Puppy Poses Perfectly
Pet sitting for my son and taking advantage of the beauty of the new puppy
Pet sitting for my son and taking advantage of the beauty of the new puppy
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Feb, 2021Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken at my son's home in Woodstock, GA. I was babysitting his two new puppies during the week while he was at work. Both puppies were brindle in color and they were a bundle of joy.Time
I arrived at my son's home early in the morning just prior to him leaving for work. The puppies were very energetic and ready to go outside and play.Lighting
Since it was early in the morning the sun was not very high in the sky so it was perfect lighting for taking photos. The sun was low enough that there would not be any harsh lighting on your subject or dark shadows to deal with. I had planned to take some actions shots so I set my camera on shutter so that the lighting would be determined by the camera.Equipment
I have a Nikon D7000 with a 18-105mm lens. This is the lens that I use the most. Since I had great light from the sun I didn't need a flash and the shutter speed would determine how much light the image received. The camera was hand held so that I could move around with the puppies as they bounced around the yard.Inspiration
When I got to my son's home the puppies were full of energy and ready to go outside and play. This inspired me to try and get some action shots of them playing together. I put my desired settings into the camera using 1/500 shutter speed to hopefully get good action but also to get some motion blur in with the movement of the puppies. I didn't want to totally freeze their movements. After spending some time taking a number of photos the male laid down in front of me and posed so perfectly that I took the shot. I took a couple of other photos as he moved his head to look away.Editing
I always do some post processing to my photos to tweak the lighting and reduce shadows if any. This image was close to perfect because of the natural light. I did very little editing and put the image aside. A week later I took an editing class that gave me some incite to some changes that I might want to make to the puppy photo. I did some slight saturation to the colors which made them pop and I added a vignette. In addition, I added a radial filter to the puppy boosting the lighting just a tad. This change along with the vignette drew the viewer's eye in more on the puppy. The change was a very pleasing one.In my camera bag
I have a good bit of equipment in my bag. I have found that it is better to be safe than sorry when going out to take photos. I have missed some really awesome photos because I failed to bring the proper equipment with me. I made a decision that I would take it all or make a choice to shoot one particular subject and carry just what I felt I needed. It is sometimes difficult to carry a lot of equipment with you. I always carry my Nikon D7000 usually with my 18-105mm lens. I also have a 300mm, 600mm, 180mm, 50mm, 45mm, and a fisheye. I carry an external flash with a remote and I also have a number of filters. I carry a number of miscellaneous items too numerous to mention but all necessary for weather and cleaning etc.Feedback
When taking photos of animals, especially energetic puppies the best advice I can give is to be patient. Know what you want to get in the way of an image and take your time to achieve a good result. Make sure that your settings are proper for the type of image whether action or still. Always make sure that the lighting is right. I always shoot in RAW to get the best image quality and when shooting for motion use the tracking feature in the camera to maintain exposure on your subject as they move about.
