Guardian
Moodle guarding her hallway. Maybe I smell food?
Moodle guarding her hallway. Maybe I smell food?
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Jan, 2021Views
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Treasure Award
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken at home in a small central hallway. It is a favourite location for my Moodle as it is central to the house and she can see into 5 rooms from that position. A great spot for keeping track of any household goings on! Her pose is spontaneous - she had been sitting quietly watching me but just as I set up the photo she perked up. I think she heard the rattle of food coming from the kitchen. To me, this created a 'behavioral study' rather then a 'studio portrait'.Time
The time was about 1:40pm daylight savings time so 'middle of the day' effectively. Being a central location the hallway was awash with strong daylight from 4 directions, giving a lot of light but causing multiple directional shadows and a lot of reflected colours from the surrounding surfaces.Lighting
The lighting is all ambient sunlight coming from in front, behind and from the left and right of the subject. Being strong summer sunlight coming from all sides, the sunlight has reflected from the surrounding surfaces creating interesting colour effects on the white fur of the subject. For instance, her back appears brownish which is a reflection of a wooden linen press door; her leading paw has a greenish tint, reflecting the carpet colour; her neck area shows a red glow reflecting from her red neckband. The multiple shadows also help define her shape against the background.Equipment
This photo was shot on an Android mobile phone. The phone was in my pocket at the time and any attempt to get other camera equipment would have disturbed the scene. I know this from experience trying to capture this scene on previous occasions. I had the phone in portrait orientation and the base of the phone placed directly onto the floor to allow the subject to dominate the frame.Inspiration
This central hallway location is a regular haunt for this dog. She adopts several different poses from lying down, lying on her back, sphinx-like guard poses and so on. I wanted to capture this scene as a memory of her regular behavior. The actual pose was a last-minute change of attitude as she heard some packaging rattles coming from the kitchen. Maybe food for her? That act took her focus away from me so she was not looking directly into the camera, creating a more interesting result.Editing
I increased the saturation a little to accentuate the reflected colour highlights on her fur. The background in the original 2x3 format was somewhat busy and distracting so I cropped the image to square. I also added the watercolour style frame as I felt this complemented the colour washes on her fur.In my camera bag
I normally use a Canon 1300D with either the kit lens or a selection of older M42 mount manual lens (primes and zoom) for photography projects but I also carry a small Canon 'point and shoot' camera for simple shots or I use my Android phone camera to capture spontaneous photo opportunities.Feedback
Getting good pet portraits can be challenging as the best poses and actions are most often spontaneous and therefore difficult to plan. My best advice is to be prepared and take advantage of any of those interesting moments when you see them. It helps to know your equipment and the environment in order not to waste too much time messing about with settings as you can lose the spontaneity of the moment otherwise.
