Category: Project 52

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: Wood

Textures – of which wood is one – always adds interest and character to a photo.  When I have a photo session, I always strive to have pleasant surroundings but I sometimes fail to look for textures.  Something I have to improve on.  In the meantime, for this exercise, below are two examples, one very old and one very recent.

The photo below is of Old Dan.  As an aside, that’s an odd name since he was only about 1-year old when I took that photo.  And that was about 1-1/2 years ago.  The client and I were walking around her yard finding interesting spots to take photos, and she mentioned that Old Dan loved to climb the pile of logs that they kept for their fireplace.  Because of that, I wanted to take a photo of him on top of them.  But they lived in a subdivision and, if I had, I would have shown all the roofs of the near-by houses.  So, I just asked Old Dan to pose by the pile of logs.  PS – you can tell it was an older photo; I removed the leash, but the collar is still positioned as if the leash was still there – Oops!!

This next photo was taken at my most recent session with Jack.  Not only was it my favorite picture of the session, but it turned out to be the client’s favorite one too.  I think it was a combination of the wooden fence as well as the leading lines.

Continue the arch by going to Darlene with Pant the Town Pet Photography serving MA & NH and see how she interpreted this week’s theme.

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: Green

I love green.  It’s my favorite color.  I painted my kitchen green, even repainted the cabinets medium olive green (believe me, it’s all light and lovely, not overpowering) when I renovated three years ago, as well as installed granite counter tops with specks of green.  So, when I saw that the theme this week was green, I knew exactly what picture to share with you.

A while back, I took my dog Chloe to our front lawn as the sun was setting, tied her to a tree and started snapping.  She looked at me and I kept snapping.  When I got back to my computer and saw these, I loved them.  Now, green can be too much, I realize that.  Some may not like this, but I do.  My camera was at 200mm and pretty wide open at f3.2, causing the grass to blur very nicely.  The only problem was that there wasn’t enough light to lighten her face, so I used the adjustment brush in LR and also intensified her catchlights, which can be a challenge with her.  I think the way her eyes are made, catchlights can be difficult.  I also used the adjustment brush to remove a slight green caste she got on her face.

Check out Pet Love Photography, serving Greater Cincinnati and the San Francisco Bay Area to see her green interpretation.

Project 52: High Key

I learned about high-key lighting when I took a workshop from a professional pet photographer.  I do not yet have the lights that are normally used – flash strobes, etc.  I presently use either natural light or continuous lights. At the shelter where I volunteer to take photos, I use the continuous lights and it can be hard to get a white background to appear white, but, below, is pretty darn near close to it.   And I think pretty close to high key.   This is Bishop and I took his photo several weeks ago and love how it came out.

With all the snow some folks have been having (we didn’t get any here in Alabama), there should be some out there with high key lighting because of the snow.  Click on to Pet Love Photography, serving Greater Cincinnati and the San Francisco Bay Area to see if, perhaps, they did.

Project 52: Love

Love is in the air.

Personally, I  see love when I look into the eyes of my pets.  One in particular is my Chloe.  She’s my velcro dog, she follows me around the house, but, one thing she doesn’t really like, is for me to kiss her.  So, I got a little playful last night and inserted a red lips overlay on her in this photo showing her gazing up at me, as she always does.  Sorry Chloe!

Now, moving on to the actual photo representing love.  I very seldom include people in my photos, but rather want to concentrate on the pet.  But, the end of last year, in another Christmas card session, I took this photo below.  The owner had wanted a silhouette type of picture.  The sun was setting from the left and between the pier we were on and the sun were trees, boat houses, boats… not really conducive to a clean silhouette.  So I told the owner that we would take a semi-silhouette photo.  This is my personal favorite of the session since you can see the dog gazing into her owner’s eyes.  Shows the wonderful bond between us and our pets.

To continue the circle, go to Pet Love Photography, serving Greater Cincinnati and the San Francisco Bay Area to see their interpretation of “LOVE”.

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.