Happy Valentine's Day!

This week's blog circle theme is "Love."  It's not often that the blog falls exactly on a celebrated day.  Here are just a few of the things I love.

I love our silly cat, Matty, who is comfortable in the studio, and will gladly pose on just about anything.  I had not even planned on taking this photo, as I was in the midst of cleaning out one set up and putting down another, when all of a sudden, there he sat.  The camera was set up, so I used the remote and, voila, there you have a Valentiney cat.  I love that.

I decided to take an old photo of our Billie, and give it some love.

She was looking pretty scruffy here, which I believe was just before a visit to her groomer.  I like to do a before (scruffy) and after (perfection) photo to show how different she can look, and this was, obviously, the before.  I added some hearts from an overlay I found in my old files, and a frame.  Billie is my shadow and very affectionate.  She takes care of me at all times, and I truly "heart" her.

Finally, there is Lilah.  This, too, is an older photo I revamped.  I love Lilah's expression, which is so typically HER!

I sometimes like to go back and take old photos and rework them.  It's great for practice, helps build skills, allows me to use some of the new things I have learned through classes and tips/tricks from fellow photographers.

We have many more animals in our lives that we "heart."  They give love daily right back to us.

Be sure to check out the rest of the circle this week, traveling all the way to New Zealand to start with Lynda Mowat from Heartstrings Photography, based in the Waikato region of New Zealand.  Look for the link at the bottom of each blog to continue around the circle!

I hope your day, and your weekend, are filled with things that warm your heart! 

In Hollywood, CGI technology uses a "green screen" to add dinosaurs running after actors, millions of aliens landing on earth, more zombies in the horde, and a host of other activities.  It works.  Why do I bring this up?  Because gray is my green screen.

I love to use gray as my background and platform base covers.  Then I can add overlays, painted backgrounds, textures and even change the color a bit as needed.  So gray is a favorite here in the studio.

Having said that, I found some other gray things to show you.

This hen may have more than 50 shades of gray in her feathers, don't you think?

Graying senior dogs are among my favorite subjects.  SUCH CHARACTER!

Gray kitties come in many different varieties.

And whether in color, or black and white, gray tones can showcase a Bernese Mountain Dog.  (Which version do you prefer?)

We've had a couple of gray days here in Northeastern Pennsylvania, but that dastardly ground hog promised us an early spring.  He'd better be right or I just might have to find him.  I hope your weekend is blue and yellow, but if it isn't, we can use a gray background and make it so.

For more "gray" interpretations on this week's theme, head over to Tracy Allard of Penny Whistle Photography, fetching portraits in Coppell and surrounding communities in the Dallas - Fort Worth metroplex.  Look for the link at the end of each blog to move around the circle and see more enjoyable grayness.

If animals were made out of fabric, would it be easier to capture the nuances of their coats?

I mean there would be a lot less nooks and crannies, right?

How many textures do you see in the photo above?  What jumps out to you?

There are many considerations when photographing dogs and cats of different coat textures and colors.  Lighting is always a key element.  How do certain types of light reflect on and off the coat of an individual dog or cat?

The fellow above was easy to photograph.  He never moved.  But let's look at two examples of very different-coated dogs below that used essentially the same background and lighting (except for minor adjustments).  Can a single set up work for a number of different-coated dogs? 

In the image above, the coat is wispy and swirly, but relatively short.  Because this jaunty fellow has both dark and light in his coat, I wanted to light him in a way that would show both his coat texture and coloring, without being too bright or too dark.  I am always looking to see the texture of the coat come through in the shot.  I then try not to get too carried away in post-processing and OVER texturizing, by bringing up the coat too much.

In the case of this very multi-colored pup below, I did switch the lighting and brightened her up.  She was a mover, and decided that looking into the camera was not on her dance card.  I also gave her some space, leaving a good distance between myself and the platform so she would not become too nervous.  We were able to get this one still moment, and I think her coat textures and colors came through.

I did brush on a little more texture to the background in post processing.

In the end, showcasing coat texture is a very individual thing.  Not only to each dog, but to each photographer.  How much or how little is up to the photographer's choice, and ultimately, up to the owner in the final photo selection.

This week's theme is "texture."  To see more interpretations of the theme, start with Lynda Mowat from Heartstrings Photography, serving the Waikato and beyond, in New Zealand.  Then work your way around the blog circle by finding the link at the bottom of each blog.  I hope you have all the textures you like as part of your weekend!  Enjoy!

I have taken a little bit of time off blog writing, as battling a cold, which morphed into a sinus infection, which morphed into a bronchial infection, has kept me watching old television shows and movies, sitting in a chair, drinking tea.  I think that battle has almost been won, but this week's theme had me looking back through some images, as I am still not venturing out too much in our very cold weather.

Finding possible locations in urban settings, where there is both safety and a usable background that isn't too busy (and will distract the eye), is part of what I do on a regular basis.

Although even our largest, closest city isn't really all that large, there are some good locations in the smaller towns that are just outside of my rural residence.

This daylight image was taken outside an older bank building in one of these smaller towns.  I call it "waiting for the bus," as the bus does stop very near to where this photo was taken.  This is our dog, Billie, and her Dad.  As you can see by the weather, and the reflected window flowers, it isn't winter.  This is a photo I did not edit or use from a past photo session, until this blog.  I was happy to find it, because Billie's expression does look like she is waiting.

It is a safe spot, and although there is traffic through the main thoroughfare, it's not so much that you can't stand in the middle of the street now and then to take a photograph.

I decided to also use a night photo in a larger city setting for today's blog.

Even with a lot going on in the background, at night, with less people and more lights, what might have been an unusable site during the day becomes much more usable.  A 70-200mm lens can also provide good background blur.  Off camera flash and a street light gives adequate lighting .  There are people in this photo, but you can't really see them, as they blend well into the background camera right.

I am scouting all the time for urban locations, and I have a great list, not only for pet photos, but for senior portraits.  Here's just some of the things I look for in a good urban site.

I am looking forward to a good snowfall for some winter photography work, and the ability to go outside and not cough. Hopefully both those things will happen in the next month, when our winter begins in earnest in Pennsylvania.

The theme this week is "urban."  To see what other photographers in the circle have done with it, start here with Pawparazzi Pet and Animal Photography presented by Shae Pepper Photography.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

On Wednesday we woke up to 2.5 inches of frozen, crusty snow, and a gale wind that whipped both trees and snow around like a carnival ride. 

We had had no internet overnight and into the morning, so when it came back on I decided I might get this blog done, just in case future wind and climate issues took the connection away again.

We could call this story "Party on the Patio."

We have a local hotel that often has "party on the patio" themed nights, but this party is WAAAAY different.  Instead of offering a cash bar, we offer a seed bar that tends to attract locals.

When the weather is too cold for words, putting seed in protected places  often makes it easier for guests to stay out of the wind while enjoying their selections.

Word gets out fast.

Pretty soon there are lines forming.

Humans are not invited to this shindig.  We are mere servers who just need to keep the supplies refilled when necessary.

Juncos, titmice, chickadees, phoebes, downy woodpeckers, jays and squirrels are the typical customers

Bar peanuts are always a favorite.

Some dine alone and some dine in small groups.

Make no mistake, there are some swingers in the crowd.

And every once in a while, some cat who made the mistake of thinking it was Spring again and ran out of the house, even though we gave him our best advice on NOT doing that, crashes the party and decides he wants back in immediately.

Whether you tell your story with a series of photos (as done here with one theme), or one single photo, I hope you have a storied weekend, and that you will head to the blog circle to see more interpretations of this week's theme.  Start with Jackie Petersen Pet Photography, serving pet lovers in Northern Utah.  Jackie is a new blogger with the group, so welcome!

Side note:  This blog is dedicated to my Mom, Celia Mueller, who passed away on Thursday, January 9th.  She constantly encouraged her children to be who they wanted to be and do what they loved.  Thanks Mom.

I heard a conversation at the grocery store the other day.  A woman was asking the clerk if he said twenty twenty or two thousand twenty.  He replied that he hadn't really thought about it, but he would probably stick with twenty twenty.

I have caught myself using both.  How about you?  What will you use?

Regardless of how you decide to approach the number of the year, there are a few things I have decided to do with my year, seeing as how it is in fact a new one...a clean slate.

I have decided to get up and greet each day with thankfulness and purpose.

Even if the road is rocky.

Even if the sun isn't shining.

I have decided to celebrate more.

And worry less.

And make sure there are always balloons full of wishes, even if some of them don't hold up, pop, or their colors fade away.

I have decided to rest when needed.

Because life isn't all about work.

Because clear minds come from peace and quiet.

And I have decided to let the squirrels eat the birdseed.

Because every single day for them is a clean slate, and they forget where they put yesterday's stash when they last robbed the feeders.

Keep your fingers crossed that I can follow this plan.  I will let you know how it goes.

If you haven't already guessed, this week's blog theme is "clean slate."  To read more interpretations of the theme, click on the following link for Jo Lyons Photography, the down-to-earth dog loving photographer for cherished dogs of the Great Lakes NSW, then look for the link at the end of each blog post to get to the next one in the circle.  We have quite a number of photographers posting today, some for the first time!  Welcome to all new photogs! 

Enjoy your weekend.  Hopefully something good is on your slate!

As another 52 weeks of blog posts come to a close, I want to thank all of my fellow photographers for giving me great moments to enjoy, different perspectives to think about and loads of informative posts.

To wrap up the year, I just want to share some of my favorite photos from 2019. First, here's a collage of some of my favorite studio pet portraits.

The Goldens and Labs are tied for the number of dogs in each breed to visit the studio, and while I did not feature every photo (I had plenty more) that fell into my "favorites" category, the ones I selected are the same photos selected by their pet parents.

In the people category, some of my favorites included:

I decided to poll Instagram to see what my top 9 photos were for the year.  These 9 photos received the most likes during 2019 on that account.  I do not always post the same photos to my Instagram account that I post to my blog, so you may see some variance.

And, there you have it.  That's a wrap!

I want to thank all of my clients, who make me smile all the time.  Thank you for trusting me with your very special fur babies, thank you for counting on me for that very special head shot or senior portrait.  I hope you all had a great holiday, whatever you celebrate, and Happy New Year!

To see the end of 2019 posts from the rest of the blog circle, start here with Tracy Allard of Penny Whistle Photography fetching portraits in Coppell and surrounding communities in the Dallas - Fort Worth metroplex.

I have been flitting in and out of the blog based on my schedule and other life events.  Turns out I had some spare time this week to participate.  The subject is outtakes, and yes, it IS all one word, but we submit our blog titles to a group page on Wednesday night and at that time, I submitted through my cell phone...never looking up the proper spelling of the word.  It's one of those words that I stumble upon spelling-wise, and I was either too busy or too lazy (you can pick one) to get back and change my original submission.

That aside, I am using some past outtakes as part of the blog. 

This first one is pretty obvious.  If someone comes to the studio with their kitty, they are not necessarily looking for a photo of their feline hiding behind light stands.  I like to let kitties get acclimated to their surroundings prior to using any lights, and this kitty investigated and hid behind them for a while.  I snapped a photo of her I knew I would not use, but thought it was a good way to show others that cats can wander around at will in the studio.

She eventually did come out and posed with her Mom for one photo and with a flower for another.  So it all worked out in the end, and this outtake is still part of my archives.

Sometimes it's a little harder to decide what is and isn't an outtake.  I'll bet looking at these two photos, you might think the one on the left could also have been used as part of the final selections.  But I did not choose it.

Naturally, I would edit out the leash, and clean up the photo (the photo on the left is straight out of camera [SOOC] with a lighting adjustment and small color saturation adjustment), but there were two things I didn't like about this particular shot:  (1) the area around the head, ear, and eye on the left side (camera right on the dog) is a bit blurry, probably caused by slight movement in the subject; and (2) I thought that lighting needed to be adjusted at the time, and reset the studio lights.

I also thought the head tilt and tail position were cuter in the photo on the right, the image was sharper overall, and the lighting adjustment added some shadow to the body and opened up the lighting on the head.

I actually competed this image and it did very well, winning a blue ribbon, being featured in the NPPPA Court of Honor, and meriting at 84.

My final image is somewhat infamous. 

While doing senior photos of a subject and her horse, I snapped a quick photo of the horse giving her a head hug.  This was not the look we were going for, but we had a really good laugh that day viewing the image on the back of the camera, and I sent it to her because it was funny.

Her uncle featured it on his Facebook page, and it became a very well-liked photo.  I do sometimes send outtakes to clients, especially when we are having fun, and something does not go as expected.  Below is really what I was looking for in this type of photo.

So there you have it!  A quick example of some outtakes.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone else's in the blog circle this week.  If you are too, just start here with  Pawparazzi Pet and Animal Photography presented by Shae Pepper Photography, and then look for the link at the bottom of each succeeding blog's page for your next read, until you find yourself back here.  Have a great rest of your weekend!  TAKE some time OUT to kick back and relax!

I am not going to star in an infomercial, or be an advocate for any particular brand of light at any time in this blog post. 

I am just going to show you what I use in the studio, have become very familiar with, and have grown to love.

My Godox RS600p Strobe is my primary, go-to light.  It is portable and has an outdoor battery pack, which means I can also use it outside.

It makes life easier for me on many days.

I used this light as my primary in every single indoor shoot this past year, and in a few outdoor senior sessions on very gloomy days.

This week, I expect to be finished with all of the Christmas and Holiday card photo sessions.  All orders will have been placed and most will have been delivered.  Because Thanksgiving was so close to the end of the month this year, I am behind in my own work, including my own Christmas cards.

So tonight I tackled a session with Lilah in the studio, using the two sources of light I have come to rely on.  Below is the second.

This is a Yongnuo 568EX 4 Channel Flash, which I use off camera with many different types of modifiers.  For this session, I used a white shoot through umbrella.  (This technical stuff is for the photographers in the crowd, but for those of you who may not be well-versed in the lingo, just think "off camera flash."  What kind doesn't matter right now.)

I am going to show you some out takes from the session using the Godox as my primary light and the Yongnuo as my secondary light. They are out takes, because I am not dressed for holiday photos, and Lilah had her own plans for "helping" me out.

I normally sit in the scene and take a test shot with a remote trigger to get a feel for the light.  Even though I have used a light meter most times, you never know the nuances of that light until you shoot.  Lilah's plan was to sit with me and see if she could smell my head.  Main light is camera left.  Secondary light is camera right.

I shoot with a Nikon D800, so I set my camera in Commander Mode and it takes care of making sure all of the lights flash when they should.  It took me loads of research, four classes and many hours of trials to sync my camera and my lights correctly, and to understand the settings.  Even after all of that, there is still much to learn.

Lilah is such a help, isn't she?  I was not letting her smell my head just yet.  I took a few of these test shots, then got up and checked the camera to see the lighting.  I only tweaked it a little, then sat back down with my remote and took the photo below.

It's no secret that my granddaughter called Lilah "La La" until she was almost 5 years old.  We often call Lilah "La La" now, so it seemed appropriate for Fa La La to appear behind her.  I wanted this image to be fun, so I brought up the power in the secondary light a bit.  Lilah did finally get her wish to smell my head.  It's a favorite pastime, especially when we come from someplace where she hasn't been.  I wonder if our hair holds the scent of all the places we have been?  Or maybe it's the closest thing to fur that we have, so it's familiar.

I am not going to show you what I decided on, ultimately, for the final Lilah Christmas image, in today's blog.  BOO, right?  But I will feature it on my Facebook business page the week between Christmas and New Years Day. So tune in to see how it all turned out!

In the spirit of "I've shown you my lights, now you show me yours," there should be lots more "light" interpretations in today's blog circle.  Start with Angela Schneider of Noses & Toes Pet Photography in Spokane and North Idaho.  And whatever holiday you celebrate, let there be light!

Writing this blog on Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful for many things.  I feel very lucky to live in an area surrounded by parks, where I can take my dog and enjoy the day.  This is an older photo of Danny and I at a local park.  It is one of those rare photos, where I set up the camera and my husband was able to just push the button and get the shot relatively well. 

I like to snap photos in the park, no matter the weather, and walking is one of my best worlds.

Whether a winter walk in the snow, or a summer walk watching dogs lazily enjoying the grass, as the pup in the photo above, parks afford us the opportunity to get back in touch with nature.  We have approximately four parks close to my rural home.  Each of them have their own things to offer, from fishing off docks to kayaking in a pond, to simply enjoying a quiet walk with a dog.

I often cover events held at local parks, or sometimes even set up a booth at events to snap quick, mini session photos of dogs and their people.

If I travel a few hours, I can reach a horse park.  On a hot summer day, sitting under a tree with a cold drink, I can enjoy and snap some shots of dressage participants.

You never know just what you will find at our local parks and natural hot spots.

So I count parks among my blessings, along with the clients who have their own favorite park spots where they choose to have their pets photographed. 

And, I count stumbling upon the "here's something you don't see everyday folks" as a special joy in park hopping!

I would encourage each and every one of you to get out there and find the natural environments and parks near you.  No matter the weather, breathing fresh air and enjoying what mother nature has in store for us, is a grand thing!

I hope you've had a great Thanksgiving!

For more about PARKS, which is the theme this week, start the blog circle run with Angela Schneider of Noses & Toes Pet Photography, celebrating dog lovers in Spokane and North Idaho, and have a great rest of your weekend!