BZ Dogs

Dog Blog Post #844

Photography Assignment

Scavenge Challenge October 2012 - "21. Now create an image with a soft, feminine look which goes well with #20 as a pair."

(#20 is the shot of Zachary in a top hat, above, which was the "masculine" shot of the pair.)

The softer side of Henry, compete with feathers, lace, and a pink pillow (for Breast Cancer Awareness Month!)

And yes, the headdress was crafted special purpose with a spray of peacock feathers taped to a headband, which already sported the gaudy faux stone, and then wrapped in ribbon to hide the tape.

I work solo with the boys, which usually isn't a problem since I use a tripod and remote control.

BUT

Today I really wished I had someone to tell me if those darned feathers were straight and in frame, as I was standing in front of Henry and it was really hard for me to tell.

After more shots than I care to admit to, I finally got a few that...

Daily Dog Challenge "353. "Follow The Rules"

.. and satisfy the..

Our Daily Challenge - Oct 18, 2012 - "Rule of Thirds"


Uh Oh.

That's Henry's, "I'm calling my agent/lawyer" look.

Oh dear.





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Dog Blog Post #843

Photography Assignment

Today was…

Daily Dog Challenge "352. Creative Lighting"

… day, which meant...

Scavenge Challenge October 2012 - "19. Take a shot in low light without using a flash. Experiment with a long exposure."

A shot?

*A* shot???

How about 65 shots of the boys, playing with various combinations of exposure, aperture, plus spot lighting (using mag-lights and head lamps, none of which made the cut.)

I found it made the boys look a bit...

Our Daily Challenge - Oct 17, 2012 - "Odd"

Henry as usual, insisted on having his photo shoot first.

Not knowing what I was doing, I pretty much blew his entire ramekin of cookies simply calling him from left to right while I adjusted aperture, exposure, and room light (which happens to be on a dimmer switch.)

Then it was Zachary's turn, and while I still fiddled a bit with settings, I spent a lot more time trying to get dynamic shots - mostly by either tossing cookies for Zachary to catch or having him spin.

Neither complained about their roles today :) but by the time I had finished Zachary's shots I had much bigger ideas and they would have worked beautifully with Henry's coat.

Oh well, a project for another day.




Editor's Note: The pictures here were all shot in the range: 0.2-0.6s, f/2-f/3.2, ISO 100-200 using my 50mm prime lens (as almost all my shots do these days). Very little post-production was done other than to drain the yellow out of them, as the lighting was all incandescent, and the usual "magic wand" button to make a RAW file look less... RAW.

Ok... Drain The Yellow is a bit of an understatement. They were as vibrant yellow-orange as Marigolds, and I turned them into blue-tinged Casper's.

Intentionally.

I love photography! :)


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© 2012 BZ Training - All Rights Reserved

Dog Blog Post #841

Photography Assignment

Our Daily Challenge - Oct. 16, 2012 - "Weather"

"Tonight's forecast: Dark. Continued dark throughout most of the evening, with some widely scattered light towards morning." -- George Carlin

Daily Dog Challenge "351. Your Corner of the World" - Show us your corner of the world from your dog's perspective today!"

Dark?

Scavenge Challenge October 2012 - "10. Non-electric/non-battery lanterns and lamps are the subject. Bonus points for antiques."

A craft store find for $3.99, and just as cute as can be.

Don't let the POV fool you, this little guy is just 4-5" high and the candle inside a little votive.

It's sitting on the some slate coasters to give a more natural look than the kitchen table beneath them.

This was a 1 second exposure, with a bit of additional light just kissing the front of the lantern from a mini-mag light to bring out the detail. (The shot one older in my stream shows the same thing, at 5 seconds, without the mini-mag.)

Henry did a lovely job holding still for me.

Behind the Scenes

Remember yesterday's Caution shots?



Here's the setup for it...





Not the greatest picture, but you get the idea.

The caution tape is wrapped around the backdrop stand.

The backdrop is draped over the trifold cardboard backboards.

The umbrellas have been removed from the CFLs as otherwise you wouldn't have been able to see very much!




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© 2012 BZ Training - All Rights Reserved

"Mmmm.... I wonder what kind of treat we are getting today?"

"Come to us, After Dinner Cookie Container."

"Closer..."

"Closer...."

"Gotcha!"

Dog Blog Post #838

Photography Assignment

They boys were using their...

Our Daily Challenge - Oct. 13, 2012 - "Eyes"

... to say...

Daily Dog Challenge "348. "Pleeeease"

... give us a cookie from the...

Scavenge Challenge October 2012 - "3. What item can't you bear to throw away, even though it's broken?"

... After Dinner Cookie Container.

Not to be confused with the We're Leaving Cookie container, the Thank You For Coming When Called Cookie container, the Good Night Cookie container, the Other Good Night Cookie container, and the I'm Sitting On The Sofa Cookie container.

No, I'm not kidding.

Yes, there really are containers for those purposes sprinkled about the house.

THIS cookie container has shown up several times in my stream, sporting ever more bits of tape over the ever more cracks that develop in its cheap and fragile plastic.

I have no idea why I don't get a real jar to replace it, except that it's plastic (and thus unbreakable - in the glass shattering, paw cutting way) easy to open, easy to fill, and just the right size to hold a box of cookies.

I also have no idea why I bought those treats to begin with, as I'm usually quite picky about natural ingredients for the boys, although I seem to remember them enjoying the original contents very much.

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© 2012 BZ Training - All Rights Reserved

Dog Blog Post #834

Photography Assignment

I asked the boys to fashion a ribbon around a bouquet of silk flowers.

Probably not the wisest of ideas on my part.

Daily Dog Challenge "344. Dog the Artist"

Our Daily Challenge - Oct 9, 2012 - "Art and/or Craft"

Scavenge Challenge October 2012 - "11. Scissors, shears and/or secateurs are to be the focal point of this assignment."






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Dog Blog Post #833

Photography Assignment

Let's…

Scavenge Challenge October 2012 "17. Use dried or realistic artificial flowers in an image suitable for a "thank-you" card."

That would be…

Our Daily Challenge - Oct. 7, 2012 - "Plastic"

...

Daily Dog Challenge "342. "Leaves"

… as the real leaves aren't doing too much around here yet.



Editor's Note: Call me bragging, but I'm pretty happy with how these shots came out.

Well, most of them...

Monday Mischief

(sigh)

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© 2012 BZ Training - All Rights Reserved

Dog Blog Post #832

Photography Assignment

Daily Dog Challenge "341. Capture Beauty" - Take a photo of your dog that you feel is a beautiful image."

The boys insisted that I clarify the statement above with the word "Handsome".

A Handsome image.

In fact, they are sure it has a…

Scavenge Challenge October 2012 - "20. Create an image with a bold, masculine feel."

… masculine feel.

That's faux leather, faux animal spots, corduroy pillow in manly earth tones, and a hunting dog.

Wearing a top hat.

With a really serious expression on his face.

Sure says masculine to me!

(The question now becomes, which lucky dog gets to show their feminine side for the matching shot?)

The Race Continues

After yesterday's Canine Candidates post, the boys decided they should check out their political competition on…

Our Daily Challenge - Oct 6, 2012 - "Television".


I have to give the boys credit, they were far more focused on the speakers than most of the humans I know.

Yet More Handsome

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© 2012 BZ Training - All Rights Reserved

"Thank you, Thank you"

Welcome, Zachary and Henry. We are so glad you could join us today.

Let's start off with you describing a few of the differences between your platform and that of your challengers.

Zachary: "Our platform has Cookies..." Henry: "Our challengers? Pfthfthpfth..."

Zachary: "... and more Cookies." Henry: "Cookies good."

Hmm...

(Zachary looking very presidential)

(Henry looking very hungry)

Dog Blog Post #831

Photography Assignment

Daily Dog Challenge "340. Dog For President"

It looks like their platform includes lots of Cookies.

Literally.

Scavenge Challenge October 2012 - "7. Capture some sparkle! Let those little highlights shine to good effect."

This shot up top obviously has fake (post-processing via the camera) sparkles to see the real thing, scroll down to the last shot.

In Related News...

I wonder what Henry is promising that demographic?

Our Daily Challenge - Oct 5, 2012 - "Marine"

Sparkly!  (no post-processing here - these are straight out of the camera)

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© 2012 BZ Training - All Rights Reserved

"OK, Mom - I think we've got the grocery list ready."

That's great, boys. Let's take a look...

Hmm...

Cookies
Treats
Snacks

... I believe I'm seeing a pattern here...

Goodies
Munches

... You do realize that you need to have healthy food on that list?

"But Cookies ARE healthy, Momma!"

Eh hem...

Why don't you guys give it one more try... and make sure you numbers all add up.

Dog Blog Post #830

Photography Assignment

Daily Dog Challenge "339. I'm In Charge!"

I put the boys in charge of making the weekly family shopping list, and some time later found them with a...

Scavenge Challenge October 2012 - "18. Show a hand-held electronic device in use (no cell phones or cameras, please!)" (spare)

... calculator in paw, finishing up their list.

It seems we have a wee bit of…

Our Daily Challenge - Oct 4, 2012 - "Confusion"

… over what constitutes a healthy diet.

I think I'll give those numbers a quick double-check.

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(peek)

(tippy-toe tippy-toe tippy-toe)

"Ahhhhhhh"

Henry (off camera): "Who is that laying in front of MY fan?!" Zachary: "Not me!!!"  (run away, run away, run away!)

"Ahhhhhhh!"

Dog Blog Post #829

Photography Assignment

As we try our hand at…

Our Daily Challenge - Oct 3, 2012 - "Minimalism"

… we get just a...

Daily Dog Challenge 338. "A Glimpse"

… of Zachary and a...

Scavenge Challenge October 2012 - "2. Sports fan, milady's fan, industrial fan...the subject is fans of any sort."

(again)

(whirr whirr whirr)

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Dog Blog Post #828

Photography Assignment

Looks like the…

Our Daily Challenge - Oct 2, 2012 - "Beginning"…

… of a…

Daily Dog Challenge "337. Rustic"

… cookout.

Duke* had better watch out!

Scavenge Challenge September 2012 - "25. Last month, we delicately applied post-processing to improve our photos. This month, we're going to take that a step further and render an image into an artistic version using a heavier hand. Again, photos should be presented as a diptych, side by side for comparison. The challenge you face here is to create something which is visually appealing to a general audience, NOT a garish, over-the-top alteration. Two options to consider: stylizing (rendering as a painting or sketch) or adding a texture to your original image."

(For diptych, see below)

Ok… fuzzy wording ("heavier hand") has me scratching my head. To much? Not enough?

We'll try THIS picture and see if it flies.

Obviously, the top shot (RAW) needed some serious work, although low exposure has benefits if you know ahead of time you want to add in texture/grain. In addition to fiddling with exposure, I pulled on curves and levels, applied vignette, sharpness (more sharpness, yet more sharpness), plus some lightening (of the side of the pan) and polarizing (of the backdrop to kill some of the sheen that developed when I upped the exposure).

If I had to do it over again, I would have tried a small reflector on the pan or just gone with a higher exposure and hoped I could get enough "grain" using sliders, as the black was pretty much a black hole as taken.

All was done in Aperture 3.

* Duke = the stage name of the Golden Retriever in the Bush's Beans commercials, named after the real Golden Retriever owned by the Bean Bush's family.

The Original

Also Ran

Less Artsy

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