Soft and Sweet

Dog Blog Post #256:Actually, the Daily Shoot for today was:

Make a low contrast photo today. Concentrate on other cues—such as line and texture—to create your photograph.

BUT

I feel free pretty safe saying the resulting picture came out "Soft and Sweet". :)

So I did not break out the backboard for this one, nor did the stretchy black velvet fabric make an appearance. This was shot flat on the ground, no backboard at all, on the ultra-soft (human) blanket (not that you can see much of it.)

Missing Skill of the Day showed up really fast, as I wanted to have the boys curled up together in some fashion, and I could not get them stay were I put them. Haven't a clue why, it just wasn't happening.

Plan B: Booted Henry out and focused on Zachary. Actually, I didn't focus on Zachary, as it turns out he was the source of the fidgets.

(sigh)

Plan C: Booted Zachary and focused on Henry, who was the model, well, model! He was so good at following my nose magnet (aka cookie) that I was able to contort him into the fuzzy knot you see above.

Good Henry! Here's a cookie (or 2... probably more like 20!)

Later on, I did pull out the backboard and a wonderful new piece of burgundy(?) fabric I bought last week but haven't had a chance to try out. Once again, I had no trouble with lighting/color, and I'm beginning to wonder what gives, as I don't think I've changed anything, and yet pictures don't lie (at least not ones that haven't taken a spin through Photoshop!)

Anyway, Zachary was totally "on", which was a good thing, as Henry suddenly decided the baby-gate that blocks the end of the "set" was a Scary Thing (probably because his klutzy mom backed into it... twice... causing it to make horrible sounds as it hit the ground) and was a total write-off.

His picture did get a minor color/brightness/sharpness boost in iPhoto, than bit of cosmetic surgery in my fake PhotoShop (ImageReady? - we still haven't located our real PhotoShop) using the little stamp tool to obliterate much of the rather prominent fold that runs right down the middle of the fabric.

I don't think the background color of my blog does the picture any glory, but if you click on it, you'll bring up the original flickr image. And if you click on that, you'll see it in lightbox, which I think looks much better. :)

(Yes, I do own an iron, but I'm pretty sure I haven't use it since before my now-driving son was born and I'm definitely not feeling inspired to break my non-ironing streak just for this.)

Hmm... what else? Oh! I'm reading a new book - Digital Photography Composition for Dummies.

Yes, laugh if you must, but I'm finding it full of useful information and I can't wait to try out some of the things I'm reading about.

Editor's Note: for the record, it appears Henry has indeed forgiven me yesterday's transgressions after all. Whew! At the moment he's curled up at my feet. :)

© 2011 BZ Training - All Rights Reserved

Amusing

Dog Blog Post #255: After a picture like that, I'm thinking just about anything I write is going to be anti-climatic....

BUT

I'll give it a try anyway. As the subject line hinted, the Daily Shoot assignment for today was:

Make a photograph of something that you find amusing today.

Call me strange, but I find fuzzy/feathery antenna balls on a dog's head to be beyond amusing. I've done it a few times in the past, and the results never fail to make me smile.

(Check out Beau and Zachary celebrating this past 4th of July, plus some additional Fashion Modeling - including the very same antenna balls.)

I'm sure you know the drill by now - the ex-pen, the backboard, the black velvet, the dog pillow and leopard "fur" fabric, plus the tripod and camera with 10 second delay. The delay was critical this time, as they were quite interested in the antenna balls (gee, really?) and couldn't be left with them on between shots. So I would push the button, and count out loud (one...) while getting them back onto the pillow (two... three...) then lying down (four... five...) and facing where I wanted (six... seven...) then pop the headbands on (eight... nine...) before CLICK!

Then I snatched the headbands back as I gave them their cookies, checked the camera to see if they were actually in the frame, and start all over again!

I must say the color came out particularly true this time, although I'm not sure what I did right vs. all the other times. I did crop the heck out of the top shot, lopping off more than half the picture to get in tight on Henry's head to get the contrast between his stately bearing and those goofy balls!

(One of these days I'm going to have bite the bullet and do some "color studies" with a stand-in critter (probably the Jungle Kitty) to see what settings produce the best color at the time of day I usually am  shooting.)

I was very proud of both my boys for putting up with me. Zachary, who used to hate things on his head, seemed to actually enjoy the process (see alternate photo, below). And Henry, Mr. Evil Jingle Collar himself, didn't try to shake them off once.

Perhaps he was in a state of shock that I would actually do such a thing!

© 2011 BZ Training - All Rights Reserved

Me and My Shadow

Dog Blog Post #254: We actually had another dog class today. Yeah! It's been, what, three weeks since last we met?

Now, you may recall we are awaiting Henry's Hormones to kick in, and steal his brain away...

... and it appears I will remain waiting a bit longer. My baby boy remained sweet and attentive for yet another week.

Nothing like look down at your dog, amidst the commotion of barking dogs, and seeing him looking back up at you lovingly.

Or at least hungrily.

(Heck, I'm not greedy - I'll take that sort attention any way I can get it!)

I was a little worried earlier today, as I had Henry out with me in a place he hadn't been before, and he started huffing at various things (cars, noisy garbage collectors, things flapping in the wind...) and while he settled each time, I had convinced myself tonight was going to be a disaster...

(Not totally unfounded, as it was about this age that Zachary decided the horses near the training grounds were fearsome creatures, as were people moving about in the shadows, and cars, and things that only he could see. Thankfully, it was just a phase, and he grew out of it.)

... but he was fine. He was more than fine. He was splendid. Well, he was a bit of a momma's boy when we did "pass the puppy" - but in the grand scheme of things, I'll take it.

I also started working on another captured trick while Wendy was talking (sorry, Wendy, but I was still paying attention!)

What is it? I'll never tell! At least not until I get it on cue and can use it for Trick of the Week, but it could spice up pictures a bit, if he can figure out what I'm clicking him for.

On to the Daily Shoot assignment:

Make a photograph that features a shadow as your subject today.

Geeez... haven't we done enough shadows??? It seems not that long ago that we did Hard Shadows...

... and Strong Shadows...

... now I don't mind repeats (well, most repeats) but shadows are hard to do with a dog, and they are hard to do without a good source of light.

Thankfully, after a dismal attempt this morning (not enough light) and this afternoon (too many clouds) I at last managed to get dog and sun together in the waning moments of the day (as in, 5 minutes later, the sun ducked behind the houses and was gone!)

This was an embarrassingly easy setup. I took the (white) cardboard backboard, with nothing on it at all, set in front of the evening sunbeam, called the dogs over, and banged off a few shots. Then over to iPhoto, where I changed it to B&W, moved the brightness down and sharpness and contrast up until I had blotted out the carpet and made Zachary (hopefully) less obvious than the shadow.

For kicks, the raw photo is below:

I don't normally do even a fraction of that much to pictures, but I was rather happy with it in the end. :)

First alternate is below:

© 2011 BZ Training - All Rights Reserved