Bitey-Face

Zachary: "Fearsome Face!"

Zachary: "Gonna get ya!"

Zachary: "Below the belt! Below the belt!!!"

Dog Blog Post #1243

The boys use Unspoken Words like the Bendy skin on Zachary's muzzle in the top two shots, to show each other they want to play.

Those versed in dog expressions will note the soft eyes, the relaxed ears (not pinned back), and lips (not pulled up or forward in a snarl) and conclude they're having a great time.

And they would be right!

Photography Assignment

Daily Dog Challenge "752. "Unspoken Words"

Our Daily Challenge - Nov 21, 2013 - "Bendy"

Zachary: "Let's do it again!"

For some reason ALL of today's shots were mainly of Zachary.

I have no idea why, as Henry was obviously there and playing just as hard and having just as much fun.

Just luck of the shutter, I suppose.

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Finished

"Are we done?"

What do you think?

"Done."

"Definitely done."

"Better be done."

Dog Blog Post #967

Photography Assignment

The boys spent the day cleaning…

Daily Dog Challenge "475. Setting the Tone"

… of the today's shoot to be "exhausted", and leaving them...

Our Daily Challenge - Feb 17, 2013 - "In the Mood"

… for a much delayed nap.

(Or was that me that spent the day cleaning, and they're exhausted just watching?)

The Rest

I loved how the lighting turned out today, so I broken my "absolutely no more than six pictures" rule and uploaded seven (plus a lighting diagram.)

"A rose by any other name..."

"... would smell as sweet."

Very funny, you two.

"I'm not lifting a paw to dust another darned thing."

Lighting Diagram

And for the curious, below is an approximation of what I did (created using the Strobox iPhone app.)

Obviously, my background was black and not white - the app is strangely lacking in that regard - and my model was canine and not human (probably not so strange, but just as annoying).

The camera really was offset like that so it can "see" around the sofa, as I'm shooting from the back of the family room into the kitchen.

And finally, and perhaps not so obviously from the looking at the images, my reflector was turned black side out making it an anti-reflector.

Why an anti-reflector?

Because behind the anti-reflector was a big white double-door refrigerator, which does a marvelous job of reflecting light, and I was looking for something a bit more... dramatic.

Mischief Monday

I'll leave it to the viewer to decide if me making the boys dust is the mischief, or them quoted Shakespeare is.

My vote is on the app not having a canine model.

Really, would that be too much too ask?


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© 2013 BZ Training - All Rights Reserved

Something New: Rim Lighting

Dog Blog Post #?

Photography Assignment

Daily Dog Challenge "437. Try Something New"

Our Daily Challenge - Jan 10, 2013 - "Take a Risk"

What did you expect - a seascape? :)

Those following along at home might recall I've been playing with my new Xmas 135mm f/2 - a lovely lens, which has forced me to finally remove my speedlight from the camera and experiment with off-camera lighting this past week.

Continuing my explorations, today I took a stab at Rim Lighting.

While Henry's shots (below) were mostly expended trying to get the equipment set up correctly, I spent Zachary's shots (above) fine tuning his location relative to the light source and camera.

While the very top shot might not be the best example of Rim Lighting of the six shots I uploaded today, it was my favorite of the set, perhaps because you can see Zachary's eye so clearly.

This last shot (above) is probably the most true-to-definition shot of the bunch, but only because I slathered it in a post-processing polarizer to vanquish an unattractive wash of light.

Sometime after this shot, I caught a clue and took another 1.3 off the EV, pushed the umbrella/flash as close I could get it to the backdrop to cut down on scattered light, and ultimately added a black reflector.

Below is an incredibly rough estimate of what I ended up with, limited by the icons I could choose in the Strobox app I picked up for my iPhone just so I could pass along my lighting attempts in the blog. :)

Obviously, my backdrop is black and not white.

And my flash is freestanding, but I do hide it behind an umbrella, so that isn't too much of a stretch.

The disk in the image represents my reflector, only I had the black side showing. This helped somewhat to reduce the glare from the flash from hitting (and greying out) the backdrop.

As I'm shooting with a 135mm lens, the camera is at least twice as far away from my "model" (can you believe they didn't let you pick a dog???) as is shown here.

Why is the camera angled? Because the tripod is positioned about mid-away down the length of my six-foot sofa and I don't want to get the end of the sofa in the picture.  This pushes the camera to left (sofa on the right) and leaves it slightly angled to the backdrop. Not as much as is shown here, but not straight on either.

Is this the best way to set this up? I have no idea. But it produced the best pictures of what I tried given the equipment I have and the size of the room I have to put it in.

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© 2012 BZ Training - All Rights Reserved