Power Plugs

Dog Blog Post #228: Yes, folks, you read it right.

Power Plugs.

Today's Daily Shoot assignment:

Power plugs are ubiquitous. Can you make a creative photo of such a common thing? Try it today!

... and people really are uploading pictures of Power Plugs...

... and power outlets...

... and sometimes Power Plugs with Power Outlets.

Now, I don't know about you, but I have no interest in turning power plugs, cords, and outlets into fun toys for the boys!

So a compromise - a ubiquitous item (the iPod) with its uninteresting little cord, plugged in to absolutely nothing, of course. It did give me a chance to trot out the brand new bits of fabric I bought yesterday to hang on my "set".

The concept of the fabric worked great - 2 yds each of two different blacks - but the lighting is still not great and the whole thing came out very cold and lacking in depth.

Rats.

Will need to consider lighting options in the future, because the large northern window (on the left) and the room lamps (incandescents) just isn't doing it.

The basic idea of the "set" is fine - a big dog pillow draped in one piece of fabric (cheaper and more "forgiving") with the encircling ex-pen being draped in a nice stretchy black velvet.

I used a baby gate to keep out the non-working dog, and for once Henry was actually pretty quiet. Not sure if it's a step in the right direction, or if he was tired, or if it was because I kept pitching cookies over the fence.

(Note that the wall is just a foot or so to the left, and so room for me is quite cramped, but the window sill makes a nice shelf to line up small props and cookies and such.)

This batch was taken in two parts. The first part was 11 minutes long, 19 pictures wide, ~50-50 Henry/Zachary split, and just one or two were even passing - the one up at the top of the post being the best, with Henry showing off his Look Sad trick. The rest? Total duds. The auto-focus must have had something else on its mind, because it sure wasn't thinking about focusing on the dogs.

Round two - I used just Zachary and tried to recreate the best (but blurry) pose - without the blurry. Twenty pictures and nine minutes later and I got the picture below.

Pure luck that Zachary was blinking at the point I clicked the camera. In a perfect world the iPod (and cord) would have been more prominently featured. Oh well, if I wanted perfection, I would be photographing still lifes.  :)

(Editors Note: I checked out PicMarkr.com as suggested by Kolchak Puggle and it is, indeed, quite easy to use. Will have to consider it in the future - thanks!)