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!

This week's topic is natural light, and usually I will skip joining the blog circle if the topic is one that is repetitive, but even though I have touched on this very subject in the past, I have learned so much more than the last time I wrote about it.   I decided to join in and talk a bit about how continuing education has helped me to look at natural light a little more to my advantage.

Some of the elements of natural light are clouds, sun and time of day.  Based on climate and weather, there are a gazillion combinations of clouds and sun and time of day. 

You would think that if you just get your subject in some sunshine, enough to light them, then VOILA! you will have a great photograph.  Nope.  So then clouds must be the key.  Put that subject in the shade or wait for it to be cloudy, and there you have it, a very viable photograph.  Nope again.

Bright sunshine throws harsh shadows and clouds tend to make for flat lighting.  Oy vey!

Sure you can change those camera settings, but if you haven't leaned to USE your light properly, you can dial up all the camera settings in the world and it won't help you.

What is a photographer to do?

For me, personally, learning to photograph properly with studio lighting and off camera flash has completely changed how I photograph in natural light (no flash at all).  Lighting my subjects in studio has taught me good and bad lighting, soft and hard shadowing and the importance to using lighting and shadow to create a pleasant photograph.

Here is a photograph of an English Setter enjoying some sunshine.

There are both clouds and sun, and the slight shade of a tree in this picture.  This photo would have been easier if the dog were in the shade, but the story wouldn't be the same.  If we were in the studio, we would be looking to highlight the profile of this dog, and balancing that out with some easy shadow, so why not also do that with natural light?

Since taking quite a number of sessions, classes and courses about "finding the right light," I can more readily identify the spot in a scene where the subject might do best.

Below is my own dog, Lilah, hanging over the couch looking out a window.  Again, nothing but natural window light here, and it is reflecting off snow.  I have used this photo once before to illustrate a different point.  Here I use indoor shade counterbalanced against outdoor bright white light.  And yes, there was a reflector involved.  But what does a reflector do?  It reflects the bright light onto the subject, so I manipulated the natural light.

This is actually one of my favorite photos of Lilah, because she loves to watch the birds and squirrels out of this window, which overlooks the patio.  She was so intent on this day, I could have drug an entire army of lighting out and she would not have moved, but I didn't want to take the chance of losing the photo.  So one small reflector was enough.

Finally, I have one recent (just a day ago) photo illustrating how useful finding the right spot on a very cloudy day can be.  Especially when you have set up an outside scene for Christmas and holiday photos, and the sun is not cooperating.

I walked the entire area around my studio for three cloudy days watching the light funnels before I set up this scene.  I cannot use a single light with this dog, because she is very afraid of them.  Since I never want her to be uncomfortable, I had to find a spot that would work to give me enough light to light her coat, showing its nuances, as well as her beautiful eyes.

The light is funneling in from my left (her right) where there is a large opening with no trees, but the scene is set somewhat into the wooded area on my right (her left) to allow for natural shadowing.  I love this photo of her because she is a rescue and has come a very long way, and her Mom has been a client since she came into her life, so I have been able to see her progress.

So, clouds or sun, if you become more aware of finding the light that will be the most flattering to your subject, or that will help you tell a story, you will ultimately have a great photo!  I can highly recommend taking some studio lighting classes if you have photographed in only natural light.  I look forward to taking more, because we never stop learning, and I love working with light!

I can't wait to see what others in the circle have come up with this week.  Have a great weekend, and start your blog journey with Tracy Allard of Penny Whistle Photography fetching portraits in Coppell and surrounding communities in the Dallas - Fort Worth metroplex.

As you can probably tell, I had a little fun with this week's theme.

Film Noir photography is typically black and white, dark, and plays up the shadows, sometimes severely.  I decided to take a few of my past kitten images and convert them to the genre.  I honestly did not take the shadowing to extremes, but in the future I'd like to shoot with Film Noir in mind and grab those shadows from the get go. Instead, I used a grunge overlay for the first image.

Besides the play on light, Film Noir images can showcase textures, grunge or texture overlays, and often tell a story.  Many of these type of images remind me of the lead in trailers for old movies.

Cue voice over: 
"How did the kittens get on the case?" 
"Is the case in danger?" 
"Are the kittens in danger?"
"Will the kittens escape the case?" 

Tune in for the riveting story of four kittens trapped on a case!

Yes, I had some fun putting this week's images together, including the final image.

How about a dog on the lam?  Third boxcar, midnight train? 
Originally a photo of a pup against a black background, I added in a stock photo of a train station at night and played with the lighting on the pup.  I was tempted to put a single street lamp next to him, but decided against it in the end, leaving the image a bit shadowy.  You get to think up the title to this mysterious case.

Film Noir is an interesting genre.  Enjoy more Film Noir moments in today's blog circle.  Start with Pet Love Photography, serving Greater Cincinnati, the San Francisco Bay Area, and destinations nationwide.

It's the Case of the Weekend coming up, and I hope there is no mystery to your having fun!

Halloween has been postponed in our neighborhood (officially) to today, since inclement weather was going to make the Halloweeners travel about in small water craft.

I decided to develop a monochromatic image (in keeping with this week's theme) that might lend itself to Halloween.  The image is a composite made up of stock photography and several images I have taken on my own.

Monochromatic photography is using just one color theme, and manipulating the shadows and highlights at will to craft the image.  I hope you enjoy my creation, and have a Happy Halloween, whenever it happens!

You can see more monochromatic images by reading through the blog circle as well.  Start with Linda Perdue of VPShoots Photography serving the Tampa Bay area.  Have a great weekend!

This week's blog circle theme is "Photographer's Choice."  I have been going through many digital images and cleaning off some of my storage, as well as backing up items on external drives.  During that process I realized that I have been lucky to meet and photograph quite a number of dog breeds. Whether at local shelters, at events, on location, or in my studio, meeting many different dogs is one of the things I like about what I do.

In photographing so many different types of dogs, I have never had a problem meeting and working with any of the breeds.  All have been loving, smart, happy, and great reflections of their lovely owners.  I have learned that no matter the breed, a dog will do just about anything you ask, as long as you are patient and kind.

It helps that over the years our family has owned eight different breeds of dogs: Flat Coated Retriever, Australian Shepherd, Golden Retriever, Chocolate Lab, English Setter, Border Collie, Wirehaired Terrier, and Jack Russell Terrier.

It's been a joy these last seven years, meeting and photographing so many different dogs in so many different places.  As we are winding down 2019, I look forward to the pets and their people that I will meet and work with in 2020!

And, because my Facebook blog post will need an individual photo to post along side the link, here is one of my favorites from the past.

I am excited to see what others have posted today, as the free choice theme can lead us down many roads.  I hope you will take a peek at the blog circle with me.  Start this week off with Kylee Doyle Photography, serving the greater Sacramento area.  Have a great weekend!

This past month I met up with a friend and his lovely horse, Zeppelin, to do some black background photos.  If Zeppy's long flowing mane doesn't already give it away, he is a Friesian. Since Zeppy could not fit in my studio, this portrait was done at the stable using only natural light sources.  I am holding back on sharing the rest of these photos until I use them in competition, so stay tuned for seeing them somewhere down the line in a blog post.

I love doing black-on-black work or using darker backgrounds in my photography. 

With Millie, below, I wanted to only highlight her face, which, as you see, is so lovely and expressive.

Millie was also excellent at holding very still and was okay with my studio lights, two things that make for great pet photographs.  Doesn't she look like she is smiling?

Sometimes with a subject that is completely black, it is hard to keep the background totally dark, as with this kitty, below, that was not impressed at all with studio lighting, my feather, or me in general. We actually ended up doing his photos in his own home, but I did like this one from the studio and saved it.

Ah, well, you can't win them all over.

There are more examples of black-on-black work on my website and throughout my blogs.  To see more interpretations of "paint it black" you can read on in the blog circle, starting with Tracy Allard of Penny Whistle Photography fetching portraits in Coppell and surrounding communities in the Dallas - Fort Worth metroplex.

Enjoy your weekend and week ahead!

Most likely, the fact that we live surrounded by woods, has helped me learn how to deal with using the woods to their best advantage in some of my photographs.  There really is no escaping them.

I do believe the woods are beautiful where I live, and offer up a great backdrop for dog photography.

But even on the road, I find that using a 70-200mm lens and blurring the woodsy background, gives a nice bouquet of greenery and color, just like the example below of this little pumpkin.

Doesn't she just shine through with the beautiful woods as her background?

Back at home, I can sometimes get our dog Danny to cooperate just outside our fence line.  I haven't featured him in a blog for quite some time, as he rarely likes to look at the camera, even when treats are available as rewards.  But, this was close enough.

I can often get a nice nature-inspired photo just outside my studio doors when our world is green and lush.  I miss the summer already!

For more woodsy photos, the blog circle should be a treat.  Start with Pawparazzi Pet and Animal Photography presented by Shae Pepper Photography.  Be sure to get out in the woods this weekend, if your weather cooperates.  Winter is just around the corner.

Growing up I always liked books that started with "Once upon a time..." and ended with "and they lived happily ever after."  Stories with a little bit of fantasy always hold my attention.  Mysteries are one of my favorite genres as well, and as a young teen I read every single Nancy Drew book that had been published at the time.

I can't pick just one book that I like, but I do know that I like to create some of the same fantasy in my photography work.

My granddaughter loves butterflies.  We raise Monarchs during the summer months.  She loves to set them free when they are ready to go.  This gave me an idea for a photo called "The Collector."

The Collector is a mix of real photograph, painted background, and added composite work.  It is by no means a perfect photo, but it is fun and something she likes.  It could be a story...a story about a fairy who goes into the woods every day to collect butterflies that might be in danger, picking flowers along the way for them to feed on in safety.

Just for fun, I had a crazy idea looking at our cat, Luna, last night.  She was sitting in the middle of the floor and I wondered: "What do cats think about when they are staring off into space?"  I found an image by Maguerite Gerard while looking at stock photos, and created the photo below.

I am pretty sure this is what Luna daydreams about all day.  If she had a favorite book it would be "Recipes for Cats."

Here are some of my most favorite reads:
The entire Sue Grafton collection (A is for Alibi, etc.)
The Annunciation by Ellen Gilchrist
Any Stuart Woods novel featuring Stone Barrington
The Good Good Pig by Sy Montgomery

I hope you enjoyed today's blog.  For more favorite book ideas, check out the blog circle starting with Angela Schneider, the Spokane Dog Photographer, who unabashedly celebrates the love you have for your dog. Have a great Fall weekend, and don't forget to add a little fantasy!

The theme for this week's blog circle is water.  I thought that it would be a cinch because I am actually near a large body of water...the Atlantic Ocean, but things don't often go as planned, and my laptop decided to not allow me to edit as well as I would like when I use my main computer at home. 

So I decided to do a review of how "water" has fit into my life lately.

Closer to home, water played a large part in a first-day-of-fishing for two smiling faces.  This lovely little park is a wonderful retreat for these types of activities, and you can see, turns out fairly successful fishing for small folks.

I am a real gull and sea bird watcher.  While at the beach this past week, a convention of sea birds did a little parade every day in the same location.  Turns out, they were waiting for the exact perfect tide time to bring good food their way.  They would all fly out together to the same location to feast around 3:00 p.m.

And, of course, there is always ONE that waits for the food to come to him.

My view every night walking back to my unit was not too shabby.  This is a lovely spot on Silver Lake in Rehoboth Beach, along a canal which affords a look at an array of turtles, heron, huge unidentifiable fish and other wildlife.

I did run into a dog or two at the beach, but I am waiting to edit my other photos when I return home.  Maybe you will see them in other blogs.  I happened to have my cell phone the day I spotted this golden enjoying some ball play.  Since the quality of my adroid photos leaves a lot to be desired, I used a painterly filter on this image.

I am watching a Hallmark Christmas Thursday movie right now as I write this, and can't believe I've gotten sucked into yet another Hallmark trap, even at the beach, even in summer.  I am packing up to return home tomorrow and will miss the sun, the water, and this little beach community, but I am looking forward to Fall.

There are more watery things to see in the blog circle this week, and once again we are starting with Tracy Allard of Penny Whistle Photography fetching portraits in Coppell and surrounding communities in the Dallas - Fort Worth metroplex.  Have a great weekend!