Photography Tips – ONO PET PHOTOGRAPHY Fairhope, Alabama

Project 52: Doorways

This week’s theme is “Doorways”. When doing outdoor shots, it’s always good to offer some with a frame of some sort… between trees, amid flowers, between posts, or, very simple, in a doorway.

Below is a recent photo in front of the owner’s french doors. It was a challenge because of the windows, but I think it frames the big guy very well.

One of my first clients was a cute frenchie. When I came to the house, the husband directed me to various locations in the backyard. He was proud of the hard work his wife had done with their yard and I attempted to accommodate him. However, I finally said, let’s go in front of your front door, which caught my attention as soon as I came to the house. It may not be a true “frame”, but that door certainly spotlights the dog.

Time to move on to Lynda Mowat from Heartstrings Photography, based in Hamilton, New Zealand and see how she interpreted this week’s theme.

Project 52: Head Tilts

As a pet photographer, one of my goals, especially for my shelter pictures, is to get the dog (and sometimes a cat) to give the cute, adorable, all-appealing head tilt. No one can resist that, and that’s what we want to see an adoptable animal be – irresistible!

I can usually achieve a great head tilt with an interesting noise; however, not all dogs react. At the shelter, I have a couple of favorite noise makers and if I can’t get attention and, hopefully, a head tilt, with them, I usually move on as the dog is probably a bit timid and fearful. But sometimes you can get some great ones.

Below are what I call decent head tilts:

This is client Corey with a great head tilt.

This is Piper with an ever so slight tilt.

Below is what I call an extreme head tilt – love it!:

This is Ace – isn’t he gorgeous. And he blends so nicely with the bone background.

With cats, I don’t usually use noise makers as cats are more visual and will react to some type of movement. At the shelter, I have a great assistant and she knows what to do. But, sometimes, even though I may not use a noise maker, I do get an occasional kitty head tilt.

Below is what I would call a decent kitty head tilt:

Karlos, a cutie kitten with a slight tilt

Below is definitely an EXTREME kitty head tilt:

This was Kimberly Hart. I’m sure she was looking at a moving something or other and just didn’t want to turn her body!

This was such a fun topic. Now, move on to my friend Kim with BARKography based in Charlotte, NC and traveling the US and Canada for her entry. I’m sure she has some great photos.

Project 52: Day in the Life

This week’s theme for the Pet Photography 52 Project is “Day in the Life”. Of course, it had to be my muse, Chloe, since my other dog goes into hiding when I bring out the camera. The weather has been rather iffy, so we were inside most of the time. But it was a good time to practice using high ISO’s and/or practicing using my speedlight, which I don’t usually use.

This is what I usually see when I’m trying to make the bed in the morning. Chloe is so comfortable from her night’s sleep.

After I change cloths, wash my face, comb hair, this is what I see when I come out of the bathroom. Chloe’s still waiting for me. That white blob on the left is my senior westie, Bonnie. If she knew I was taking a picture, she would be hiding instead of sleeping.

Then Chloe and I are off for the walk down our dead-end street and back which includes, ummm, her business. (These photos were taken with my iPhone; please excuse)

Now it’s meal time. Twice a day, the two dogs and three cats get fed. While everyone, like Misty, one of the cats, is watching all the movements, waiting for their turn, Chloe takes the waiting time to gnaw on her large nylabone (for super aggressive chewers!)

But, occasionally, Chloe will stop her chewing to see the status of the meal prep.

Then everyone gets their meal… Chloe finishes hers in about 1-2 minutes! (iPhone shots)

Since I’ve had her, Chloe has gone into the master bathroom after eating to pick up one of the cat dishes (my cats eat at various locations in the house). She’ll lick it (even though the food has been totally eaten by the cat) and then, I guess ’cause it’s plastic, she starts chewing on the rim. I’ve had to replace so many dishes because of that. Eventually she will take the dish into the kitchen so we can wash it. (This photo I used a speedlight that was pointed back and up to the ceiling). Note that to the right is Chloe’s crate… which hasn’t got much use lately!

After she’s been fed, especially in the morning, it’s time to check what’s going on outside. Many times, the sassy cat down the street prances on our neighbors’ yards, which drives Chloe crazy.

Once I go on to my computer, she curls up in a small bed next to me. She’s always there.

A couple times a day, everyone gets a treat. Chloe is great at catching what I throw her. Of course she has to sit first before she gets anything.

Several times a day, she goes out into the backyard to sniff my husbands’ vegetable garden (sometimes to dig it up, too), bark at the next door neighbor’s dogs through the fence, or just sit and enjoy the weather.

After a busy, busy day, Chloe is ready for bed…. even before we are! I’m so glad we can be there to make her life so smooth and easy!

You can now check out The Hoof and Hound Photographer covering the Lancaster UK area to see how her dog passes the day.

Project 52: Revisit & Re-Edit

This week we are revisiting and/or re-editing a past project. I initially was not going to participate, but last week I took photos at the local shelter where my camera volunteers, using a woven basket I’ve used in the past. It’s a small basket, so the animals, usually kittens, have to be fairly small. The shelter doesn’t get too many that small, so it hadn’t been used in a while. But they had three tiny kittens and we took a photo of each one in the basket. So cute!

I then recalled a similar photo I took about 4 years ago when I started taking photos for the shelter. Looking back, it was a horrible picture. I think I had my camera on auto, didn’t really focus it on anything important, and then snapped! As soon as you see it below, you’ll understand what I mean. Before I posted it here, I used the lightroom plug-in you can install to see where the focus point is, and, as you can tell, it was on the basket. It’s so bad, I didn’t even watermark it.

One Sunday morning in October 2016, I opened the Living section of the area newspaper and this horrible photo was staring at me. Wondering if that was really mine, I went to my computer and searched for it. Yep, it was mine. (see below). Even though it’s a bad picture, I kept the newspaper (why not!). Notice that the credit was “AL.com file”. During the time that I took the photo, the shelter I work with was submitting a pet of the week to the local newspaper (when they were truly “daily”). That’s the only reason I can think that the newspaper had it. Fortunately for me, I didn’t get the credit.

Compare that to the one I took last week. Same basket, different cat! The focus point is on the right eye. And it’s a photo I’m proud of, hence, the watermark.

I need to do more of these comparisons. Makes me see that, every year, I’m getting better.

Time to move on to Sandra McCarthy Photography to see what she has highlighted from her past.

Project 52: Bokeh

One of the great techniques of photography that most of us love is Bokeh which comes from a Japanese word that means blur or haze. And that is our theme for this week’s Project 52. Simply put, it’s blurring out the background to highlight the subject. Those who do it well will say you need a fast lens, open it as wide as possible, and be a fair distance away from the subject. For my first photo, I actually was at 70mm on my 70-200mm lens, and I was at f2.8. But, I went in our backyard, not to practice getting bokeh, but to practice back button focusing (which, as an aside, is FABULOUS). I used that particular lens since I always tend to miss a well-focused shot when my Chloe is running around and I’m using that lens. Have to say, most of the shots were in focus (Yah, BBF). It was after 6pm and the sun was setting, but, as you can see, we have a 6′ privacy fence and a lot of trees around the side where the sun was setting. But I noticed that I did get some nice bokeh. Not “Wow” but it’s there!

The next photo is from a session I had just yesterday, so it’s not completely post-processed yet. This sweetheart is Jack. It was very hot, even though it was after 6pm. Mr. Jack, as you can see, is very senior (about 14 years) and he did a lot of lying down throughout the session. Don’t blame him. This was taken in front of a pier near his house. You can see I was able to get some pretty decent bokeh.

Keep the loop going and go to Jessica Wasik with Bark & Gold Photography, celebrating the joy and love between Pittsburgh pets and their people to see their bokeh photos.

Project 52: Low Key

This week’s theme is Low Key. Of my five animals, my black cat, Momi (mo-me.. means “pearl” in Hawaiian) is my most cooperative model. She will stand where I place her while I attempt to get the shot. This time, because she was black, I wanted to capture her black on black. I placed a piece of black seamless paper on one of my walls, turned off the lights, and placed my TD6 light stand to the left of the set-up. I turned off 5 of the lights, and placed the softbox so that the light kind of skimmed in front of her, not aimed directly on her. Below are two results of that session.

Low Key can be so dramatic. Head on over to Elaine at I Got The Shot Photography, Northeastern PA Pet Photographer to see how she interpreted the theme this week.

Project 52: Before and After

Several years ago when I started taking my photography seriously, I swore I would never use post-processing and always get it right in camera!!! Right! How naive! It is something I still strive to achieve, but, of course, post-processing is a must! Presently, I go between Lightroom and Photoshop to post-process. Most is done in Lightroom, but I’m starting to use PS to remove leashes, blemishes, distracting background, etc. I took an on-line course last year on PS Layers and do understand them a little better, although I should use them more often.

This past Christmas, I had a client who wanted to photograph her two white dogs for a Christmas card. She owns a beauty salon and that’s where we took the photos. She covered her small vintage-type couch with a white sheet, brought in some artificial greenery and holly, as well as a “Merry Christmas” sign. She even put the decorative bows on her dog. I picked one photo for the card and, below, is how it looked straight out of camera. The client wanted a winter-type scene. Well, we live in Alabama and a white winter doesn’t happen. I found a product called “Twinkle Blanket” (similar to fiberfill) from Hobby Lobby and fluffed it on the couch. We then placed the dogs on the couch. Well, one starting to eat the “snow”, roll around, and, well, just be a dog. So, as you can see, there’s very little “snow” left. But I liked their expressions, they were close together (as opposed to on either side of the couch), and they were looking up at the owner. But I had to do a lot of work.

In PS, I cloned a lot of the “snow”, smoothed out the wrinkles, and cleaned up the dogs, using Spot Healing Brush, Patch Tool, Clone Tool, etc. The dog on the left, Ruby, only has one eye. But in this photo, that one eye was covered by her hair. So I copied a more visible eye from another photo and placed it over the covered eye in this one. Also, the dog laying down, Moonlight, had a bow that was hidden by the “snow”. I did the same thing and copied a more complete looking bow and inserted it in the photo. The result is below.

The photo below is a scan of the card. (NOTE: Just in case you wondered, I did not have the watermark on the card) Perhaps to some in this group this is no biggy and I’m sure you might see where I could have done it differently or better. But to me it was a huge accomplishment, and the client was happy.

Click over to Linda of DogShotz Photography serving the Indianapolis IN area to see their take on this weeks’ theme.

Project 52: Different Perspective

The topic this week is “Different Perspective.” As a photographer, we try to get the best composition before we snap the shutter. Often, we get frustrated because it just doesn’t seem to be the right one. Many times, just composing the photo from a different angle, or the photographer physically moving a few inches either way can make a great difference. I took an e-photography course last year and the instructor told us to, occasionally, look down. For that class, I got on a very high ladder and snapped the foliage in my backyard. Let me add, that I very seldom do this and it tells me that I should do it more often in my sessions.

For this week’s theme, I just stood on a chair and hovered over one of my cats, Misty, as she was sleeping on the bed. I got her to look up and the result is more interesting than if I had just put the camera on the bed in line with her face.

Head on over to Dog Shotz Photography serving the Indianapolis IN area to see their interpretation of this week’s theme.

Project 52: Negative Space

Negative Space is the topic of the week. Negative space can be defined as “the empty or open space around an object that defines it.” I don’t think my selected photos are a true example of negative space as there is something in that area, but busy week, so I grabbed this one as a possible example.

Just a few days ago, I photographed Glenn, a senior dachshund (about 17 years old). This little guy can’t walk well and is incontinent, but he still has a lot of energy. After trying, not too successfully, to take some photos on a bench, the owner suggested putting him on the floor. Shortly after she did that, he looked up at her and I knew I had a good picture. Have not yet finished the post-processing, but the direction of his eyes told me a bit of space was needed. Below you can see the difference from the two different crops. I favor the second one as it tells a bit of a story. Those eyes seem to be asking: “Why am I down here?”, “What do I do now?”

Head on over to Natural, Playful & Soulful Pet Photography in Melbourne, Australia to see their take on negative space.

Project 52: Use Tighter Apertures to Deepen Focus

This week’s assignment from “The Visual Toolbox” is utilizing tighter apertures to deepen our focus. As a pet photographer, I tend to go for the wider apertures (1.4-5.6) in order to isolate my subject since I always am looking for that wonderful “bokeh” that we all love. But DuChemin says that such a blur, which is actually due to a short depth of field, can be overrated. And sometimes, while striving for that short depth of field, some important items can be blurred and, hence, deemed not as necessary to the story. We were told to shoot with an aperture of f10 and adjust the speed accordingly. When I kept the ISO at 100, the speed was really slow, so I upped the ISO, ultimately, to 640 so that I could get a speed of 1/160. I took nearly 2 dozen photos of Chloe in front of some bushes in our yard and everyone of them had Chloe very sharp. The composition of all of them may not have been to my liking, but they were all sharp. While there was no severe bokeh, there was a slight blur.

Now click over to Northeastern PA Pet Photographer, I Got The Shot to see how they did this week’s assignment.