Friday, April 22, 2011

Camo Dog!

Camo Dog

Dog Blog Post #308: Today's Daily Shoot was:

Make a low contrast photograph today.

I read somewhere that a Zebra is a high contrast picture, and a low contrast picture is a polar bear in a snow storm.

Hmmm.... ok. That helps. I think.

So during a brief window of time I had before lunch, I trotted out "the set", the camo fabric from the other day, the boy's puffy brown pillow, and my son's camo snuggie (which you might remember from the Mr. Tacky Knick-Knack shot.)

I grabbed Zachary (being the darker of the two), draped him in the snuggie (he is so patient) and was barely 10 shots in when my lunch window came to a screeching halt.

No worries - the pictures looked clear, and so I was reasonably satisfied, until later, when I got on the computer, and downloaded the shots, and saw the histograms...

Camo Dog
Rats.

You know, my little point-n-shoot does have the option to display a histogram of what the lens is viewing, in real time. It's about 1/4" square, and sits in the upper-right corner of the LCD. Most of the time, I keep it turned off so I can see more of the image I am getting ready to take.

And today was no different.

Which is a shame, since had I had it on, I would have noticed that my low-contrast pictures weren't actually coming up out that low contrasty.

Nope, I didn't discover that little tidbit of information until later, when I got on the computer, and uploaded the shots, and finally saw those histograms.

Fail.

So I went out into the living room, which still had good natural light, and proceeded to snap 30 or more pictures of paws, backs, sides, and tails - general fur pictures, bitey-face pictures, why-are-taking-pictures-of-us pictures... and I figured somewhere in there, would be something "good enough".

Fail.

Desperate now, the sun quickly descending, totally devoid of ideas, I grabbed the boys and ran out back, banging off a slew really dull pictures of them staring up at me.

ds523 - Low Contrast

Fail.

Now was getting ticked. I'd snapped 71 pictures and didn't think I had a thing to show for it.

One... More... Time

I grabbed the soft plushy blanket, Henry (he blends best), and prayed there was still enough light coming through my north-facing window for just a few more shots. I turned on every light in the room, laid on the floor with the little tripod, and asked Henry to do his best "Demure" pose.

I knew I had it after the first shot, I banged off about 20, then hauled off the computer to pick the ones with the lowest contrast.

What should have taken me 15 minutes took me 15*4 minutes, 95 pictures, and enough cookies to throw Zachary's diet out of whack for the entire weekend.

That said, I love my failed Camo-Dog pictures, and I'm even pretty happy with the low contrast ones (although it might be stretch to call them low contrast.)

ds523 - Low Contrast

Whew!

(And just think, I get to start all over with a new assignment tomorrow!)

© 2011 BZ Training - All Rights Reserved

8 comments:

houndstooth said...

Your results are awesome! I feel better about a few of my recent failed attempts now, too. That low key one about drove me over the edge of insanity!

Amber-Mae said...

I think those shots aren't too bad...

Greyhounds CAN Sit said...

I learn so much from your posts! Now I know what low contrast is, but I don't know how to read a histogram yet.

Lovely photos, all of them:)

Kristin G. said...

Projects that should take a few minutes, but turn into a few hours can be maddening. I've experienced that myself in photography, but love the challenge. Thanks for sharing your experience. I love following your projects!

Cherie K. Miller said...

Great to meet you on today's blog hop. Thanks for taking all of the pictures - they were terrific to look through!

I'm www.pet-peeves.org and I'm joining in on the HOWL Heard Across the World today to remember the 100 Huskies and sled dogs that lost their lives in British Columbia after the Olympics. Stop by my blog and give the huskies a hug.

FANCY the Red Standard Poodle said...

Hi Y'all!

I love the camo pictures too! But I love them all, so your time wasn't wasted.

Have a wonderful Easter,
Hawk aka BrownDog and Humans

Sage said...

As usual, you've done a great job! I know what it's like to take a zillion shots to have those few good ones.

greygirl25 said...

I love all of them, but that camo shot, OMG, it is beautiful. His eyes are just, heart-melting.