Pet Photography Project 52, week 32: Lens Flare

For this week's pet photography project 52 week challenge, we are examining lens flare. I'm so glad this is the assignment for this week because I have an image and I would really like some honest feedback on it. I took this 3 weeks ago. My mom was looking at all of the images from this photo session and she saw this one and audibly gasped. Now, she is certainly biased when it comes to the photos I take. I like this image but something doesn't seem quite right and I don't mean the fact that her front paw is cut off although maybe that is part of my issue. Does this image work? What would make it better? If you took this at a session, would you show it to the client?

Here is another photo from this same session. I found the raw file while searching for the image above and just edited it now. I didn't edit it before because I didn't think it was good enough. Your thoughts? (Seriously, honesty is what I want. :))

Here is another of The Moose.

Be sure to check back next week for some super exciting news!! :) This is a blog circle. Click the link at the bottom of each post and you'll see the other photographer's take on "lens flare." Next up is About A Dog Photography in St. Cloud MN.

Pet Photography Project 52, week 31: Damn Trees

The theme of our 52 week challenge this week is actually silhouettes not damn trees however this week, my challenge revolved more around the damn trees than silhouettes hence the title! Let me set the scene. Grab a cup of coffee or if it's later in the day, your favorite beverage. You may be here for awhile. :o

First of all, I love silhouettes. I always have. The first time I ever took one was in April when I was at Barkelona, the dog photography workshop I attended. We'd talked about how to take them during one of our classroom sessions and that night while out walking with 2 of the other attendees just before sunset, we crested a hill with an amazing view of the sunset so we took them of each other. We had a lot of fun but I'd not taken another one until this week. Finding a place to take them has been my challenge.... because of all the trees in Charlotte NC.

A few weeks ago a client hired me to photograph his two dogs. He selected the location which was a park about 30 minutes from my house. I'd seen the location in photos but had never been myself so I was excited. I loved the location with its wide open spaces and hills. I knew I wanted to go back to this location so when I saw this week's theme was silhouettes, I knew where to go.

I asked my 13 year photography assistant if she was available (she said yes!) and we grabbed Moose (remember him?) Have I mentioned that every time I get my camera bag out now, Moose thinks that means he gets to go on an adventure? If Moose is involved, it is an adventure.  We hadn't even made it out of the neighborhood before he'd unzipped my backpack/camera bag with his nose and grabbed my memory card wallet out and thought that meant they were his and he didn't need to give them back.  Moooooose!

Some of you may remember that last week I said many times with these challenges in particular, I have an image in mind but it doesn't necessarily work out that way. That happened this time too although it was because my memory stinks. Those wide open spaces and hills... they weren't as vast and plentiful as I'd remembered because they were surrounded by those damn trees.

We walked to the spot I had in mind and the location didn't work at all.Those stinkin' trees were in the way. Ugh. :(

We walked around and had Moose stand in any open area we could find. The resulting photos are below. Just as we were leaving, we walked up on a picnic area. I believe my photography assistant and my model were ready to leave but I thought... I need Moose up on that picnic table, then those dang trees won't be in the way. Guess what, they were still in the way. We had to hurry, the park closes at sunset and I had my dog on a picnic table taking photos of him. Others were exiting the park and I didn't want to get in trouble for having my dog on the picnic table and and dark clouds were rolling in so that was even more motivation to try and get some quick snaps.

The bottom line: My search to find a great spot to take silhouettes around Charlotte continues....

For more silhouette photography, head to  Pet Love Photography, serving Greater Cincinnati and the San Francisco Bay Area. Remember this is a blog circle and if you continue to click the links at the bottom of each post, you'll end up right back here. I can't wait to see what everyone else does... and I'm trying to remember if anyone lives near the beach. Photos on the beach would be amazing.... and guess where I'm going to be in a a few weeks? :) :)

3 Dogs and a Trainer

I met Bella, Berkeley and Fisher's mom last October at Barktoberfest. It was my first time photographing at an event and I had a blast. I had no idea that spending a few hours at this event would have such an impact on my photography career. This was one of the first steps that helped me get to where I am today. I owe a debt of gratitude to Berkeley pictured below.

Berkeley's mom loved this picture of her. She told me recently that it's still one of her favorites of him. If you follow me on Instagram you've seen photos of Berkeley already. (btw if you don't follow me, click that link and please do! I tend to post most on Instagram these days.) Berkeley was sitting on a bale of hay in the shot and I got low so the cloudy sky was in the background. There are things I would do differently if I had the chance to take this shot again but I believe it is because of this photo that I got to know Berkeley's mom.

Berkeley's mom is Courtney and she is a dog trainer with Off Leash Dog Training. In November she hired me to take photos of Berkeley and her 2nd dog Bella, a pit mix. At the time, I was just getting started in the complex and difficult dog photography world. I'd discovered how hard dog photography was. I loved it but translating that into quality images was challenging. Getting the opportunity to photograph a dog trainer's dogs was truly a gift. I was able to work on my craft with dogs that sat still. That is by no means a requirement for me to photograph your dogs but when I was new to dog photography, that was certainly a huge bonus.

Here are two of the better photographs from that first session.

I got a text from Courtney late winter/early spring that she was getting a puppy and she wanted me to photograph him once she got him. At this point I knew I was headed to Barkelona, the dog photography workshop so I scheduled the photo session for right after I got back. I knew I'd learn so much at the workshop, I wanted to be able to use that knowledge the 2nd time I did photos for her.

I met Fisher when he was just 8 weeks old.  Courtney commented that I seemed much more confident at the this  photo session and she was right, I was.

Confession - choosing just a few photos here was hard! I actually have a sample photo album I show to clients and they are all of Fisher from this photo session! A couple of weeks after our photo session. I got together with Courtney to reveal all of the photos to her. At the end she looked at me and said, I want you to take photos of Bella and Berkeley again. I can see improvement in your work and I'd like more photos of them.

We scheduled our session the day after Berkeley was going to the salon. :) What resulted were some of my favorite photos to date. There are still things that I would do differently if I got the chance to do this again. One of them would be to use a different lens. I've developed a love/hate (and actually more on the hate side) with my 24-70mm lens. Unfortunately when I got it, I was so new to photography I thought the problems I was having with it were my fault. Some of them probably were but after sending it back to the manufacturer for repairs because it wasn't focusing accurately, I've recently gotten it back and it is still soft. It is the generic Tamron lens, not the Nikon and if I had to do it over again, I would definitely get the Nikon. I know other people that love this Tamron lens, I am not one of them.

Courtney recently told me she is getting another dog.... yay me! I get to photograph another member of her family when that happens. I'm not sure where my photography business would be without Courtney, Bella, Berkeley and Fisher. I do know that I appreciate them more than you'll ever know. Life is Good.

Pet Photography Project 52, week 28: White Balance for Mood

For week 28 of our pet photography challenge, we are talking about white balance and specifically how we can play with it to create a different mood in our images. This is where being create comes into play and I just don't feel like I am "there" yet with my photography. I spend all of my efforts trying to create a visually correct image and that includes trying to get the white balance correct. White balance in an image is the process of creating correct color balance in a photo so whites are white. Creating correct color balance generally means the neutral tones in the scene are rendered neutral in the photograph, without a color cast. If you take cell phone photos (or photos with a camera for that matter), look at them now and answer this question: do the whites look white? Do they look pink, green, yellow or blue? If they do that's common because getting the white balance correct is hard. I just scrolled through my cell phone pics and I learned 2 things: I don't take very many cell phone photos and when I do, they are either yellow or pink.

There are tools to use in Lightroom and Photoshop to adjust these but as my instructor Nicole Begley of Nicole Begley Photography said at Barkelona, just use a gray card before taking your shots. Then you'll know you have the correct white balance. How many times do I forget to use my gray card..... ?? I won't answer that. :)

So the above photos don't work when I try to adjust the white balance and create a mood so I set out to do that. This is definitely outside of the box for me and outside of my comfort zone. I just don't feel like I have the experience under my belt yet to be super creative with my photography but part of the reason I'm doing these challenges weekly is to step outside the box.

My first dilemma was this: should I keep the camera on auto white balance? Since my subject is a dog, if I adjust the white balance for the entire scene, the dog is going to end up blue, yellow, green or pink and I can't think of a scenario when that works. Below I've used a photo with auto WB and then in Lightroom I adjusted for blue and yellow white balance.

This is a blog circle to next up is Pet Love Photography, serving Greater Cincinnati and the San Francisco Bay area . Keep clicking the link at the end of each post and you'll end up right back here.

Barkelona Day 3 and a puppy named Bimbo

Our photo shoot on our 3rd day of Barkelona was in the evening in a small seaside town called Sitges. Check out these google images if you're not familiar with the town. I loved it and could've spent several days hanging out here. It was about a 15 minute ride from our villa in Olivella. When we arrived in Sitges we were paired up into smaller groups and I was with Joanne Brown of Big Bernese Photography.  Joanne and I got along great during the workshop and we stay in touch and talk on the phone frequently.  She and I are both starting up our photography businesses so we have a lot of discussions about our business models, pricing and most recently on website development. It is so nice to have someone I like and respect to bounce ideas off of and someone who is going through a lot of the same stuff I am right now. Here is one of Joanne's recent photos:

Back to day 3 at Barkelona, shortly after arriving in Sitges, the dogs we would be photographing joined us. I was immediately drawn to the chow named Bimbo and this photo location was the suggestion of Kaylee Greer of Dog Breath Photography. We'd actually spent about 30 minutes photographing him, then we photographed another dog (that'll be my next post!)  We'd photographed a dachshund in this doorway and Kaylee said, we need a taller dog. Bimbo was walking by with his owners and we asked if he'd model for us some more. He did and this is the result.

Every time I see this photo of Bimbo, I get emotional. It brings back all of the emotion from this trip: the memories, the people, the food and the incredible experience that it was.

Here is another favorite of mine of Bimbo. He was so good, especially for a puppy. He was off leash the entire time and occasionally he'd wander of a little so his dad would pick him up and put him back in place. I smile every time I see this photo.

I have a ton of photos of him. Here are a few more.

I don't know why but when I look at photos of Bimbo I get super melancholy. I miss Spain the most it seems when I look at photos of him. Perhaps because I used to have a chow named Bear and I get the same feelings every time I think of Bear.

I miss this dog. I miss this town. I miss all the beautiful doors in this town.... it was amazing. I hope to make it back some day. BARKography in Sitges.... omg!!!!

Project 52, week 27: Sky

For our Pet Photography Project 52 week 27, we are taking a break from the book and we have a freestyle theme, sky. Most of you know that my regular job is as a dog walker and pet sitter.  Most days in the summer time, I am pet sitting 7 days & nights / week while my clients vacation. That means I am working during sunrise and sunset and since I've started this dog photography thing, I drive around at dawn and dusk and dream of being in a great location with a dog so I can photograph him. This week with our theme being sky, I decided to make certain that I got a dog in front of a sunrise or sunset. My other challenge with trying to do sunrise, sunset or photography when the focus is supposed to be the sky is finding a location. Charlotte NC is beautiful and a great place to live, AND it is full of trees. Those trees make it difficult to find places where there is a lot of open sky. However I am pet sitting with Ursa again this week and while out walking her I discovered a large, steep hill. Does anyone else do this?? Please tell me I'm not the only one because I immediately thought, "That spot would be a nice place to put a dog for a photograph!"

The night we did this quick session with Jack we were really lucky because there was a breeze so it didn't feel like it was 100°. However even with the breeze, Jack was warm but at 12 years old I think he did great! I do think he was happy to be back in the car in the a/c though!

I had an opportunity with Ursa the next morning to take a few photos of her too.

On those days when I don't have my camera with me, every time I see a great sunrise or sunset I get a pit in my stomach and I yearn to be out with my camera and a dog. Perhaps I am a little obsessed. :)

Remember this is a blog circle and next up is Little White Dog Pet Photography - Sioux Falls, SD. If you continue clicking the links at the bottom of each post, you'll end up right back here. I'm excited to see everyone else's sky shots.