I started out on a Nikon D90 when they came out shooting JPEG and using iPhoto.  I now have a D850 with the battery expansion pack, 24-70 VR lens, and a 70-200 VR lens.  Currently shooting RAW and running Lightroom. I don't really have any training on it, I just move the sliders around until I feel the image looks 'good'.

These are some pics I took yesterday when we were working a field trail dog and letting my little pup play around.

Do you have any critiques or something I am completely missing.  Any teachers or online courses you recommend?

For Lightroom tips, watch Anthony Morganti on youtube (and there are many others, but he has some great info).

As far as the camera, you say you are shooting raw, but what mode are you using?
I'd be interested in the exif data on the first pic to see what's going on.

Only here to say awesome pictures.

Good looking dog!

My only tip is to get better light.  A black dog in bright, mid day sun, will always be tough because of the contrast.  In order to keep the detail in his black coat, you will often end up blowing out the highlights in the background.  You might try early morning light, which is much softer.

You have Tier One level gear.   And a sweet pup.

That's all I can add........waiting for the resident experts to stop in.    

Mode, I'm shooting in full manual if that is what you mean?

These were shot with 2.8 aperture and around 500 on the shutter speed.

My $0.02.

Your biggest issue with the first is the harsh harsh light.  Nothing you can do about that short of picking a time closer to or during the "golden hour".  I think you have the basic technique down, now you can start experimenting with a lot of post work.

I made some LR edits to what you posted (bearing in mind all I had was the 150kb Imgur image you posted).  My goal was to tone down the highlights, bring up the darks, adjust a little of overall saturation and luminance (and also targeted the blues and oranges), some targeted light and dark adjustment with the local adjustments brush, some sharpening, noise reduction, clarity, dehaze, and some post-crop vignetting (I like that effect, some don't).  I could do a hell of a lot more with the raw.

To my eye it adds a hell of a lot of "presence" to the shot.

Regency Lab_ by FredMan, on Flickr

I'm a huge fan of ETTR (Expose to the Right); overexposing as long as you don't clip the data gives you a "higher signal/noise ratio" and lets you pull back exposure in post while minimizing noise.  You're already shooting raw, so you're halfway there.  I typically aim for +0.7 to +1 EV (and this is something you can set in the body, meaning the little exposure meter at the bottom of the viewfinder will be "corrected" for this overexposure).

Here's an extreme example.

PAT15002 N420AT Spraying Before by FredMan, on Flickr

PAT15002 N420AT Spraying by FredMan, on Flickr

Don't forget about cropping, cropping lets you dictate what you want the final focus to be.  A few examples dog-oriented:

This shot has harsh light but I was able to mitigate it to some degree.
Shadow Air OOC by FredMan, on Flickr

Shadow Air by FredMan, on Flickr

And another.  Same basic technique.

Tracking OOC by FredMan, on Flickr

Tracking by FredMan, on Flickr

What ISO? 2.8 is fun in the right light, but you really aren't going to get the best results shooting wide open outdoors in bright, direct sunlight, especially with a solid black subject.
I had 2 black great danes that I would shoot a lot, so I feel your pain! Pushing the shutter speed up will darken the background. If the highlights are blown, they cannot be recovered in post.
Get the ISO as low as possible (in those conditions) and push that shutter speed up and keep trying!

Thanks for the pointers.  I know how to push the exposure up with the right wheel by the trigger on the camera.  I will give that a try, I have always felt about 70% of my shots are a little underexposed even though I'm at 0.0 and the histogram looks good...

I always thought it is better to underexpose vs overexpose, if you don't correctly expose.

gawd i'm dum.

:/

You have top-tier gear, so the technical part is just practice.

The hard part is composition, IMO. Start thinking more about what story you are trying to convey and a little less about the technical side.  I have to think hard about composition and framing all the time and I still suck at it.

Wow.   Now I feel even dummer.    

Lots of info there.   Thank u.   You sold your D750 and kept the D500??   That says a lot for the D500, as I love my D750.

Somewhat true for film iirc.
Sensors are different than film. An overexposed negative becomes "bulletproof" so getting any sort of print from it can be difficult, let alone a "good" print.
Sensors can be dialed back in pp.

That may have been the case with film, but definitely not with digital.  Until you clip (exceed the sensor's ability to record the data).

It's analogous to setting the levels when analog audio recording.  You want the signal as high as possible to minimize the noise "floor".  If you set the levels too low you get a lot of hiss.  But if you go over peak then you're exceeding the recording medium's ability to capture the signal and you get distortion.

Not exactly the same, but the same principle.

Digital photography has some o fthe same benefits of digital audio recording:  The noise inherent in the system is extremely low, so low(er) level recordings can be normalized in post processing, but then you're also boosting ther noise introduced by the mics, the cables etc.

I'm not saying ETTR is always the answer, but you can ALWAYS pull it back in post (unless you're clipping) with virtually no noise, but pushing it in post will almost ALWAYS increase noise.

Plus one for ETTR. I set my D850 to EV +0.7 after experimentation showed me that's the best balance of shadow detail and highlight detail retention for my setup. I also use spot metering for most shots.

For Lightroom tips/tutorials, check out LightroomQueen.com, Tim Grey, Matt Kloskowski, SLRLounge.com, and Julieanne Kost. They all have lots of free content, but also good value for paid tutorials (except Julieanne due to her "evangelist" role for Adobe).

First pic, biggest problem:  Focus isn't on the eyes.

Moving on, when looking at a photo, the eyes are often drawn toward bright areas.  That makes a black dog a tough subject, especially in bright light with a bright background.  Darken the background, even if it's just a light vignette.  And in the second pic... the dog is in the shadow, that makes it even tougher.

Put some time into keeping your focus where it should be, tracking the dog, and watching for better-lit situations while you do.