Friday, March 30, 2012

How tempting it is to scratch a dog between the ears while he dutifully sits.

I have yet to meet two dogs that sit identically. The "sit" is a dog's unique signature. Please submit a picture of your dog sitting. I will publish the most fetching pose and write an article about your best friend.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Two excellent canines modeled for my dog photography workshop in Tampa last weekend—a Great Dane and a white Boxer.

Gretel, the Great Dane, is the pet of one of my wife's former co-workers. The GD's owner, Kimberly, eagerly accepted an invitation to bring her dog to the workshop in exchange for a top-notch photograph of Gretel. Kimberly asked if I would be interested in letting her next-door neighbors bring their white Boxer, Gibson. She explained that Gretel and Gibson are best friends and spend a lot of time together. "Sure!" I said. "I would love to try to get a photograph of the dogs together. Are they well-mannered enough to sit together for a picture?" Kimberly assured me they were.

The workshop started on Saturday morning at 9:30. I showed my students how to set up a simple portable studio with a couple of strobe lights and a nine-foot-long seamless paper background. I discussed cameras, lens settings, and other technical matters. I spent one half hour talking exclusively about dogs—how they experience the world through smell, sound, and sight, and how all of those senses influence their actions in a photo studio. I also talked about another crucial aspect of studio dog photography: behavior. Most pet canines fall into one of four categories—obedient, average, ADD/ADHD, scared.

The owners and their handsome dogs arrived at 10:30, on time. I asked Gibson's mom to hang out with him in the lobby while I ushered Gretel and Kimberly into the classroom. Gretel commands attention and respect. She is fit and huge. Weighing in at 135 pounds, this dog has the strength of a 400-pound human athlete. Kimberly is petite and practical. She and Gretel have gone through several courses of obedience training together. Kimberly is quite deft at managing her huge pet.

Gretel

I asked Kimberly to let Gretel wander around the room without collar and leash. Gretel made a leisurely circuit around the room, stopping off to sniff each of the students. Everybody responded by cooing and stroking the top of her head between long upright ears. After about ten minutes, Kimberly called Gretel over and the three of us arranged ourselves onto the floor, with Gretel splayed out between us on the seamless paper. It was time to get mellow and ready for the shoot. The students sat quietly and watched. I popped off the strobes a couple times to get Gretel accustomed to the flashes. Cool as a cucumber, this dog did not flinch. I got up, walked towards the front of Gretel, crouched down, and began observing her through the viewfinder of my camera—a full-frame Sony a850 equipped with a Zeiss 24-70mm f/2.8 lens. The first thing that dawned on me was that the nine-foot-long background was a bit shy. This dog spans over six feet from tip to tip—nose to tail.  Instead of composing a full body portrait, I opted to concentrate on her long face—front-on and in profile. Several students then took turns taking pictures of easygoing Gretel.

Gibson

Gibson and his owner, Karen, entered the classroom after Gretel and Kimberly exited. I have photographed at least a dozen Boxers. I am fond of the breed. They are playful and expressive. Gibson is a "white" Boxer. Like his doggie model predecessor, Gretel, he paraded around the classroom without leash and collar. He managed to sniff everyone in the room and enjoyed all of the attention that we showered on him—a nice dog indeed. The three of us arranged ourselves on the floor, with Gibson sitting in the middle on the seamless paper. I popped the flash a couple of times to test Gibson's reaction. Unflappable, he could not have cared less. Gibson weighing in at around seventy pounds, I found it much easier to frame him in the viewfinder. Full body or profile, there was enough background available to envelop his form.

Neighbors and Friends

Gretel and Gibson are neighbors. Although a fence separates them, their owners make sure that they get to spend plenty of time together. I did not want to pass up an opportunity to photograph the dogs together. Kimberly brought Gretel back into the room. The dogs moved in close to each other as we shepherded them onto the seamless paper. Knowing that the background was not going to provide enough coverage, the best I could do was get the dogs comfortable. I realized that to make a great photograph would require extensive rework in Photoshop.

I was motivated to make this picture work to honor a human couple, my family's neighbors and friends, who had lived next door to us when we lived in Boston many years ago. I had just found out the previous week that Lila had recently passed away. Her husband, Bob, had died a few years earlier. They were a lovely couple. Bob's father built our houses in the early 1950s. They were solid and mirror images of each other. Our houses were separated only by our narrow common driveway that led up to the double freestanding garage that we owned jointly.

My wife and I were practically newlyweds, while Lila and Bob had been married for almost fifty years. We got along great. Bob and I had a competition of sorts that revolved around who would be the first one out after a snowstorm to shovel the driveway and sidewalk so the other would not have to. Both he and his wife were wise, smart, charming, and thoughtful. Bob dapper and Lila pretty, they were an attractive couple. We were thrilled to have them as neighbors and friends. It saddened us to leave them behind when we moved to Florida. I took a picture of Lila standing behind a window on the second floor of her house, waving goodbye as I pulled out of our driveway for the last time. I have not looked at the picture in a couple of years, but it occupies a space in my mind that sees it in sharp focus as I sit and write.

I certainly do not want to confuse Bob and Lila with Gibson and Gretel. After all, it is not fair to compare apples to oranges. I did however think of Bob and Lila as I watched these lovely dogs occupy time and space in harmony.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

A couple days ago, I set up a micro-portable studio at a local pet boutique. The proprietor and staff are amazing. Their customers are loyal and friendly. Unfortunately, the area set aside for the photo shoot occupied less than seventy square feet. Most of the time, I am able to work around space limitations. After all, I have taken pictures of dogs in areas smaller than the interior of a VW Bug. In tight situations, I take close-ups. Ninety percent of the time, with a single dog, the "close-up" works.

Close-ups are not an option when two medium-sized dogs enter the frame.

These sisters were well behaved, charming, and interesting. Unfortunately, the background was limited to 53" wide seamless paper—standard headshot width. The dogs (Australian Cattle Dogs) had to be "bunched-up" to fit into the frame. The camera managed to capture their character, and my client is pleased with the cropped version below. But, it would have been thrilling to photograph the dogs in a bigger space. That would have given me more options, a wider range of lighting setups and compositions to explore.  A dog photographer lament: "If only I had had more space."

Top Dog's studio has a shooting area of approximately six hundred square feet. The studio swallows a nine-foot long seamless background with ease. It allows plenty of room to explore interesting options.

Composition:

Lighting:

Monday, August 15, 2011

The dog days of summer are upon us. I have lately been up to my ears in dog photography.

Once in awhile, it is nice to take a break from the normal work routine and try something new.  A couple of days ago, the concept: something different, something feathery, something spiky entered my mind. My daughter had a lot to do with this inspiration. She loves animals, excepting crickets. "What fun it would be to get your hedgehog and cockatiel together in the studio for a photo shoot," I remarked while she sat on the floor playing with Quentin, her beloved hedgehog. She turned to me, eyes sparkling, "Can we take pictures of Elvis too?"

Elvis is her cockatiel. I like most animals. However, cockatiels are high on my list, along with rats and bats, of creatures that totally escape my affections. Elvis has been freeloading in our home for over two years. In my opinion, he is more of a squawk-o-matic than a pet. From time to time though, his supercilious demeanor cracks me up. He likes to show off his crown, cock his head and, on occasion, defecate on my wife's shoulders. Regarding Elvis, I mostly keep my opinions to myself. Oddly, he has endeared himself to my wife. Cockatiels have a twenty-year life expectancy. Elvis stays until Helen leaves for college.

The hedgehog, Quentin, is a great pet. He is exotic, quiet, and charming. He has the softest feet of any creature that I have ever handled. Hedgehogs' quills have mildly irritating chemical properties, so it is best to handle him with oven mitts. Part of Quentin's charm is that he has a cantankerous streak. He hates interruptions. His naps and wakeful reveries are sacred. The odds are 50-50 that he will be grumpy when he is roused out of his giant plastic box-cage.

Helen and I spent a splendid afternoon in the studio photographing her pets. She has a talent for handling animals under the glare of bright studio lights. She knows how to calm them so that they will pose for the camera.

We would like to photograph her chameleon Cha-Cha, but that won't happen. Chameleons have nervous dispositions. Taking Cha-Cha from her cage would be too stressful for her. She would most likely change from her typical colorful mottled green pattern to a solid licorice black. Sometimes, if really stressed out, a chameleon will die of shock. We love Cha-Cha too much to risk her life for the sake of a photo op.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

A woman phoned early one Sunday morning to see if I would be available in the afternoon to do a photo session of her dog Marley. Barely caffeinated, I agreed to take on the job. I asked her the questions any competent canine photographer asks: How big is the dog? What is its sex? What breed is it? And so on and so forth. She said Marley is an Australian Cattle Dog. "Hmm," I thought, "cattle dogs are 'working dogs' that are not predictably comfortable in the photo studio." 

After finalizing our arrangements for the photo session, I consulted David Alderton's Encyclopedia of Dogs (© 2008, Parragon, Bath, UK). He describes the Australian Cattle Dog as boundlessly energetic and intelligent, but wary of strangers. They make for a fine guard dog but may not be a great choice for a family dog; they display a tendency to snap.

Marley and his owner arrived on time. It took about thirty seconds for me to register that Marley is a dignified and gentle dog. He immediately felt comfortable in the studio and soon settled down on the floor between his owner and me. I stroked Marley's belly and his owner stroked his ears as we chitchatted away.  We were comfortable, the three of us.

I had pre-lit the studio and marked off a dot on the floor where I wanted Marley to pose for the camera. His owner took him right to the spot. He sat there without the slightest bit of hesitation. I started taking pictures. The strobe lights and clicking of the camera did not faze him. He sat, moved his head this way and that, and then got into the down position without much prompting.

The problem with Marley was that he kept sticking his left hind leg off to the side — far off to the side. His owner mentioned something about this "little tendency" of his. I cannot remember if it had to do with his hip, arthritis, a previous leg injury, or all of the above.  Aside from leg issues, and the fact that he is nine years old, and his eyes are a bit cloudy, he is a very fine looking dog.

As we studied the thumbnails, the pattern emerged: leg out in every picture.

Out of the entire batch of 48 photographs, we picked the one below.  Since Marley's coloration is subtle, we decided that black and white would accentuate the details in his coat and markings more effectively than a color version. In addition, we agreed that Marley's "old soul" visage would translate better in monochrome.

Black Seamless, Lights, Camera, Photoshop, Retouching

I had no direct experience with Australian Cattle Dogs other than admiring some "blues" at a dog show. The pictures in the dog encyclopedia and the Internet show their coats range from blue to red. Unfortunately, I neglected to ask the client about Marley's coat. Therefore, I had to come up with a universal lighting solution. Something to accommodate whatever walked through the door.

For this assignment, I opted to use black for the background. I have observed that black dog fur absorbs more light than black seamless background paper. You can shine enough light at black seamless so that it looks grey. Grey is great because you can brighten or darken it easily in Photoshop.  I set up the main and the fill lights for a "flat" effect to retain clear detail in the shadows while not blowing out highlights. I used an octagonal soft box for the main light and a diffusion reflector with a grid for the fill. I strive to capture raw files with wide tonal ranges so that down the road, I have a lot of room to explore layer adjustment curves in Photoshop. Incidentally, this picture was taken with a 35mm dSLR camera (1/125, 60mm @ f/10, ISO 100).

The biggest artistic and technical challenges of this portrait involved removing Marley's left hind leg.  The leg was a distraction.  I used Photoshop to perform the virtual amputation. It required the use of the tools and techniques that I have picked up over the past five years retouching dog pictures. The picture below is the culmination of all of the abovementioned steps. My client was happy, "That's him – he looks so regal!" she declared.

Although Marley is oblivious, I think the portrait is honest. It accurately portrays his looks and personality (even though he is not a person). He is a calm, alert and regal companion dog that has never worked a day in his life.  

A decent photographer is similar to an accomplished painter. Both employ the tools and the skills that are necessary to interpret a subject rather than just document it.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

From the tips of their tails to the tips of their tongues, dogs have a wider selection of socially acceptable body parts available for expressing their innermost feelings. I estimate that about 10% of the dog pictures that I take are rejects due to the "tongue" factor. Dogs often express feelings such as uncertainty, mild stress, boredom, and anticipation by licking their noses.

A photo studio is the perfect environment for causing all of the feelings mentioned above — a strange man behind a big lens that looks like a giant eye, the glare and the pop of the strobe lights, the sound of the camera's shutter, the feel of the seamless paper, and the smells of other dogs lingering in the air. In addition to the sensorial experience is the dog's awareness that his owner expects him to cooperate.  I feel for the dog, because dogs are not cognizant of what it takes to make a compelling photograph.

My featured dog tongue photograph of the month comes from a sixty-pound, two-year-old bulldog named Winston.

Winston eventually calmed down and made nice for the camera.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

I photographed a pack of Shih Tzus a couple of days ago. The liver-colored one on the left tolerated the experience, just barely. The dog in the middle is missing her left eye and the cavity is sewn shut. The one on the right held the same expression throughout the shoot.

This was an unsupervised shoot. An assistant handled the dogs while I worked the lights and camera. The client asked me to take a group shot and a single of each dog. Here are a few stills of the liver-colored dog.

Here is a closeup!

This dog got mighty impatient towards the end of the shoot. Here is the final photo from the session.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Here is another picture taken at the photo session a couple of days ago with the Italian Greyhounds. The dog in the foreground is Gracie, and the other one is Eo. As I mentioned in the last post, Gracie is recovering from a wound inflicted by a hawk. According to Katherine, Gracie's owner, the wound is healing nicely. The original photograph was captured in color, and then converted to black and white in Photoshop. I have yet to do some minor tweaking on this image, particularly the catchlights on the eyes.