About A Dog Photography | St. Cloud MN Dog Photographer

Tossback: Honey | Florida

July 5, 2016

February 2014 I had the chance to go to the Hair of the Dog workshop in Florida. Who doesn’t love to escape the Minnesota freezing winter weather and learn more about dog photography?

Honey was one of our lovely models and this little pittie was quite the ham! She couldn’t have the chunks of Hebrew National hotdogs I had, but she posed for smells! Her coat pattern is super unique as pitties don’t carry a merle coloration. (Merle is splotchy coloration with a base color like red or grey with darker patches on it.) It is usually introduced from a Catahoula Leopard Dog somewhere in the background. Plus she was the only one of her litter that was merle!

Tossback: Honey | Florida Read More »

52 Week Project | Quality of Light

July 1, 2016

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.

52 Week Project | Quality of Light Read More »

Tossback: Bear | Florida

June 28, 2016

Bear was an awesome shiba inu I had the chance to photograph in Florida in February of 2014 while I was attending the Hair of the Dog Workshop. He was a rescue and was a little nervous around my fellow photographers and our cameras. Some solid one on one time and Hewbrew National hotdogs (they are a gold mine in regards to smelly treats, but man are those buggers greasy!) and Bear was working the camera like a pro!

Tossback: Bear | Florida Read More »

52 Week Project | Backlighting

June 24, 2016 / 3 Comments

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!

52 Week Project | Backlighting Read More »

Tossback: Hershey | Florida

June 21, 2016

In the grips of the cold of February 2014, I flew down to Florida to meet with 4 other aspiring dog photographers from around the country for the 1st annual Hair of the Dog Workshop hosted by Nicole Begley of Nicole Begley Photography.

My comrades included:
• The fellow Minnesotan with a romantic touch, Eva of Eva Noth Photography.
• The native Floridian with tons of spunk, Paola of Hot Dography Pet Photography
• The Massachusetts based car and pet photographer, Deb of Chill Photography
• And the upstate New York budding rockstar photographer, Diane of Muddy Pup Photography.

We enjoyed the balmy 70-80 temperatures, discussed business ins and outs, and got the chance to photograph a collection of pups – Hershey, Bear, Honey, Harley and I got to photograph Paola’s pups Mini Cooper & Pixie! It was a grand time with tons of valuable information shared.

First up was Hershey. She was a patient model as Nicole led us through how she approaches a shoot. We were able to shadow Nicole and snag images in a similar manner. Tons of hands on learning experience!