Isolation: Use a Longer Lens - Project 52 - week 10

Our week 10 Project 52 assignment is to create isolation in an image using a longer lens.  When you use a longer lens, you are zooming in on your subject or pulling them nearer to you.   We were to pay attention to these behaviors:  How tight is the angle of view?  What are you able to exclude from the frame? Usually when I am photographing the dogs I walk, I am in their backyards and a lot of times there are distracting elements that I want to exclude from the frame.  When I use my longer lens zoomed in at 200mm, I am using a tighter angle of view which allows me to intentionally exclude those elements.

My model this week is Molly. I LOVE her big brown eyes however shortly after we got in her backyard, Molly's nose picked up the scent of a rabbit so I didn't get much of a chance to photograph those lovely eyes of hers.  I snapped these photos quickly before she took off to find said bunny and after that her nose was very busy and she barely lifted her head to look at me. She did find him although Peter Cottontail escaped unharmed.  

Of these two photos, I prefer the top image. I was able to create it by using a longer lens and isolating my subject, cute little Miss Molly.  The bottom photo was taken from approximately the same place with the lens zoomed out.

btw - Molly likes to eat apples and watching her eat them and hearing them crunch makes me laugh every time!  Greatest job ever!!

Next up in the blog circle is Little White Dog Pet Photography - Sioux Falls, SD and be sure to keep clicking the links at the end of each post to see all of this week's entries.

Learn to Isolate - Project 52 - week 9

Our Project 52 week 9 challenge is to Learn to Isolate.  The instructions were to look at a few images from other photographers I love and ask what role does isolation play in the image.  I am drawn to images that are really close up and those that are monochromatic.   I knew immediately I wanted to take some really close up photos to isolate the eyes, nose or ears.  I thought this was going to be simple.  I was wrong.  I even pleaded for help to the Project 52 online group and thanks to Susannah for making a few suggestions. I was excited to begin taking photos but I struggled with getting the results I wanted.  I wanted to get really close to my subject but that created a few problems.  First problem:  Some dogs don't want a camera that close to them so that means I needed to find a subject that didn't care at all about my camera.  Enter super cute little chihuahua Sunny and dachshund Louis. :)  (FYI - I was hoping for a photo of even littler Lola, a white chihuahua who lives with Sunny and Louis but she was being a little camera shy.)  2nd problem which was harder than the first:    Determining which lens would be best to use.  I tried every lens I have.

This challenge is going to be one that I will continue to work on since I am drawn to photos that isolate different parts of a subject.

I love doing these weekly challenges because I always learn something and this past week was no exception.  I learned a lot about depth of field and how close I can physically be to my subject when I am photographing them to keep them sharp.  On Sunday of last week, I started working on this challenge and I learned more that Sunday about photography than I have in quite some time.

As a new photographer, I am still finding my way and identifying my own style.  This exercise really helped me take several steps forward with my own personal photography journey.

Next go to Little White Dog Pet Photography - Sioux Falls, SD  to read about her take on Learn to Isolate. Remember this is a blog circle so keep clicking the links at the end of each post.  Happy reading!

Wide Angle Inclusion - Project 52 - week 8

Our Project 52 week 8 challenge is to "use a wide angle lens to create a sense of inclusion."   The book we are using as our guideline, "The Visual Toolbox" states that wider lenses more closely mimic our peripheral vision and will allow the viewers to feel as if they're part of the scene.   I must admit when I read this week's assignment, I got excited.  After last week's not so great results, I felt I might have better success with wide angle inclusion AND I was headed to the NC mountains with friends (and their dogs!)  What perfect timing for our assignment using a wide angle lens and my subject Topsy the golden retriever was more than happy to model. Then I got a little side tracked.

I was soooo excited to be out with my camera, I forgot to keep the focal length wide.  I started out using my 24-70mm lens and I did take some shots in the 26mm range but most of the ones I ended up taking were 70mm+ because I put a bigger lens on my camera.   I forgot about the actual intent of the challenge 'wide angle inclusion' as I was just focused on trying to get a sharp image of my subject who was not still for very long periods of time. :)  Can you blame her?

This image isn't tack sharp but it was shot at 26mm.  Topsy is actually in a harness, on leash with her mom holding the other end, all of which is in the original photo so this one provided great photoshop practice for me.  I also am wondering if I need to get my 24-70mm lens calibrated.  After this past weekend, I want to set it up on a tripod and see if I get sharp results because I'm not happy with these and I'd like to think it may be the lens and not me. (That however is not likely I'm afraid!)

I loved this assignment and I wish I would've had even more time in the mountains to practice because what this really taught me is that I need more instruction on composition.  I had a beautiful subject and a beautiful background but my images "composition-wise" are lacking.  I would love suggestions from others on how I could've made this shot more appealing.

I've also recently been reading some facebook posts about using a Depth of Field (DoF) calculator.  I've not used one before but I think it would help me know where I need to be in relation to my subject.  Does anyone use one regularly and if you have an iphone, is there a specific DoF app you'd recommend?

Next up in the blog circle is Northeastern PA Pet Photographer, I Got the Shot Photography.  Be sure to continue clicking the links at the end of each post and then you'll end up right back here.

Using a Slower Shutter Speed & Panning: Project 52 week 7 and 8

This week we combined the week 7 and week 8 challenges for Project 52: using a slow shutter speed and panning so I started with using a slower speed which I knew would be the easier of the two for me. Generally if you are trying to stop action in your image and you don't want your image to be blurry, you want your shutter speed to be at 1/250 or faster. Our instructions this week said to start with a shutter speed of 1/60. When using a slower shutter speed like 1/60, you are going to have some blur in your image. The trick was to create an image when this blur looks creative and not like a mistake. Well, my results are below and let me just state other than for the sake of this exercise, this isn't an image I would normally post online for everyone to see because its not very artsy looking. One of my biggest takeaways from this week's challenge was this information I got from the Photo Nuts & Shots ebook by photographer Neil Creek. In the book, he writes: "It may seem like your camera is capturing an instant in time, but in reality it’s capturing a duration of time equal to your shutter speed. This becomes critical to the image sharpness when there is movement during the exposure. This movement can be of the subject – referred to as ‘motion blur’, or of the camera itself – referred to as ‘camera shake’. One distinguishing feature of camera shake, when compared with motion blur, is that it affects the whole image. When a subject moves, only the moving parts appear blurred, but if the camera moves, the whole sensor moves relative to the subject."

I at least now understand the difference between motion blur and camera shake and I was able to accomplish motion blur in my image.

My models this week were Ollie (hound) and Sunny (retriever.) This shot was taken with a shutter speed of 1/30 (f/2.8 and ISO 100.) You can see that Ollie is sharper than Sunny. Sunny is moving faster than Ollie since he is scratching and he is also behind Ollie in the image which I believe would also impact why Ollie is sharper than Sunny.

The next part of the challenge was panning. Once you master using a slower shutter speed, the instructions said that panning would be easier. I need more work on using a slower shutter speed so my attempts at panning were laughable. Here is my takeaway from this part of the exercise: I should start with a subject that is moving predictably like cars or kids on bicycles. I might have a little more success. :)

Next up in the blog circle is Northeastern PA Pet Photographer, I Got The Shot Photography. Be sure to click the links at the bottom of each post. I am certain the others had better success with the challenge this week than I did!

Spots Illustrated February 2016

Do you know what Spots Illustrated is? Not Sports but Spots. You can click here to find out. Shortly after starting See Spot Run in 2008, I started writing a monthly newsletter and I had a contest to name the newsletter. I got several great suggestions but the one that resonated with me the most was "Spots Illustrated." We are big sports fans in my house and for years I had a subscription to the 'other similarly named publication.' In Spots Illustrated, I discuss a variety of pet related topics and I'm always open to suggestions about topics you'd like to learn more about or discuss. Please let me know if there are any topics you'd like to see in the upcoming issues.

I am really excited about the February issue. I made two big (huge) announcements. One article highlights some exciting news about a photography workshop I'll be attending and the other announcement is about my friend Barbara Butchko DVM, a veterinarian who has launched her own specialty, mobile veterinary service in the Charlotte NC area.

I use Constant Contact and just recently they've added the functionality for me to post the URL on my blog. Here is the link to the February 2016 issue of Spots Illustrated: Spots Illustrated Feb 2016. Enjoy and I'd love to hear your comments and feedback too.

our girl Willow

If you've seen the See Spot Run facebook page, you'll know that our girl Willow had surgery to remove a large mass on the top of her right leg on Wednesday Feb 10. Labs are known for having lipomas so our initial assumption when we first noticed the lump a year ago, was that it was a lipoma. It felt harder to me than your typical squishy lipoma though. We've had it aspirated twice since finding it but each time they could only draw blood out of it. We decided at the time to leave it alone but over the past few months, it has started to get really big. Atrium Animal Hospital recommended surgery and we scheduled the procedure for the first available appointment with the surgeon.

Surgery was scheduled for 12:30pm and around 12:15 I got a call from the surgeon. He wanted to discuss some concerns he had before going into surgery. Based upon the size and the location of the mass, he was concerned that a major nerve in her leg may be going through the mass and trying to remove the mass could damage that nerve. If the nerve was severely damaged, she would lose the function of her front leg.

Willow will be 11 in May and she has arthritis in her hips. Loosing the function of one of her front legs and having to add additional pressure to her back legs was very concerning.

The surgeon said he was hoping the mass was on top of the nerve and the damage to it would be minimal but he wanted us to know so we could decide for sure if we wanted the mass removed. He also suspected that it could be a form of cancer of the nerve.

So in the middle of my work day of walking dogs, I needed to make a decision whether or not to go through with this surgery which could possibly affect Willow's ability to use her front leg. The mass was really large and it was painful. She didn't like for anyone to touch it. She was having problems going up and down the two steps to get in and out of our house and she didn't really like to go for walks anymore. So, do we go ahead with the surgery or do we leave it alone knowing that she is probably in some level of constant pain? The mass would continue to grow and we'd probably sooner rather than later have to make a decision about letting her go as the mass continued to grow. Luckily Don was home so I went home, we called the surgeon back and after talking with him, we made the decision to go forward with surgery.

The surgery lasted about two hours and she did well through the procedure. Around 4:30pm, I called the clinic back and they were just standing her up. We got great news. She was standing up and putting pressure on her front leg. That was a great sign and based upon this, we were fairly certain that there was no major nerve damage.

We brought Willow home that evening and hence the start of about 5 days and nights of very little sleep for Willow (and if I'm being honest for Don and me too.) The pain medication she was on wasn't working as effectively as it should so we took her back into the vet and they put a compression wrap on the wound. That worked great with the exception that it was up too high on her leg and was rubbing the top part of the incision so she wouldn't lie down at all. Looking back now, I wish I would've done something sooner. The poor dog didn't lie down at all that first night after getting the wrap or if she did it was only for about 10 minutes before she'd stand back up. Her incision was so sore standing was all she wanted to do. I cut the top part of the bandage away, put one of Don's long sleeved t-shirt's on her so she couldn't get to the incision and she finally slept.

She was still in a lot of pain so we took her back to Atrium and they gave her a patch for the pain. I believe the patch has opiates in it. Since then she was been resting much better and when they re-wrapped her leg, they didn't put the wrap up as high.

Yesterday I got a call from her veterinarian and the pathology reports came back. The mass is a lipoma. The veterinarian is cautiously optimistic that these results are accurate. I was shocked - as was the vet. There is a good chance that the mass will return. If it does, the minute we notice it, we will have it aspirated.

Last night Willow picked up her beloved squirrel for the first time since before surgery. Now we know for sure she is on the road to recovery.

PS The photos I'm posting here were taken with my cell phone. I have a photo of the mass after it was removed but I'm not posting it (for reasons I hope are obvious.) It is huge though - the vet tech said to us, "It is rather impressive. Do you want to see it?" It was the size of the palm of her hand.