slow for this type of work, maybe a faster 70-200mm f2.8 lens would be better for action shots for the last few pictures.

Plus side

Now there is a plus side as well, capturing the action as in picture 1 and 3 (2 being almost the same as I) really brings the action alive and I do admit that they are the best out of all of them and well taken. I really like them

General observation

We see so many pictures of dogs as in the latter pictures (4 to 7) that nowadays they need a little something to lift them above the rest such as them doing something unusual such as chasing/ playing with an object or working, such as with dogs for the blind, or as in the first 3 shots.

Reasons for writeup

Hope you don't mind the criticism as it is intended to be objective only, and I would love to see a comparison with the latter pictures reworked as I have said. I am not one for just saying nice picture or similar because it has been used so often it doesn't for me carry so much weight behind it, just complimentary for something to say.

I normally get in some sort of trouble doing this so expecting some flack but thats the way I see it.

Bazza

I give no flack to Bazza - an excellent post and I agree on nearly every point!

I do however love numbers 1 and 2 - excellent shots Sam, beautiful clarity and sharpness!

xx

Many thanks for the comments, everyone – much appreciated!

Thanks Moonstone – I will let Wisp know she is allowed (not that it would stop her if it wasn’t) It’s her birthday today - 13 years young!

Bazza, many thanks for the feedback – it is just the kind of thing I need to hear and very helpful and constructive.
Generally I find that I am still really struggling to rework photos (in particular resizing and sharpening) for the web. Very often the resulting image has lost so much quality as seem almost pointless. I certainly have been guilty of cropping too heavily and oversharpening, although I do try to avoid it!
An added problem in this instance was the fact that, due to bad light, I had the iso on 400/500 and was very disappointed at the amount of noise that crept in – juggling the noise reduction vs the sharpening was not something I did well and it has all taken it’s toll on the image quality.

Unfortunately I only saved one of the images in its original format – I have included it here to show the unaltered image – just resized – no sharpening! – to see how it compares to the other one.



I am relieved that you say that 300mm and over is ok – the vast majority of my pics are taken in this range – it’s takes a braver man than I to get closer to the majority of my subjects (my photos are almost all taken on foot). Any closer generally disturbs them anyway. Granted the 100 – 400mm was not necessary for these particular shots, but the equipment I have has been bought for fairly specific purposes (and sadly, on a restrictive budget!) Having said that, the Canon EF 70 – 200 F2.8 L is on my wishlist (which is – and is probably going to stay – very long!).

Please let me know how you think the unedited image compares with the first one I posted.