Is There Magic In The Data?

What I learned from analyzing three quarters of a million dog photos.

A few weeks back, I saw a fascinating post in the Dog Breath Photo Society community from photographer Dave Breen (www.breenphoto.com). He had developed a python script to analyze the data from his Lightroom catalog to look for trends - and with about five years of data, and over 100,000 photos, it actually provided some really interesting insights.

Also being a fellow nerd, and feeling the overwhelming need to one-up Dave - I figured it would be fascinating to analyze Kaylee Greer’s master Dog Breath Photography Lightroom catalog with nearly three quarters of a million dog photos shot over the last 16 years to see what might be learned from the data.
(In all seriousness though - thank you Dave!)

Let me answer two questions right off the bat. Yes - at the Dog Breath headquarters we have ONE gigantic Lightroom catalog, and yes - it is named Dog Breath Sparkle Time.

With that out of the way, let’s get to the nerd stuff!

At a quick glance, the very first thing I noticed was that 2012, 2013 and 2014 had the highest number of photos - by far. At over 70,000 in 2012, and over 80,000 photos in both 2013 and 2014, these years have over triple the amount of photos from more recent years.

Now the question is: Why? Anyone that’s been shooting for a long time is screaming the answer at the top of their lungs right now. These are the beginning years. The “I have almost no idea what I’m doing, so let’s spray and pray” years. It doesn’t mean that those were busier years - simply that the shutter was pressed more times.

(Above: A shot of our boy Joshua, taken the day after he was adopted in 2012)

Notice the nearly constant decline in the number of photos per year (the major exception being late 2024/early 2025 when we shot for our Greatest Adventure project). What the data can’t tell you (but I can) is that the overall quality of the images are increasing as the number of shutter actuations are decreasing. Over time, there’s more thought and intention behind each pressing of the shutter button, yielding a higher percentage of quality results per click.

Question for all you dog photographer nerds out there: What type of dog photograph is going to wildly skew your numbers in this sort of analysis?

Why yes - you’re correct - the answer is action shots.

If you’ve ever photographed dogs in action, you’re very familiar with getting back to your home computer, unloading your card, and then sorting through the endless number of action photos in the search for the perfect action shot.

Side quest: This got me wondering - what are the perfect settings for an action shot? We all know the real answer is “Well, it depends…” but I wanted to know, what were the exact settings that yielded the highest percentage of successful action shots, *strictly according to data*. This particular report didn’t give me that answer, so I went digging through Lightroom directly.

Turns out those settings are f/2.8, 1/1000th sec, ISO 800.

Don’t say I never did nothing for ya.

If ever there was an accurate chart, it’s this one. When shooting on location, the importance of shooting during good light can’t be understated, and this chart shows exactly when we’re shooting. There’s a massive peak starting at 3pm (for shoots when the sun sets around 4:30pm), culminating at 6:00pm (when we’ll start most of our shoots in the summer), and dropping off again around 10pm, once there’s not a single shred of light left in the sky

Another fascinating chart is labeled “Lens Usage Over Time”. As you can see, we started Dog Breath Photography with a 50mm, a 24-70mm, and a 70-200mm (embarrassingly enough the same 70-200mm we still use today!). Then, in 2012, something really interesting happens.

(Above: An extremely early example of Kaylee's wide-angle, lit work from 2012)

You can pinpoint almost the exact moment where Kaylee discovers her love of wide angle dog photos. Beginning in early 2012, the 16-35mm is introduced, and climbs sharply into the top-used lens spot. At the same time, the 24-70mm sees a sharp decline, and is then never heard from again.

In 2016, the 16-35mm is phased out for the 11-24mm, which stays at the top lens spot through 2023, before it’s once again retired in favor of the new 10-20mm. It’s the perfect illustration of finding a style you love, leaning into it, and getting incredible amounts of reps in over time.

One final chart that I think all photographers need to see is simply labeled “Ratings.”

We have a very simple organization system within the Dog Breath Sparkle Time Lightroom catalog. When culling together a gallery for a client, we’ll mark any photo that has potential with 1 star. If we need to cull further we’ll add a second or third star, but this is less common. Finally, our finished, fully edited photos are labeled with 5 stars - and those are the only photos that ever see the light of day.

Out of 727,033 photos

671,627 received ZERO stars.
35,034 received ONE star.
10,282 photos received FIVE stars.

That’s right. Just 1.41% of images received a 5 star rating.

If you’ve ever thought “Man, only like, 1 out of 100 images I shoot are any good!” - I think you’re right on track.

So, is there magic somewhere in this data? The answer? Yes. But only if you’re a nerd.

I kid, I kid… (do I?). Honestly, I do think there’s one MAJOR lesson to take away from this data - from the hundreds of thousands of photos analyzed from 16 massively busy years of photographing nothing but dogs. The lesson is this: Shoot. That’s it. That’s the secret - the magic in the data. This sh•t doesn’t happen over night, so put in the work, charge your batteries, get out there, and photograph some dogs.

(Above: One more shot of Joshua, taken ten years, and hundreds of thousands of shutter actuations after the first one. Good god isn't he perfect?)