This week’s theme for the 52 Week Project was sky. Easy enough…. until the sky gods decided that those adorable poofy clouds were not going to be anywhere in sight. Icey, my rottie, was quite the trooper (she’s also been doing this for YEARS – pretty much since she’s been a 10 month old pup – she’s 10 now!). It may have also helped to have the tasty chicken treats with… She is definitely a food motivated dog! Her pink tag also attests to this (it reads: Feed me and tell me I’m pretty) and its from none other that the fabulous Bad Tags based here in Minnesota!

The first attempt we trekked over to the school, me with treats and my camera with my super wide lens on it. Day two had us on the edge of town by the soccer fields, once again with the super wide lens. With Icey being the pro model she is, she doesn’t have much in the way of looks… hahaha unless of course she’s barking on command!

Next visit Pet Love Photography, serving Greater Cincinnati and the San Francisco Bay Area to see her take on the theme of sky.

Quality of light is this week’s theme. It has us looking at hard light vs soft light and how it interacts in shadows, colors, and highlights. Icey was a willing model as she waded in her swimming pool. 2 sets of images, taken at 2 different time of the day. I merely walked around the pool and captured how the light and shadows changed.

From the morning, around 9:45 am central time. The light was still relatively horizontal and more of a harsh light. Depending on where I was my shadow would pass over Icey or the pool and end up as a part of the image. The best way to negate this is by lowering ones angle.

The second set taken around 4pm central time. The light was still hard, but it was at a different angle and was diffused slightly by the clouds and neighbor’s tree. Icey’s shadow has moved, as did the place where my shadow fell upon her. Also the shadows in the background have changed which provides contrast from the pool.

Next up stop over to Pet Love Photography, serving Greater Cincinnati and the San Francisco Bay Area to see her take on the quality of light.

This week’s 52 week project theme was backlighting. This is a challenging technique to capture with bold horizontal light that often messes with a camera’s autofocus system. Done correctly, they can be very stunning. A new flash technique was employed, the results needing to be honed in a bit more. Luckily Icey and Axle were patient models and willing to work for treats so I could snag images that are keepers.

Next up head over to Northeast PA based pet photographer, Elaine Tweedy for her backlighting!