Maybe we should have called the theme for this week "Searching for Sunsets."

Forecast:  Cloudy, Showers, Rain, Rain, Cloudy, Partly Cloudy, Showers, Rinse, Repeat.  No one checks Weatherbug like I do.  It's the best and most used app on my cell phone.

So, what is one to do when capturing a sunset means moving to another state?

Here's what I did.

Meet Corey.  He is a rescue from One Life To Live Pet Rescue in my area.  I had made arrangements with his Mom to meet and do a photo shoot on an evening when the sky was less than spectacular this past week.  It actually looked like a plain, white bed sheet that had been washed about 6,000 times until it turned that color between off-white and gray. 

Corey had been surrendered to a high-kill shelter in South Carolina by his owners, before coming to Pennsylvania and the rescue.   He is about 2 years old, a Shepherd/Black Mouth Cur mix.  His new Mom has spent much love and patience retraining him and he is a fantastic poser, not to mention those expressive ears and eyes!

The key here was to go back through sunset photos I have taken (as my own stash of backgrounds) and some overlays to find what I thought could mesh well.  Some of the things that are helpful to keep in the mix when I have a notion in my head to use a background or overlay are:

• shoot with the thought of the overlay or background in mind
• make sure the horizon (whatever it is made up of--in this case trees and brush--is flat and even, or easy to work with in terms of placing an overlay/background)
  
• choose the overlay or background to blend well with the color of the subject
  
• remember that "blur" is your friend.
  

Truth be told, you can't just plop an overlay or background into a photo and hope it all works.  Dodge and burn are helpful tools to give you shadows where needed, or to brighten up areas as well.  Even adding a little bit of brush on color can help get a reflection to mesh with the color of the sunset.

I thought this choice and the color of this sunset blended well with Corey's coat color.  I wasn't looking for direct opposites here, but wanted to stay in the same palette.

The photo was taken at 7:30 p.m. with a Nikon D800, using a 24-70mm Sigma lens.  The settings were f/3.2, 1/200, ISO 100, reflector camera left.

Here is one more taken at a different angle.  In this photo I broke my rule about a flat/even skyline.  It takes much more work to get an overlay between those tree branches, but challenges are fun, too.

I think Corey is a charmer, and one lucky dog to have found the perfect spot to land.

For more of what I am sure will be real, and beautiful, sunsets, take a stroll through the blog circle, starting with Kim Hollis of BARKography based in Charlotte NC.  Happy and restful Memorial Day weekend to all!  I hope you have many and great sunsets!

Apparently, I do not get down on the ground enough when I am taking photos of my own dogs.  I have been known to crawl on my belly like a soldier in training when doing client work, but at home not so much.  This became pretty obvious when I decided to lay full out on my patio to capture some low angle photographs of my crew.

I should point out, that as a pet photographer, most of my work is done on the same level as the pet.  That means I do have to get down and work from the ground quite a bit.  I chose my 24-70mm lens, to add some wide angle distortion to the mix.

Our little Bethy was the most motherly and concerned about me being flat out on the ground.  Is Mom dead?  What is wrong with her?

So the first photo in my story is of Bethy wondering, "Hey, Mom....are you okay?"

As I have mentioned before, we are surrounded by trees.  The advantage of getting low to the ground like this is that I can see the sky above the trees.  This was more of a test shot, and I wanted to capture  (and not miss) Bethy's concern.   A moment after this shot was taken, I was accosted by several other of our dogs smelling my head, feet, stomach and camera.  They weren't as concerned. Once they figured out I had no treats, they went on their way. Bethy actually didn't become comfortable with me lying on the ground for a while.

While at that level, Danny sauntered over to the patio and sneakily eyeballed me several times just to make sure things were "normal" and I reeeaaaallly didn't have a treat bag.  I managed to get a photo of him, because I am crafty.

Did I mention we live in a cross between the Rain Forest and Seattle?  We do.  We are saturated with green, but growing like weeds.  Speaking of which, at this angle I see I need to weed my patio pavers.  Anyone up for the job?

I like this photo of Danny.  This is his relaxed stance.  He is thinking about something.  Me.  Treats. Who he should play with.

I did stay on the ground for some time.  It began to get darker.  Bethy kept hanging in there and tried to help me out by striking a pose here and there.  Unfortunately, the photo bombing gang of rabble rousers cut into her modeling attempts.

I guess Danny finally decided to play with Luke and timed it perfectly to happen just as Bethy settled into a nice, easy pose on my level. I used my on camera flash here, but powered down.  Bethy is one of the most gentle dogs on the planet.  She came to us at the age of 4 months in 2005.  She is starting to slow down just a bit, but still keeps up with our pack of wild things.

I do have a favorite photo from the evening.  It's the photo below.

This is definitely a Bethy look.  Still very much a puppy at heart, sticking close to Mom to make sure she is okay.  I think she was very happy when I finally got up off the ground.

For more low-angled perspectives, check out this week's blogging bunch.  Start with Cahlean Klenke of About A Dog Photography in St. Cloud & central Minnesota, then continue around the blog circle until you are back here once again.  And don't forget to have a fantastic weekend!

From the minute I read what this week's theme would be, I started playing the $10,000 Pyramid game.  Eyes, the sky, a sad person, the ocean, a jay..........THINGS THAT ARE BLUE!

I knew for sure that I wanted Burton to be the focus of the week, because Burton has one blue eye and one brown eye with a little smudge of blue at the bottom.  So we got out a new collar with a hint of blue in it, and using a few "jackpot" treats, I did get Burton to pose on the yard bench.  I knew the weathered patina of that bench could easily be converted to blue with a few digital brush strokes, and I have always thought Burton looked particularly good surrounded by blue.

The image was taken at about 5:30, with the sun moving down in the sky behind him.  Burton is totally deaf and has been since birth.  He is very vocal, and sings and sometimes sounds like he is screaming (he isn't, he is just happy).  He is almost 9 years old, but still seems like a puppy to me.  He is a small Setter, that may have something else in his bloodline, but your guess is as good as mine.  He is very focused, and can leap into the air quite high for a ball.  Burton knows how to give high fives for a treat, and is generally pretty happy.  He is the loudest barker in the bunch.

I used an Indigo Matte brush on the bench to bring out the weathered blue a bit more.

I also had some images of our cat Matty, taken in the studio last year when I was trying out a new blue background paper.  I had not processed all of the images, and though I might add one of him here.

Cats can be helpful sometimes.  Matty just came into the studio and jumped on this seat and stayed there for a long time so I could experiment.  He is focused on a feather toy which I used to grab his attention.

Blue is one of my favorite colors to use with people, too.  And you can't beat big puffy clouds in a very blue sky!  This color theme was fun to think about, and it gave me a chance to pay more attention to Burton this week.   I love being his dog Mom.  On that note--Happy Mother's Day to all of the Moms of both furkids and skinkids!  Enjoy your day!

For more "blue" themed images, catch up with the rest of the blog circle, starting with Jodie from Pawtrait Purrfection, serving Pets and People in Ipswich, Australia.

I have to admit, when I found out this week's theme, my mind immediately went to the day our cat Matty rolled an egg off the counter onto the floor where it smashed, and Lilah came along and ate it shell and all.  It was Lilah I caught lapping up the last remnants of egg yolk, and Matty no where to be found, but I knew he had framed her.  Matty is the cat that finds where we stash everything and takes great delight in trying to move it to the floor.  He has crashed some eggs into the sink, and others he has rolled to the floor, yet we still haven't learned our lesson.  We continue to bring in our eggs from the hen house and continue to think they are safe where we line them up.  It's like birth.  We have a momentary lapse of "Matty" just like a mother forgets the pain of bearing a child.  Until an egg is on the floor.

Setting that shot up would take several, planned storyboards, and I have had the busiest week of all time, so I opted to do something else.  I had already given a hint on my Facebook page regarding the transformation of a photo I shot of Lilah enjoying the outdoors this past weekend (we FINALLY had wonderful weather....now back in rain season).  I had saved  a backdrop from a previous stint of spending several hours looking through stock photos (sometimes I get really wrapped up in it) that I thought would work well with the Lilah photo, if I merged them into one.  The fact that it was a "frame" of flowers was even better.  Lilah looks good in flowers, and our yard is VERRRRY green, but still kind of blah.

First, as a reminder, here is the photo I took of Lilah enjoying her outside time in our back yard.

And here is the photo of Lilah framed by flowers.  If more of our own flowers were blooming, I might have been able to sit Lilah in a real garden, instead of using a stock photo, but we aren't there yet.  With all the rain we've been having, you would think a forest of flowers would be in bloom by now.

Since I was on a roll with digital manipulation, I decided to use another photo of Lilah taken on the same day, and this time frame her in bubbles.  The bubbles are an overlay.

In looking back through the blog posts I have done over the past two years, there are a number of photos I have taken where pets are framed by natural objects:  Luke looking out a window, Moe posing in a piece of playground equipment, etc.

There are so many ways you can frame your subject in a photo.  It's really all about your eye, your subject, what you have at hand, and what will enhance and make your photo more exciting.  I had a little fun this week using some things that weren't originally in the environment, but my last photo for the week is one of a Setter that was hunting in a large field, and paused for a moment, framed nicely by the brush and grasses.  Mother Nature often gives us some great choices as pet photographers, so whenever possible, I'm all about using her as a prop.

To see more creative framing, you know what to do.  Take a spin around the blog circle.  Start with Cynthia Wood of Pets We Love Photography in Toronto and Collingwood, Ontario.  Enjoy your weekend!