Formal Wear Wolfie Style II
Well the challenge was put out there to submit photos of animals with clothes on. So here's my dear pet wolfhound x in his formal black jacket, white shirt...
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Well the challenge was put out there to submit photos of animals with clothes on. So here's my dear pet wolfhound x in his formal black jacket, white shirt, and the final touch of a brown tie to match his sparkling eyes. He was enjoying the sight of me wearing a placemat on my head at the time :-).
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Feb, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken on the spur of the moment when I saw there was a pet fashion Contest on Viewbug. It was a great excuse to photograph my dear beloved Irish Wolfhound X "Miles Davis". I took the photo inside the house, where the background would be neutral and more classic than the usual grass and trees, to fit in with his new role as a fashion "dogel". I decided he already had the best jacket in his black coat and he was already wearing a crisp clean white shirt. He even had a tail ready to go. So with his shirt, coat and tail the only item missing was a tie. In hind-sight maybe a bow-tie would have been even better but I decided on the brown tie as it matched his eyes. Of course he was bemused at my dancing around to try to bring out the best expression. During this photograph I was wearing a placemat on my head. Well may he ask, what is that thing on your head. His expression says it all!Time
This photo was taken in the evening after the sun had gone down so all lighting was unnatural.Lighting
This particular room has a number of options for experimenting with lighting being a connecting room so I tried to ensure his face was clearly visible and that there were no distracting shadows. I tried different lights from each of the connecting rooms as well as using some of the lights available in the room itself. In the end I switched off the main light in the room and used a side wall light as the main source and some subtle light from one of the adjoining rooms.Equipment
The photograph was taken hand-held with a Canon EOS7D. The flash and auto-focus settings were used along with an 18 to 200 mm lense in single shooting mode. The auto setting arrived at the following settings; a 1/60 shutter speed, 5.6 Aperture Value, Evaluative Metering, ISO Speed of 400 with the f stop set to 3.5-5.6 and a focal length of 100mm. The photograph was taken in RAW to ensure as much colour was preserved as possible for the final image. I admit I am still learning about the best settings for situations in manual mode. Auto-focus does seems to work best for me indoors.Inspiration
I was home when I read about the pet fashion contest on ViewBug and couldn't resist to enter my handsome houndie! Thanks ViewBug :-).Editing
There was a small amount of brightness/contrast adjustment in post-processing. I used a program called the GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) to make the image adjustment. I've used the GIMP for all of my digital processing since it was a free download recommended to me when first learning about digital photography. It's served me well so far.In my camera bag
I have my trusty Canon EOS7D with the 18 to 200mm lense and VANGUARD tripod for all planned field trips but will often just use my Sony Experia E6653 for anything I see out-and-about. I use a Lowepro camera bag which holds lense cleaners, generic lense hood, mini manual for the camera, cheat-sheets with special settings for predictable situations, a small notebook, a couple of model release forms and enough cash to buy a cuppa and a cake lol!Feedback
If you like to photograph dogs then the best advice I can give is to have the owner nearby with a treat in their hand standing where you want the dog to look and for you to distract the dog enough to make them ask what you are doing. You can do this with an unfamiliar sound or something visual like a funny hat. Dogs are curious and interested in new things just like us and the best and cutest images of dogs will have them asking what you are doing and when are you going to give me that yummy treat! Oh...you want camera settings?...well as you see by this photo you can always use the auto-settings but I suggest always to experiment and don't give up learning about your camera. Keep lighting in mind such that it doesn't blow out or have a distracting background. A neutral but pleasant background will lead the viewer back to your main subject and the expression on their face, the tilt of their head and their good health and grooming will keep any dog lover entranced!
