Week 52, Day 363, April 27, 2010, Convicted

This photo reminded me of the old newspaper gangster photos. 

Tank, wanted for cat food robbery, chewing items that don't belong to him, and laying on the couch when people are not in the room.  Be careful, this dog cannot hold his licker. He will easily win you over with his puppy dog eyes.  Do not attempt to pursue him on foot. You'll never catch him.

Lessons Learned:

• I had some fun with the flash on this one, and tried different things.  I like the effect, especially on a black dog.

Photo details: Exposure time 1/200 sec, Aperture f/5.0, ISO 6400, Focal Length 70 mm, Lens Canon 70-200mm f2.8L USM, hand held. 

Week 36, Day 254, January 2, 2010, Doggie in the Window

Everybody in town is familiar with this Boxer that spends a lot of his/her time looking over the town from this window.  I've wanted to take a photo of it for some time, but never had my camera with me.

It was about 10 degrees F outside, so I didn't spend a lot of time.  I'd like to get a better photograph some day.  Many times he is standing in the window, which I think would make for a better photo.

Lessons Learned:

• A Circular Polarizer Filter will not always remove the reflection of the light in the glass.
• Because of the previous problem, I learned how to use Photoshop to crop the window, create a new layer, and adjust the image levels of that layer to help reduce some of the glare.

Photo details: Exposure time 1/50 sec, Aperture f/7.1, ISO 100, Focal Length 35 mm, Lens Canon EF 17-40mm, handheld, circular polarizer filter, reduced the glare on the window with Photoshop.

Week 30, Day 215, November 24, 2009, Man's Best Friend

The holidays are upon us, and family is returning home.  I had about 3 minutes to take my photo for the day.

I figured earlier this week I posted my cat photo, so it was time for a dog photo.  Our dog, Tank, loves my daughter's boyfriend Derek.  When they arrived for Thanksgiving break our dog went crazy.  It's great to have them home.

If you are celebrating Thanksgiving this week, may you have a great day.  I feel very fortunate with many things to give thanks.  One of which is all of you readers and responders.  I've learned so much from the last few months, and I have many of you to thank.

Lessons Learned:

• Some days there just isn't enough time to do the photography the way you want to do it.  It's ok.

Photo details: Exposure time 1/50, Aperture f/1.8, ISO 1600, Focal Length 50 mm, 35 mm equivalent focal length 81mm, Lens Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, hand held.

Week 16, Day 106, August 15, 2009 Dog Frisbee

This weekend we made our annual pilgrimage to Peg's pond. For me it's been about 26 years. For our children, it's been there whole lives. It's a time for Peg, the Houcks, and the Gallows to get together once again and have a great time. Our kids have grown up together, and our dogs have as well. These times are very special to us, and bring back years of memories, laughter, meal sharing, and more laughter. Thank you Peg for being such a great hostess.

We really lucked out this weekend. It was one of the best weekends of the summer. It was hot enough so all of us, including the dogs, spent a lot of time in the pond. Here Kyle is getting ready to throw the Frisbee for the dogs. You may already know Tank in the middle. Molly is on the left, and Tucker is on the right.

Lessons Learned:

• All of the photos of Peg's pond over the years have help enrich our memories.
• I have to get used to my circular polarizer lens. My photos were much darker.

Photo details: Exposure time 1/400, Aperture f/4.0, ISO 100, Focal Length 70 mm, 35 mm equivalent focal length 113mm, Lens Canon 70-200mm f2.8L USM, hand held.

Week 15, Day 105, August 13, 2009 Sad Eyes

Our Dog Tank has some of the most interesting looks. I really like the looks of his eyes in this photo. He's a difficult dog to photograph because he moves so quickly. It's difficult to get him to stay still for a shot.

Lessons Learned:

• Dogs require lots of photos to get a few that turn out ok.
• I like the effect of the wide aperture in this photo. It draws the viewers attention to the face without being distracted by the background.

Photo details: Exposure time 1/20, Aperture f/2.2, ISO 100, Focal Length 50 mm, 35 mm equivalent focal length 81mm, Lens Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, hand held.

Week 6 - Day 40, June 9, 2009, "Tank and Stick", Winner of Week 6 Viewer Poll

This one is for all you dog lovers out there.

We missed our dog, Tank, when we were in South Carolina. He still has a lot of puppy in him. He's only a year old, and loves to chew on sticks.


Lessons Learned:

• Similar to the fern, this was another case where the light meter of the camera did not produce the correct exposure. I think because Tank is black, the camera had a difficult time. I used all manual settings to get this photo's colors correct.
• Dogs are curious, so when I first started taking photos he was concentrating on me. This made for horrible shots. I found that if I just continued to photograph, after a while he became bored, and ignored me. (he does have a short attention span.) This is when I was able to get the best shots.

Photo details: Exposure time 1/320, Aperture f/3.2, ISO 1600 (I had it set to this because he Tank was running around, and I thought I would need it for an action shot.), Focal Length 50 mm, 35 mm equivalent focal length 81mm, Lens Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, hand held.

This photo was the winner of week 6 in the Viewer Poll.