Ah, the frosty joys of winter!Thanks to some seasonal inspiration, today's feature will consist solely of ll
...Dogs in Snow!...Pet owners and their pooches brave the bitter cold for a playful romp in the snow.
Much like Photographers, tourists traveling north for the winter all have cameras in hand. The real difference? The results of their camera wielding.
And of course, many pet owners having cameras, and thinking that their dog is the smartest, cutest, or the only one to ever chase a snowflake, carefully document their precious puppies in their *totally unique* winter play.
And of course they are most gracious in sharing every documented moment n a display of true artistic skill.
Yup.
Deviant Art is home to infinite crappy pictures of people's stupid pets doing stupid pet things that every pet does.
What greater joy is there in life than flooding the internet with snapshots of your furry friends?
Pretending it's ART of course!
Lets get to it!
emily4444.deviantart.com/art/S…:
bad dog |
good dog
lostvingiel.deviantart.com/art…Two big black dogs with snow on their faces. What's the difference? One is a blurry shot someone took while their dog was running up to them and sniffing them. The dog is cut off on two sides and the picture is slightly blurred and looks a bit faded.
The *second* picture is clear, with good contrast and a central focus. The artist even took the effort to put a little personal watermark on the image and a border as well.
Who do you think cares more about their work, the tourist, or the artist?
rachaelkins.deviantart.com/art…
bad dog |
good dog
sooper-husky.deviantart.com/ar…Good contrast, not blurry, bright and clear image... But why is the dog's nose cut off?
To compare, I give you a
Sooper-Husky image. My favorite canine photographer on the site. The image shown here doesn't have such great contrast, but it's clear and centered.
<Down Shots>
pileosh1t.deviantart.com/art/s… angelline87.deviantart.com/art… zival.deviantart.com/art/mad-d…krysie.deviantart.com/art/My-d… If these weren't different dogs, i'd say it was four of the same picture.
I can't even find one good down shot of a dog in the snow.
This is what happens when a dog walks up to someone with a camera and looks up at them.
They take a picture.
The dogs' back ends are cut off in every shot.
The same thing happens at the zoo - Every tourist with a camera takes pictures. Is every tourist a photographer?
No.
<Action Shots>
Action shots are about 25% Luck and 75% being ready to get lucky.
You have to actively prepare yourself. You have to put yourself in a position to win.
You don't win the lottery without playing, and you don't get a good shot of a dog jumping over a fence without balling yourself on a fencepost.
Will these people ever get lucky?
scarsarealwaysthere.deviantart…
bad dog |
good dog
the-relentless.deviantart.com/…Why crop a shot so much and leave so much blank space on the side? Oh well, the second shot looks great.
randra29.deviantart.com/art/Sn…
bad dog |
good dog
kasztaniak.deviantart.com/art/…Although the first shot is close, it's out of focus and cropped poorly. The second is a great photograph.
guitarplayingrobyn.deviantart.…
bad dog |
good dog
crypticfallon.deviantart.com/a…Here we have the opposite problem... While the first shot has a little dog running around in the messy backyard, the second makes it really clear what the focus of the image is. Nice contrast and great pose in the second.
<Dogs Eating Snow>
When I typed in 'dog snowball' into the search bar, hundreds of pictures of fluffy white dogs named "Snowball" turned up.
Let me make this as clear as possible,
No one, EVER, is going to be looking up your dog in a search engine anywhere *ever* by their name.Got it? No one is going to be searching the internet for your dog
by name. Ever.
If you take a picture of your white dog Snowball and the photograph is your 'artwork' put *your name* as a keyword, put 'dog' and put 'white' and if the dog is actually _DOING_ something other than just sitting or napping or resting, which I doubt, then put the action,
But don't use your dogs name as a keyword, you clueless twat!
You want to know why you shouldn't?
Because if someone is looking for a picture of a white dog for reference, they're going to look up "White dog" not "that clueless twat Amy's dog named snowball sitting and being cute"
After filtering through the fluffy white dogs doing nothing, I did manage to find a ton of pictures of dogs catching snowballs, or waiting for snowballs to be thrown, or looking at a person holding a snowball, or looking for a missing snowball in the snow, or being a dog.
Most of them were terrible.
thesoundsofsilence.deviantart.… 
tangent on the dog's head. Boring shot, OOF.
stolenbeauty08.deviantart.com/… jessimaca444.deviantart.com/ar… 
dogs cut off, weak composition, weak effort.
imamonsta.deviantart.com/art/S…
bad dog |
good dog
dreamerseven.deviantart.com/ar…What makes them good and bad?
The first image is too dark to show any detail on the black dog. It's just a crappy, mundane and unclear action shot. Action shots should either be suggestive of movement or very clearly showing it.
I'm usually pretty harsh when it comes to cutting off parts of a subject, but in this case the focus of the second photograph is that dog-crushing-snowball action, which is right on target.
The fact that the dog is in the air jumping is clear because there's blue sky behind him.
This is NOT a DOWN SHOT. This person got down on the ground and took a picture. They WORKED for it.
lottiebubble2.deviantart.com/a… ninja-mantis.deviantart.com/ar…
bad dogs |
good dog
khaoticallykim.deviantart.com/… withering.deviantart.com/art/s…ohlsen.deviantart.com/art/get-…Here's a great shot showing interaction. The dog isn't the focus in this picture,
the interaction is the focus, and interaction gives it value.
However, what is the artistic value?
kenpachi.deviantart.com/art/A-… Good boy.
This was a lucky action shot, and made lucky by the crossing of a couple of horizontal sections. The dog reaches higher than the snowbank with his face, and the snowball contrasts with the red building. Without those two elements, this would be a bad photograph. Instead, it's a good photograph with active elements and healthy composition.
Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't.
If you don't,
Don't post it.
<Dog Waiting to Play>
heartfrost.deviantart.com/art/…
bad dog |
good dog
linteli.deviantart.com/art/Blu…Both of these dogs are waiting for a snowball to be thrown.
Which do you prefer to look at?
If you had a poster of one on your wall, which would you chose, and why?
<Shot from Behind>
I realize now that taking a picture of your beloved pet walking away from you is just a sign of your deep inner turmoil and a significant display of the fact that even your pet can't stand you.
Photography, thou art truly a dog's behind.
anubis281.deviantart.com/art/C… giselefdu.deviantart.com/art/C… themanicstar.deviantart.com/ar…The first shot is so blurry... Why is it even posted?
<Blurry as Hell Etc...>
elizabethjaggers.deviantart.co…
The caption...
"the blurryness is on purpose" ...?
Seriously, is your dog that ugly that you need to blur photos just so people can look at him?
bamboocha-diabla.deviantart.co… 
Is it dead? I can't even tell what's happening. It's a black blob in the snow.
zachnor10.deviantart.com/art/s…mistic-angel.deviantart.com/ar…
bad dogs |
good dog
mestiv.deviantart.com/art/Snow…The same subject matter.
Different outcome.
laurenunique.deviantart.com/ar…
bad dogs |
good dog
pbphoenix.deviantart.com/art/H…Two shots... The dog doesn't appear in the middle in either shot, but one works and one doesn't.
Why do you think that is?
purplesunfire01.deviantart.com… 
Filters don't make art out of snapshots.
Now for fun, let's take a look at some fine pieces of dogs *made* of snow!
Ice sculpting?
That's art.
Building a snowman?
I did that every winter since I was about three. Would I post pictures of it in a gallery? No.
<Snow Dogs>
|
sassyeggs.deviantart.com/art/s… |
paperwings284.deviantart.com/a… |
beagels4ever.deviantart.com/ar… |
rain-yatsu.deviantart.com/art/… |
There is a place for bad photographs your pets doing cute silly repetitive things.
Dog owners, Blogsare your friend.Facebook, Myspace, Photobucket, Imageshack, all those sites are your friend too.
There are places where you can put pictures that you want to show your friends, and you get to choose who is allowed to see them.
No one will ever tell you the picture is blurry, has poor lighting or bad composition.
Deviantart is NOT your friend, because there are always people like me who think your dog is ugly and stupid and that you're a terrible artist and want to tell you and have every right to do so.
I leave you on this note.
phantomdog.deviantart.com/art/…A dog dressed up as the easter bunny. Go forth, my minions~!
More crappy Dogs!
laurenunique.deviantart.com/ar…mayalintu.deviantart.com/art/H… poeticdreamrnluv.deviantart.co… airporthugs.deviantart.com/art… padawancats.deviantart.com/art… vjblackphoenix.deviantart.com/… sobedragon7.deviantart.com/art… vjblackphoenix.deviantart.com/… melolala.deviantart.com/art/Do…mewtootim.deviantart.com/art/S…banana-picsx3.deviantart.com/a…aerobins1018.deviantart.com/ar…