Monday, February 29, 2016

Waiting...

Stay...

One More Cookie
Good Henry


... stay...

Balancing Act
Very Good Henry



Good boy!

Dog Blog Post #2073



Henry Waiting patiently for an Extra second or two, so I could get out of the shot!

Photography Assignment


Our Daily Challenge - Feb 29, 2016 - "Waiting"

Daily Dog Challenge 1582. "Extra"


Soft


Henry
Very very soft Henry


That fluff over Henry's back is his tail.

I had him too close to the backdrop, and he swished his tail up against it.

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© 2016 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Portrait of a Dog

After my post yesterday, can anybody really be surprised that I switched lens for the day?

So... presenting my my-loved 135mm f/2 (portrait) lens.

Looking toward the light


Portrait of a Dog
Mr. Zachary looking dignified



Portrait of a Dog
Mr. Henry looking sweet


Looking toward the reflector


Portrait of a Dog
Mr. Zachary looking hungry



Portrait of a Dog
Mr. Henry still looking sweet



Dog Blog Post #2072



Yesterday, in response to reader's question about my camera, I waxed poetic about my now-rarely used 135mm f/2 lens.

So... when challenged to do something Special with a Face I decided switching to A Portrait lens seemed like a good plan.

Honestly, despite my fond reminisces, I had forgotten how much I really, really love this lens.

If only I didn't have to have the camera in the Family Room to shoot the dogs in the Kitchen (20+ ft apart) in order to use it.

Don't get me wrong. I also love my 60mm macro f/2.8 workhorse lens, which handles everything I throw at it AND doesn't need to be in a different time zone to do so. And it will be returned to the camera in short order. But...

(sigh)


Photography Assignment


Daily Dog Challenge 1581. "Special"

Our Daily Challenge - Feb 28, 2016 - "Face"

116 Pictures in 2016 - #97. "A Portrait"


Looking Goofy


Portrait of a Dog
Henry making a wish?



Portrait of a Dog
Happy Zachary



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© 2016 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

A Bad Word

Bath Time
Henry: "Momma just said a Bad Word."



Bath Time
Henry: "It started with a 'B'".



Bath Time
Bath Time


Dog Blog Post #2071



It was Day Spa Day (really!) and the boys came home exhausted (Henry) or hyper (Zachary), with the combined attention span of a teenage gnat.

I managed to get a few shots of Henry, who would have rather napped on that nice thick towel, and called it a night.

Zachary earned his "modeling" fee by putting his excess energy to good use running through his favorite tricks.


Photography Assignment



Daily Dog Challenge 1580. "Whimsy"

Our Daily Challenge - Feb 27, 2016 - "Bubbly"

116 Pictures in 2016 - #59. "Clean"

FWIW - not to disillusion anyone, BUT... Henry's "sad look" is a cued behavior - the combination of a "stay" cue followed by my moving a Cookie slowly in the direction I want him to look.

He dutifully holds his body still, but follows the Cookie with this eyes, creating "puppy-dog eyes".

I also have a "head down" cue, used for other shots in the series. Not that he needed much cueing, today.


Bath Time
Henry: (censored)


My Camera


The other day I was asked about my camera.

I have a Nikon D7000, and I absolutely love it.

I typically shoot with (99.9% of the time) a 60mm micro 2.8f lens, and I adore that as well.

60mm is the perfect length for the small space I shoot in, placing the camera ~8ft away from the boys on a typical night.

The lens is quiet and focuses quickly, reliably, and easily.

The micro ability is a fun bonus to capture tuffs of fur or up-close shots of paw pads, focusing on things only an inch or two away from the lens with ease.

It has no trouble at all capturing motion shots or when used for slow exposures.

The only thing it lacks is a pretty bokeh (the blurry, out of focus stuff) when the aperture is wide.

For that I have a 135mm lens, which creates incredible buttery foreground/backgrounds and gorgeous portraits.

Why don't I use it more often?

Because, at 135mm, the camera has to sit in the family room in order to capture both boys in the Kitchen.

That's well over 20ft away, and off to the side to avoid catching the edge of the sofa.

Here's some samples I pulled up from my Flickr stream...

Long Day
Look at how smooth the out of focus stuff front and back is


Yes, that's the same floor as in today's shoot.

Framed 2/52
...and how crisp the in focus stuff is...


You can count every hair and whisker - especially if you click on the image to get the larger version.

Portrait of Zachary 25/52
Handsome Zachary - such a lovely portrait lens


(sigh)

My third lens (other than the kit lens (18-200mm zoom) the camera came with) is a Nikon 50mm 1.8f fast lens.

Everyone is supposed to have "nifty-50", right?

Everyone is supposed to love their "nifty-50", right?

Sorry, no.

I have never had much luck with it.

I find it noisy and slow/struggling to focus. Trying to capture the boys moving was particularly difficult.

But I haven't used it in quite a while, maybe I've improved since then.

Perhaps it's time to dust it off (along with the 135mm) and give them another go.

Of course, once I see the pictures from the 135mm, I might have a hard time putting it away again.


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© 2016 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Friday, February 26, 2016

Now!

Now
"Now!"



Dog Blog Post #2070



The boys stand (together) at the slider (behind me and to the left) when they want/need to go out into the yard.

In moments or minutes they return, and stand Right Here, in the Kitchen waiting for a Cookie.

It's a very small Cookie, and they only get one each, but they aren't going to let me forget it!

Henry's tail swishes gently back and forth, like a giant feather plume, while Zachary fidgets a bit trying to find The Perfect Spot that (he thinks) causes me to actually toss the Cookie.

Flickr was acting cantankerous tonight, and throwing Pandas at me as I was trying to see what the challenges were.


So... here's a Happy-Snappy of my "Now" - a mundane moment repeated multiple times each day - taken for my 366 and fortuitously relevant for Our Daily Challenge.

For the curious, this is also my "studio". The reflector would be clipped to the white fridge to the upper right and the flash/umbrella stationed at counter's edge in the lower left.

The boys would be between those two, facing left. The camera would probably be just off photo to the left and pretty much dead center. The cardboard backboards would be rubber banded to the cabinets, which are not quite visible on the right, and draped in a length of fabric.

Photography Assignment


Our Daily Challenge - Feb 26, 2016 - "Now"



Now
(swish swish swish)



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© 2016 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Thursday, February 25, 2016

Shadow Games

Shadow Games
"Roar!"



Shadow Games
(scuffle scuffle)



Shadow Games
"Roooooooooar!"



Shadow Games
(paw paw paw)



Dog Blog Post #2069



I had planned a Film Noir-esk shot.

After all, who doesn't love a dog, in shadow, wearing a black fedora, right?

So I got out the camera and screwed the flash on the stand, then turned to a loud thud.

The boys had started a rousing game of Bitey-Face, of course.

Inspiration hit.

I dropped the stand as low as it would go, switched the camera auto-focus from "S" (single) to "C" (continuous) so it wouldn't struggle to "lock" on my now-moving targets, and managed to get a few shots in before the game was over.

Some games last many minutes, others are over as soon as they begin. This one was more the latter than the former.

Unfortunately, one of the settings I didn't have time to change was the shutter speed. And while 1/160s is plenty fast enough for the posed shots I was planning on taking, it's no where near the 1/250s I should have set it to - the fastest I can shoot with my flash.

Sooo... most of the shots came out a tad on the "soft" side, and needed a bit of over-the-top sharpening to make them "work".

Photography Assignment


Daily Dog Challenge 1578. "Play With Light"

Our Daily Challenge - Feb 25, 2016 - "Shadows"


Play With Me
Goofy Goldens



I almost never catch a play-bow. The boys are usually well into their game by the time I get there with the camera.

Today, for whatever reason, Henry gave an extra bow (completed with a crinkled up face) as I was still trying to get the flash set up.

Zachary is waiting for Henry to roll over and join him, so they can wiggle and squirm and flail their paws and jaws around impressively.

Ah yes, watching Golden Retrievers "play fight" is something else.

A really distracting white wall corner has been "removed" from the scene post-production, in case you wonder why the floor boards look a bit funny.

This is not a great shot by any stretch of the imagination, but it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside just looking at it.

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© 2016 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Adventure

Looks like the boys just texted me some photos...

Adventure


Adventure


Dog Blog Post #2068


Should I be worried?

Photography Assignment


Daily Dog Challenge 1577. "Centered"

Our Daily Challenge - Feb 24, 2016 - "Adventure"

... with a bit Photoshop magic and a screen capture from my Minecraft creative world on my iPad.

Parts


Zachary
Mr. Zachary



Henry
Mr. Henry



Jungle
Jungle


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© 2016 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

On The Edge

Wordless Wednesday strikes again...

On The Edge
(click)



On The Edge
(click)



Going... going...
(click)



Going... going...
(gulp!)



Dog Blog Post #2067



The boys gazing Wistfully at the Cookies On The Table in the Kitchen.

It was the first piece of furniture I ever purchased, back in 1987, and has been serving us well ever since. The surface is actually a mid-range brown faux-wood but the heavy plastic coating makes it wonderfully reflective when shot at low angles with the lights in the room.


Photography Assignment


Daily Dog Challenge 1576. "Wistful"

Our Daily Challenge - Feb 23, 2016 - "On The Table"


On The Edge
Cookies in Darkness



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© 2016 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Monday, February 22, 2016

Light and Shadow

Playing with dramatic lighting...

Light and Shadow
Henry



Dog Blog Post #2066


Chiaroscuro - a Traditional lighting technique using strong contrasts between light and dark, dating back to the Renaissance.

Caravaggio, Rubens, and Rembrandt all employed it to great effect.

This is Henry, his tousled "bed-head" coat catching the raking light most dramatically.

For the shot, the flash was lowered to about 1.5 ft off the ground and the reflector was turned black-side out to darken the shadows on the left.

Photography Assignment



116 Pictures in 2016 - #46. "Tradition/Traditional"

Daily Dog Challenge 1575. "From The Top"


A Few More...


Henry
More Henry


Henry
Etc



Henry
Etc


Uh Oh...



DSC_3161
Zachary: "I can't wait to see my shot in the Flickr Group!"

Ummm... yes... about that.

See, I think Henry's rumpled fur might work just a bit better for this shoot...

DSC_3166
Zachary - displeased


... than your gorgeous sleek coat and...


Zachary
Zachary - pouting


Oh dear.


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© 2016 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Showdown At High Noon

Showdown At High Noon
"Roar!!!"



Showdown At High Noon
Take down!



Showdown At High Noon
Steely-eyed Zachary



Showdown At High Noon
Zachary: "Pfththththth"


Dog Blog Post #2065



I'm not sure today's shoot works for ANY of the challenges I posted them to (see below).

Photography Assignment


Our Daily Challenge - Feb 21, 2016 - "Clair De Lune and High Noon"

I took an alternate definition of "High Noon", as in "Showdown at High Noon", and thought of a Old West barroom brawl - the boys having reminded me that a duel with pistols is really hard when you lack opposable thumbs.

116 Pictures in 2016 - #87. "Browned Off"

Never heard of this before, but the oracle of Google suggested "Pissed Off", which hopefully goes with my barroom brawl theme.

Plus I fiddled with the color - again, thinking Old West.

Daily Dog Challenge 1574. "Early Bird or Night Owl"

The boys are neither!

They are at their most active when they eat, which includes Noon. (Yes, they get three meals a day - because WE do, and I hate seeing their sad faces if we are eating and they aren't going to get anything.)

Showdown At High Noon
"He he he"


All post-processing done in Lightroom today.

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© 2016 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Enthusiasm Gap

I See You
The windows are open but nobody is home.


Dog Blog Post #2064



Feb 20 is Love Your Pet Day, and so I gave the boys the night off from their Modeling duties.

Here's Henry, making good use of the extra time by snuggling close and snoozing.

Like he does every night.

Some things are just hard to improve on, I suppose.


Photography Assignment


Daily Dog Challenge 1573. "Love Your Pet Day"


The Nose Knows
Henry: "Zzzzzz"



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© 2016 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Friday, February 19, 2016

Canine Cuisine

Canine Cuisine
Henry: "Momma! Zachary needs his hat."


Coming dear, coming.

Good grief, you don't have to bellow.

Canine Cuisine
Zachary: "Welcome to Canine Cuisine! Today we're going to make..."
Henry: "Gravy! Gravy! Gravy!"


Dog Blog Post #2063


The boys having a bit of Fun cooking up something Saucy.

Can't wait to see what they make!

Photography Assignment



Daily Dog Challenge 1572. "Fun"

Our Daily Challenge - Feb 19, 2016 - "Saucy"


Canine Cuisine
Zachary: "Eh hem... Now, step one..."
Henry: (mumble mumble mumble)


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© 2016 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved