stacysmith

Close-up of Boxer

Jun, 2016

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Behind The Lens

Location

At my parent's house in Virginia Beach, VA.

Time

The photo was taken in the late afternoon when most of the family was in the kitchen making preparations for dinner. Like clockwork, our sweet yet semi-gluttonous dog, Bodie, assumed his normal spot near the kitchen in hopes that his big puppy-dog eyes and sad expression would be convincing enough for someone to relent and throw him a small scrap of food. The dog has quickly learned that some of my family members are suckers for that adorable face of his. :)

Lighting

There was a lot of natural light coming in the kitchen (which is to the left of where this picture was taken) that nicely illuminated his face.

Equipment

I used my Nikon D7200. Instead of a tripod, I placed a coffee table book on the floor and then set my camera on top of the book. I did not use a flash; instead I lowered my shutter speed down to 0.8 sec. Typically, that's a risky move when it comes to taking pictures of this usually high energy dog, but thanks to a very active afternoon at the beach (dogs are allowed on the beach in the winter time) Bodie was pretty tuckered out.

Inspiration

I just love this dog. He is a sweet, rambunctious dog who loves a lot of attention. Taking pictures like this one can be a pretty difficult task b/c the dog's mentality seems to be that if you are in close proximity, you should be petting him .... not taking pictures of him. Like I said, he loves a lot of attention. It's his world, and the rest of us are just living in it. So on this particular day, the stars had aligned: Not only was he wiped out from an afternoon at the beach, but there was a lot of food being prepared in the kitchen, which provided the perfect distraction from me to swoop in and take this picture.

Editing

I didn't have to do too much to this photo. Bodie's face, specifically in b/w his eyes, was a little dark, so I lighted up the shadows and blacks a bit. I also upped the vibrance by just a smidge.

In my camera bag

A Nikon D7200 and two lenses: 1) Tamron 24-70mm F/2.8 and 2) Tokina 11-16mm F/2.8. I also keep an extra battery and some basic cleaning supplies for the lenses.

Feedback

Patience and persistence are probably the two most important components of capturing a shot like this one, especially if you have a pet like mine who can be a bit of diva whenever you try to take a picture of him. 1) Patience: If Bodie isn't in the mood to have his picture taken he will either turn his head to the side and continue to look away until I put the camera down (seriously) or he will come sit down beside me/on me indicating he wants me to pet him. So I try not to force it. If he starts doing either of those things, I simply put the camera away and try again at a later time. 2) Persistence: I had probably taken a hundred variations of this photo over the span of six months, and even though I got some good shots, none of them seemed to really stand out to me. That changed the day I took this photo. I fell in love with the shot the moment I snapped it and is by far my most favorite shot of our dog. So, if you have a particular idea in mind of what you want your final product to look like, keep shooting your preferred subject until you get it right.

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stacysmith

stacysmith

Close-up of Boxer

Behind The Lens

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