Dog Portraiture

As a photographer, I struggle working with people. I'm just not the kind of guy that gets the shots he wants by talking to people and getting them to give me the reactions I want. Dog Portraiture lets me approach portrait shots like Landscapes, by making due with what I find.

Red

My entry for week 3 of the Dogwood project. I was originally going to do something paint related, but since we were up in Tahoe this weekend, it seemed like that wouldn't be convenient. Instead, opted to go with a Red Riding Hood theme out in the snowy woods. #dogwood52 #dogwoodweek3

Regal

I'm going back to the Oakland Zoo tomorrow with friends and I'll probably get a few more snaps for my B&W Tiger series.

Tiger Cuddle

From the Oakland Zoo

For those hard to reach places

If you lack the opposable thumbs required to clean well behind your ears, it's always nice to have a friend to help out.

Arty

Melanie said this was "arty." I agree.

Learning Lighting

Bought a cheap studio light set today and played around with how to be a strobist. At the end of the day, I feel like I know a lot more. Processed with Nik's Analog Efex Pro, which I am also digging.

Majestic

I love big cats. A relaxed picture for #caturday.

Inspired

I saw a picture by Swee Oh recently from a trip to the San Francisco zoo. You can find it here: https://plus.google.com/102390118349128083852/posts/9WtZQmnnxBx . It was inspiring. My family went to the Oakland zoo this weekend, and this is my much poorer imitation of the processing in that image. Swee should really teach a class in how she processes, because I'm really loving the B&W images I'm seeing from her recently. Great job Swee!

Part of a Series

One of many I've taken of the beautiful tigers at Oakland Zoo

Selfy Sunday 1

I've not participated previously in Selfy Sunday, but there's a first time for everything. #selfysunday

Getting Ready

Just a regular day at home.

Overpowering the Sun

This photo is the exact reason I bought the Fuji #X100S. Taken a f/2 at 1/1000sec this is basically straight out of the camera. The X100S has a remarkable flash sync speed up to 1/2000sec. Explaining why this is important is complicated, and others do a better job, but my very expensive SLR can only do 1/200 sec which means I cannot use the flash with a wide open shutter like this and get this kind of photo. The end result, as you can see, is very impressive.

Family Night

gg

Dog Portraiture

Sometimes you're just so excited about a photo you can't wait to publish it. I feel this way about this one. I love taking photos of my dog. Sometimes she's just really accommodating of my picture taking. Other times, she's impossible, but last night she was content to lay on the floor and let me continually blind her with my strobe. Seventy captures later, there's a great keeper. I think it's my best Dog Portrait to date.

Wistful

I wish she was this calm allg the time.

Beauty

P52BW13: Old

When it came time to do something 'old', this guitar and amp popped into my head. These originally belonged to my father-in-law, who passed away 5 years ago. We miss him dearly.

I'm playing a '61 Gibson Les Paul Jr. through a '66 Fender Super Reverb amp. They sound beautiful although both need some work done on them. I spent quite a bit of time getting the feel of this picture just right. Hope you like it.

I'm not sure what I had done to make her so forlorn, but it worked out well for this portrait.

Melanie hates her having a photo taken, but I don't know why when she looks so beautiful.