Blog Ring

About A Dog Photography – Minnesota dog photographer |  52 Weeks is a blog circle with a theme for every week (which means we all link to each other, links are found at the end of the post).

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Leading lines, the well known & versed “rule” of composition where a line leads the viewer into the scene to the subject.

The lines can be literal lines – roads, paths, fences, etc – man made or organic. They can even be lines that don’t exist – implied leading lines. (Implied leading lines often happen with eyes – we look the direction the eyes are looking. Arms & hands also lend to implied leading lines as well.)

Used correctly they can have amazing impact directing your viewer into your scene. Misplaced lines can lead your viewer out of the scene rapidly or lead them past the subject you want them to see. Use wisely.

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Classic literal leading lines were found in a teenie weenie blue walking bridge over a girthy yet shallow creek, both of which had lived in the quaint park for eons. The creek feeds the Mississippi River, while the bridge feeds into a petite wooded area with dirt paths meandering throughout.

Mixing it up a little, we asked half basset / half golden retriever Daisy to be our model. She happily agreed (possibly more excitedly for the car ride than the picture taking), the evening granting us beautiful temperatures and lovely just before golden hour light.

In a new adventure, one of the strobes was brought into the wild (portable power is awesome to have), set up, threatened to tip in its delight of being outdoors and playing kite to the breeze, then settled into perfect working mode.

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Daisy was happier to stroll down the bridge to smell all the smells and consider quite possibly a dip in the creek than to hold a sit, so as in any occasion where we need a dog to hold a position she was tied to the bridge. (Behold magic of leash removal!)

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Below is a subtle difference of strobe to natural light (these were consecutive frames, fired too rapidly for the strobe to recycle, whoops!). The little extra light gives Daisy an extra sparkle in her eye and evens out the shadowing on her chest. Pretty neat!

[twenty20 img1=”29812″ img2=”29813″ direction=”horizontal” offset=”0.5″ align=”center” width=”100%” before=”With Strobe” after=”Natural Light” hover=”true”]

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A short moment of perked ears and being attached to the bridge led to some very dramatic whining and opinions from Daisy about the injustice of not being able to sniff and explore as she pleased, which brought her mom and I to fits of giggles.

A squeaker & THE question (“Do you want to go for a R-I-D-E?”) helped quiet her opinions for a few more images, though only briefly.

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For a touch of variety, we scooted across the bridge, the strobe making friends with the tree branches and Daisy happy to be back into the smells.

The little path made a perfect leading line, though Daisy wasn’t privy on holding a single spot as she was set within all of the smells. To help get her to look forward, she and her mom walked away from me, then towards me multiple times. Going for a “walk” meant Daisy was looking towards where I was, until her basset nose activated.

A huge thank you to Daisy & her mom for helping me out with leading lines!

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Next visit Terri J Photography, photographing your pets in the Toronto area and Southeast Florida to see how she captured leading lines.

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About A Dog Photography – Minnesota dog photographer |  52 Weeks is a blog circle with a theme for every week (which means we all link to each other, links are found at the end of the post).

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Photographer’s choice, interpreted in whatever fashion strikes our fancy. Perhaps it would be the strobes with the variable of an indoor or outdoor setup? Perhaps a location other than the couch and the backyard? Perhaps an uncommon lens? All of the above? (Weather pending for all of the above – neither Bender or myself enjoy a dreary rain.)

Part 1:  uncommon lens – 85mm f2.8 tilt shift.

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Bender hesitated at the door, as he wasn’t hooked up to his harness. He may have been thinking we were missing something, then had a thought of glee as he could quite possibly run willy nilly about the yard.

He was not thrilled to learn he needed to park his bum on the top of the deck stairs and be photographed.

Did you notice something unique about the images? The tree BEHIND Bender is in focus… what in the world?

Its a property of a tilt shift lens (freelensing creates a similar effect). When tilted, the angle of the focus plane is manipulated – which means it can be vertical, diagonal or horizontal depending on the tilt and rotation of the lens. 

Regular lenses have flat focal planes that are horizontal to the sensor and can only be somewhere between narrow and deep. 

Pretty neato!

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Having held the sit just long enough, Bender made his way down the steps to take a pee on the bush, hoping he could explore the smells further in the yard. The treats in hand guided him otherwise, to a sit on the grass, under the blustery breeze that was laced with cold from the north. 

Brrrr! Let’s go in the house! 

The plan was to resume image taking in the evening, under a sky that hopefully would burst with colors that danced across the clouds, the cold bluster exchanged for a warm breeze of the summer to come. 

It rained.

Then, it snowed. And continued into the later part of the evening. Gross. 

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Part 2: the strobes + gels

(Strobes are monolights – big versions of flashes, not what you’d find on the dance floor, fyi).

Before the strobes were live, the living room needed to go into studio mode. The loveseat was moved up against the couch, modifiers were assembled, the two monolights were plugged in, the third light – a small flash – was turned on. 

Flash got a blue gel, monolight #2 got a red gel & was set on the floor. 

Treats were ready at hand. 

Strobes + 85mm tilt shift

Notice how Bender’s ear, eye, whiskers and nose are in focus on the left side of his face, but the right side of his face has a smooth blur? Tilt shift magic right there!

Whoops! A little too much power on the little flash…. 

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Strobes + 50mm f1.4

Bender’s look was growing more low key bored as all he needed to do was sit in front of the lights and look my direction. 

Changed gears to the 50mm for one reason – autofocus. Having said autofocus was going to be useful for treat catching images that would be sprinkled into the mix to keep Bender interested in being photographed. 

Ready? Catch!

How about a beg?

Did you hear something? (Aside from the blustery wind and s-n-o-w?)

(Did you notice the black edge on the right side in the images above? That’s from going one stop above max sync speed – 1/250th. The bar is actually the shutter curtain!)

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Back to the 85mm tilt

There’s just something about this lens that tickles my fancy. Trickiest part? Manually focusing especially critters who like to sniff and look about the room.

Luckily lights = look at me (give or take ears)

Deadpan looks = easier manual focusing

Soooooo very excited…. 

Oh, did you say scootch closer? Closer? How’s this? 

(Next training command is going to be backup.)

The subtleties of deadpan…

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Return to the 50mm

Look above – see how the focal plane goes from a diagonal from his ear to eye to nose on the left, while the right side of his face is a smooth blur?

Look below – see how both of his eyes are in focus, while his ear is just out of focus as is his nose. Flat focal plane vs tilted focal plane. Neato!

Did you hear something? 

Yup def heard something…

Nevermind, it was nothing. Return to deadpan, half ears… 

“I’ll take more treats please!”

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Next visit Tracy Allard of Penny Whistle Photography fetching portraits in Coppell and surrounding communities in the Dallas – Fort Worth metroplex to see what she picked for photographer’s choice!

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About A Dog Photography in St. Paul, Minneapolis & St. Cloud MN |  52 Weeks is a blog circle with a theme for every week (which means we all link to each other, links are found at the end of the post).

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Mmmm… snacks!

Those tasty little morsels found between meals, sometimes an indulgence, sometimes just for a big of a boost, often for both. Bender rather enjoys snacks. Cucumber ends, radish slices, lettuces and spinach leaves, carrots, cheese, table scraps, most people food and dog biscuits (aka cookies).

Eating snacks is easy. Catching snacks seems to be a bit of a variable (cookies caught a fair percentage of time, cucumber ends or radish slices the brace for impact happens and the item boops him in the face). Inspired by German photographer Christian Vieler’s “Dogs Catching Treats” series, we decided to invite the strobe flash to help capture catching snacks.

Take 1.

Mid day, light from the window behind Bender, strobe with a softbox to my right, little speedlight setup to trigger off the strobe’s flash of light. Started with carrots. Onward to cookies. Freezing motion was tricky (turns out ambient light is the culprit). Geez this is CHALLENGING! The timing of the click of the shutter, the toss of the treat while looking through the viewfinder and framing Bender and focusing – all performed at the same time.  Multitasking at its best!

Also, Bender looks like a Gremlin…

 

Take 2.

Day 2. Evening, lights off except the TV. Kibble and cookies were the snacks of choice. Poor Bender couldn’t hardly see the flying snacks in the glow of the TV, so the overhead light was flipped back on. Timing was a bit off at first, which meant we had a lot of treat faces but none with the gaping maw full of stringy spit.

One of the cool bonuses to treats when the strobes are setup – Bender thinks its a bit fun and moreso rewarding to position himself in front of the source of the lights. Doesn’t mean he looks thrilled to have his picture taken (which means no ears or mid up giving him a slightly pathetic pouty look) but it means he’ll hold his place and tolerate being photographed. Even if the end result is utterly hilarious!

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Next visit Pet Love Photography, serving Greater Cincinnati, the San Francisco Bay Area, and destinations nationwide to see how what snack time is like out in her neck of the woods!

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About A Dog Photography in St. Cloud, St. Paul & Minneapolis MN |  52 Weeks is a blog circle with a theme for every week (which means we all link to each other, links are found at the end of the post).

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The weather held a wee touch of briskness on an adventure to downtown St. Cloud for the urban theme. Bender, the butt-head, was happily excited for a quick ride down to the grungy alleys of downtown.

Enter every distraction, a dislike for the 20mm lens (giant eyeball) and a general distaste for being photographed and Bender was top level frustration. Treats didn’t matter. The approach? A sigh and a happy reset. The more fun we made it the more he’d at the least hold his sit position for more than 2 minor seconds, even if it meant the general direction of his eyes was everywhere else. When he did look at me, those lovely ears tucked back into the brimming bald old man. At least he looked mostly in my direction.

(If you’ve ever wondered where I get the patience when working with your dogs, its from this hunk of dog. He reminds me to keep it fun and embrace the moment, even if it means we’re rocking side profile images and no ears.)

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Next visit Tracy Allard of Penny Whistle Photography fetching portraits in Coppell and surrounding communities in the Dallas – Fort Worth metroplex to see her urban!

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