headshot of German Shepherd Dog

Trying to get a nice headshot with blurred background - dogs being my favourite subject. A friend's German Shepherd made a very helpful model! Any advice welcome.


on castle path by Sundancer7, on Flickr

That's really nice SD. The only thing I'd try to change/do different is the dark bit in the upper right part of the background, as it's a bit strong.

That's a lovely portrait.

You've got your blurred background or were you wanting more ??

It's perhaps a little tight in terms of the crop but it's certainly nice and sharp.

Thanks for the feedback Azz and Phil, much appreciated! I think I will have to be more aware of the background as I can see that the top right is a bit distracting. I think I was looking for more blur

Overall its a great shot. Im really not a fan of the crop. It looks tight and awkward. If you want more "blur" (Depth of Field ) you need to open up your aperture, but this will give you less room for error x

Thanks Daisychains, it is interesting re crop and will do another version with a different crop - I see what you mean when you say too tight. Maybe getting the right crop is something I have to work on

As Sam says - selecting a wider aperture will give you a shallower depth of field which in turn will give you a more blurred background however if your subject has much depth to it then you may find not of all the subject will be in focus.

As well as the aperture itself - the distance of the camera to the subject in relation to the subject to background has an effect - as does the focal length of the lens you're using.

Have a quick look at this for depth of field....

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

A bit of selective blurr in Photoshop can work too !

Great link Phil, I hadn't considered distance from camera to subject. I will make myself a table for the lens I'm using and be better prepared. I might just concentrate on this aspect and experiment until I get the effect I'm looking for. Cheers.

Its a lovely shot, the only thing for me is the collar and tag, I usually remove them if possible.

Thanks for the comment Dawn, I agree would be better without the collar and tag - will remove in future if possible