Oh Snap! Shelter Dogs

If you've been following me for very long you know my two passions are photography and dogs.  Over the last few years I've spent time helping out Denkai Animal Sanctuary, and on my last visit I took along my Canon 5D with the 50mm f/1.2 lens.  As usual, I fell in love with everyone and wanted to take them all home with me.  I can't, but maybe some of you can.

These images are part of a project I'm working on, and aren't intended for their adoption site profiles.  I won't tell you about the project, but I would be curious about your reaction to these images.

You can view the entire on my Flickr site, but here's a few of my favorites:

Ramble, a long time resident at Denkai, has my heart most of all

A bundle of pure fun, loving energy

Just met these 2, they were a little shy but
enjoyed a scratch through the fence.

This little thing has more energy than I was ready for -
she scrambled out of my arms before I could stop her!

If you're in the Ft. Collins/Greeley area, go check out the Denkai Animal Sanctuary out on highway 392.  I'd bet a beer you'll fall in love with a dog, a cat, a few of them or (if you're like me) every single one of them.

Hope you enjoyed...

Channeling Grace Chon - and others...

I've been following and studying pet photographers for some time now.  In previous posts, I showed my efforts to learn from the work of masters such as Tim Fach, Andrew Zuckerman and Jill Greenberg.  These shooters were known for their use of flash in their work with animals, and I wanted to understand how they achieved their effects and see where I could take it from there.

A while back I discovered Grace Chon, a pet photographer in the L.A. area.  Grace is known for working with available light, and she has quite a unique style.  Her work is known for bright and cheerful imagery and, when not including the pet's owner, typically uses very short depth of field to create interestingly blurred backgrounds. 

Getting that bright and airy feel has been alluding me, but I think I'm beginning to get closer.  Here's a couple shots of one of my most favorite subjects, and one of a neighbor with an interesting reaction to passing dogs...

You know I don't make eye contact when you point that thing at me.

 

 

Silly man, I'm looking at that rabbit hiding in the grass behind you!

I was thinking about Grace's work as we came upon this small patch of grass with good, open shade.  I thought we'd try letting the background blow out a little more than I usually do.  These images are basically straight out of the camera, except for some small tweaks in post for cropping, vibrance and saturation.  Oh, and a small tweak to improve contrast.

Not quite there yet, but I'm getting closer.  In the same vein, this next one is a shot of a neighbor's Airedale Terrier in full sunshine.  This guy gets excited when other dogs pass his yard, and his owner taught him to grab these stuffed balls and shake them rather than run along the fence and bark.  It doesn't always work, but when it does he puts on quite a show!

Shake that ball thing, shake that ball, oh yeah!!!

As with the flash shooters, it's not my intention to adopt Grace's style as my own. Rather, to understand it to the extend I can blend it with my own, which tends to go darker.  Some good examples are a couple images from a series I've started called "Behind The Fence":

Chomp "Bark!" chomp, slobber, chew, "Bark Bark!!"

Another neighbor's dog has a berm just behind the fence, running the length of it.  This morning, he happened to be chewing what looks like a rawhide bone.  He ran back and forth on the berm barking and staring at us, and at no time did he drop that thing!  It was really fun to watch!

Nothing to see here, move along fella!

This guy starts barking when you approach, but if you and your dogs stay calm and quiet (as my WONDERFULLY FANTASTIC puddies do!!!!) she settles down quickly and just watches you walk on.



Studying the style of shooters I admire isn't about mimicking their work so I can create images that look like theirs.  It's about expanding my toolbox of choices by taking components from what I learn and incorporating them into my own evolving style. I do that best by practicing their style till I've got it down, then I can determine which components best aid me in creating the kind of work I want to do.

Thanks Grace, for your inspiration...


Hope you enjoyed...

Prime Wars

I've had one of the early generation Canon 85mm F/1.2 lenses, and have used it a bit in some of my fashion/glamor work, but never with a wide open aperture.  Slow to auto focus, I never considered it for work that needed fast focusing capabilities.  Working with dogs definitely falls into that category - I thought.

I'm currently fostering a HUGE black lab (I think she has some horse in her, however) for surgery, which she goes in for tomorrow.  Yesterday I decided to play with and compare my 50mm F/1.2 to my 85mm and see how they compare to each other.  Following a suggestion I picked up along the way, I chose to only shoot at F/1.8, and here's the results:

85mm  @ F/1.8

Here we go again - take the picture, this IS me smiling

This is the only picture I could get of Skittles. All the outdoor shots have either Journey's butt or Candy's nose poking in at just the right time.  I love how fast the Depth Of Field (DOF) falls off here.  It just takes your eyes right to Skittles beautiful face.

85mm @ F/1.8

Can't you just go shoot someone else?!

At least Journey didn't immediately get up and come lick the lens, at least not till after I took this shot.  With such a tight DOF, I think I like the lack of background clutter better here.

50mm @ F/1.8

Why is that guy pointing that thing at me?

This shot was taken about 6 feet away, the furthest I could get Candy without removing the leash.  Try as I might I couldn't get her to look at me, she was too interested in the birds, kids and other distractions.  At least she finally sat still for a couple shots.  DOF falloff at 6' on the 50mm isn't as fast as the 85mm, and looks better to me, especially when there's a busy background.  Nice, clean separation without looking like I pasted her into the scene.

50mm @F/1.8

Take this profile, it's my best side!

 Another advantage of the 50mm, I can still get a nicely focused head shot when my model comes in for a kiss and a hug and sits down on, not at, my feet.  Lean back just a little and voila - great head shot of Candy!

And just cause I feel like it, a couple more of my favorite shots from this experiment:

85mm @F/1.8

I think I smell a Puddy Tat!

This close with the 85mm and Journey almost looks like he's been pasted into the picture. But with the exception of a little exposure, vibrance and saturation tweaks, this is straight out of the camera.

85mm @F/1.8

Grass is always greener, ain't it da truth...

Candy's mission in life seems to be finding out how much a nylon leash can stretch.  Like Skittles, Candy is very interested in her surroundings. Going for walks is an adventure keeping her focused on her job. Which is also in contention. She thinks she's in charge...  (grin!)

Hope you enjoyed...