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Elaine Mueller Tweedy
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Out in Left Field

9/30/2015

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I have been a fan of bird dogs for many years.  English Setters are the primary breed in our household right now.  We have been owners of Golden Retrievers, Chocolate Labs, Australian Shepherds, and many mixed breeds.  All of our dogs have been rescued from either a shelter or a breed rescue.

I enjoy taking our Setters for walks in the fields behind our house.  Most of the time they are on a long line.  I can only trust a few of them off lead, as only a few of them respond to recall. The hardest task is having to walk a leashed Setter and then try to take photographs.  It's much easier when they can be off line, running and hunting--nose to the ground.  It wasn't until this past weekend that I had the chance to photograph bird dogs doing what bird dogs are meant to do (besides taking up the entire couch).   I just wanted to take a moment to reflect on that experience and the many factors that influenced the type of photo obtainable during the event.

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I photographed the Chukar Challenge at the DeCoverly Kennels reunion picnic on September 19th.  Chukars are a type of partridge. This is a hunting event for both human and canine companion.  The dogs are trained to hunt up, point, and retrieve fallen birds.  There is a judge who accompanies the participants out onto the hunting ground and uses a point system to grade the tasks at hand.

My main objective was to stay within a few feet of this judge at all times, and to mimic his actions.  If he knelt down, I knelt down.  If he flattened himself to the ground, I flattened myself to the ground.  This was to ensure my safety during the shooting aspect of the challenge, and to also not get in the way of the participants as they sought to gain points achieving each aspect of the event.

This was also constraint number one on shooting photographs.  There were many times when I found myself seeing a lovely shot, but not in any position to capture it.  At this point, as a photographer, you have to resign yourself to the fact that you need to achieve the best shots you can, based on this large constraint, and go with the flow.

Factoring in the time of day (between 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.) and a run of good weather we had been having, for the first few entrants, the sun was like a ball of light shining in the desert.  Photography in bright sun is not one of my favorite things, but you have to learn to work with the sun, instead of against it.  I also had to resign myself to the fact that the color scheme for the day was gold, golden, yellow, bright green, and blaze orange, with black and white or orange and white Setters in between.

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I am a manual shooter.  I rarely use the other modes on my camera.  However, I switched to Aperture Mode after the first dog, as I had to keep changing my aperture relevant to my placement with regard to the sun.  That got old fast.  Things went much quicker in aperture mode.

Another issue with this type of photography is the tall switch grass and other brush the dogs are traveling through.  Cameras will decide to focus on the blades of grass in front of the dog, instead of on the dog itself.  I use back button focusing more than relying on shutter focus, and I found this to be ideal for this situation.

You also need to get a feel for the dog and their habits in terms of working the field.  Some dogs will only hold a soft point (not your classic point, and they may not hold it long).  Most of the time, however, dogs are constantly moving, so you have to set your speed to be able to capture that movement.  With the sun as bright as it was for most of the day, I was able to keep my speed settings between 1000 and 1600.

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My aim was primarily to capture what was truly happening as it happened.  These are not posed, studio shots.  These are dogs in action, doing what they are bred to do.  I walked each of the runs of the day over hill and dale, through extremely tall brush that was sometimes unforgiving.  I would caution anyone to wear good hiking boots and jeans as protection if you want to photograph dogs in the field.  I am glad I had just spent a week walking at my shore vacation, because I was in shape to keep up with the judge.  If you want good photos, this isn't a sideline event.  You have to be there in the midst of what is transpiring in the high grass, and be sure to wear blaze orange.

Sometimes I got really lucky and a dog would stay out of the tall grass for a bit.  When they did, I would hope to be in a good spot to catch them running a path.

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Also, because it was a very warm day, every once in a while a dog would sit or lie down for a break, and that presented an opportunity for a photo.

All-in-all, it was a great experience.  I learned so much about the sport itself, and even more about my abilities in the field.  I now have a long list of things to practice.  You only learn by doing.

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This final shot is a retrieve.  Let me be the first to say, I am a bit squeamish about dead things, but as a photographer, my job is to document what is happening.  If photographers turned away from things that made them cringe, there would be many award winning photos that we might have never seen. 

I shot the entire day with a 70-300mm Nikon lens.  I then came home and took a long nap.

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Project 52 - Week 39: Low Angle

9/25/2015

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The theme for this week is Low Angle.  Camera angles are an important ingredient to the end photo result.  I tend to think they are just as important as lighting in terms of getting your focus point across to the viewer.

A low angled shot places the camera below the eye level of a subject or below the horizon if the item you are photographing is an inanimate object, such as a building.

I reviewed some of my past photography work to see just how much I use low angles, and found that it is a tool I mostly use with architecture and buildings.  I do like the results of low angled work and after this week, I more than likely will be using this camera angle quite a bit more.

This week's subject is our cat, Barney.  He is the barn cat that appeared last November out of nowhere and has since moved into the house on his own accord.  The name "Barney" is the result of what happens when you allow your husband to name things.  He responded to it almost immediately (naturally), so I could not make a case for changing it.

I am below Barney as he sits on our patio stone wall.  There is a series of steps that lead from the patio down to a gate, and I am on the last step.  Luckily, he was fixated on me because he associates me with food.  You can see how the lower angle shows you what is above him, and accentuates his presence.  A straight on shot would have been my usual fare, but I like this angle much better.
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I found as I did a review of my past work that I have, on occasion, used low angle for shelter shots, and also with horses, or to accentuate a sky scene.  Here are some examples of past work using low angle.  In each case, I am below the eye level, or horizon with the shot.  I have also photographed mushrooms and flowers from a lower angle. 
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The fun thing about Project 52, is you get to check out the work of other photographers.  This week there are three of us participating.  Start here with Amyranth Pet Photography.
Kelly Baugh is a Bay Area (CA) photographer who is originally from the Netherlands.  Remember to continue clicking on links until you are back here.  Enjoy!
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Project 52 - Week 38: Blur

9/18/2015

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It is no joke when I say, that when I saw the theme for Week 38--Blur--I figured the easiest thing to do would be to make Billie my subject and use a manual focus lens.

Billie lives most of her life in a Blur. She is a scruffy terrier who was found as a stray, wandering the byways of a rural county with her sister.  She was pregnant, and ended up having her six adorable puppies at a local shelter.  She is definitely a member of the Lurcher family of dogs.  She plays hard. Our Border Collie, Piper, is extremely happy she came to live with us because he definitely needed a "player" in his life.

I kid you not when I tell you that even when she is sitting still, she isn't sitting still.  Once in a while, if I am very quiet, and very patient, I can snap a very very good photo of her. These times are few and far between.  My thoughts have always been to one day  have a contest for all of my photography friends, with Billie as their subject, and challenge them to get a fully in-focus photo that did not make her eyes seem like she was wearing a Zorro mask.

So, my plan (or story board, if you remember last week), was: Me, Camera, 135mm manual focus lens, Billie, the yard, and a sure fire recipe for Blur.  What I got was this.
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Perfect late, late afternoon light, a wonderfully blurred background, and a magically unblurrey (<-- this is not a word) Billie (she actually sat very very still).  Who knew I should have been shooting her with a manual focus lens all this time?

Susannah Maynard of Suzi Pix Photography in Cincinnati also worked on Blur this week.  To see her results, click here.
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Project 52 - Week 37: Warmth

9/11/2015

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I am pretty sure this photo of a shelter kitty answers this week's theme--warmth.  The leaf-patterned background cloth, the light glow and the shadowing lend themselves to creating a cozy, subdued atmosphere.  When you are at the shelter, you have a minimum amount of time to try and capture many animals.  This kitty, in particular, was very cooperative about the photo shoot, curious about the camera, and has since been adopted.

While this is a relatively recent photo, I did set out to do a totally new photo for this week as well. 

Since our cute little Bethy has been left out of many shoots, I decided to use her as a part of this week's project.  I have started to create a sort of story board for my photos. Based on a theme, I will jot down possible outcomes for a final photo on a sheet of paper.  These ideas run the gambit from "most wished for" to "acceptable alternatives" because you never really know how things will go.  There are certain things I can control about a shoot (like my equipment) and certain things I cannot control (like the weather).

I set off to a local farm where I know there are sunflowers.  Since sunflowers are warm and inviting, my hope was to get Bethy to sit long enough in front of a grouping of sunflowers later in the day when the sun was going down.  What I didn't count on (or remember) was that sunflowers are TALL and Bethy is SHORT, and I completely overlooked (or blocked out) the fact that when she is excited, it is very hard to get Bethy to stay in one place for any amount of time. Since Bethy's nickname is Bethy Bee for a reason, and there were about 1,000 bees in the sunflowers that day, she was verrrrrrrrrry excited! I did not have the bees on my story board.

In true Macgyver fashion, I did find an old wooden crate near the barn on the property and sat Bethy on it in front of the sunflower landscape and she actually sat still after jumping off the crate about 200 times (I lost count around 32...).  The result is below.  No sunflowers (or bees) were harmed in the making of this photo.

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To achieve an even warmer ambiance, I added a bit of sun splash to the upper left and right corners of the image.  The sunny sunflowers did their thing, Bethy's ears responded perfectly to the word "squirrel," and the whole tone of the photo is meant to convey warmth.

Cincinnati pet photographer, Suzi Pix Photography, is up next in the blog circle.  Check out her answer to the "warmth" conundrum, then follow the links to all participating blog members until you are back here.  Have fun and enjoy the photos!
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Project 52 - Week 36: Sky

9/4/2015

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I just returned from a wonderful beach vacation where I spent some quality time with my camera-- meeting new people, pets, and exploring new places.  I did a quick check into the 52 Project during my time away and saw the theme for this week would be Sky.  I thought the beach might be the perfect place to carry out and plan a photograph since the water and horizon lines are endless.

We were very lucky to have beautiful, clear beach skies on several days, with less humidity and those white clouds that have you laying on a beach towel trying to figure out what they look like.  I also got very lucky and met an enthusiastic dog owner who had three wonderful Australian Shepherds.  They came to the dog beach every day.  The dog beach was right next to the beach where I was located.  How fortunate was that?

On the day I took this photo, the skies were beyond great.  This was my first "get-in-the-surf" experience and it was nerve wracking to do with my camera because I was pretty sure I would get rolled by a wave, but I wanted a more upward angle on both the dog and the beach, so I found a little gully to put myself in and asked the owner to keep the frolicking pooch in a certain limited location.

I then also took separate photos of the sky.  I usually always take a few separate shots of the surroundings and natural backdrop of the area I am in.  You never know when they will help piece a photo together..

The original sky and dog photos were taken in NEF Raw.  I use Nikon software to start the edit, then move the photos to Lightroom and process in a like manner: adjusting contrast, color, brightness and sharpness.  I then transfered the images to Photo Shop Elements where I created a new file with a vertical orientation, and brought in both photos--first the dog, then the sky--creating a reveal layer to blend both at the horizon line.  I wanted the sky to seem endless and look like it was coming out of the horizon in order to give the photo a more dramatic effect.  I then did one more filter addition on the completed photo to enhance the full image a bit more.

This may very well be one of my favorite images.  As a photographer, I find that you never stop learning or experimenting, and when an idea works like you planned, it's pretty darned exciting!  I took this image with a 50mm 1.8 lens in bright sunlight at around 2:15 in the afternoon (ISO 200, f/9, 1/400).  Luckily, the dog beach isn't as inhabited as the rest of the beaches, so I did not have to crop or clone out any people.

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You have a very full agenda ahead of you, as we have a great circle of participating photographers this week.  To see more of the "Sky" theme, start with Boston pet photographer, Blue Amrich, then keep going until you are back here where you started.  Have fun!
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