Scale

Dog Blog Post #243: Sun today! Weeee!!!!!

Not that I took advantage of it for the for today's Daily Shoot assignment:

Work with scale today and make a photograph that features a subject either larger or smaller than expected.

... which led to my latest theory that the amount of time it takes me to come up with a "good" shot is directly proportional to the amount of time I have available to make said shot.

First idea was make the boys look like stuffed animals on a bed. We have two really big stuffed animals, and I put them on the floor on the old leopard-spot bedspread (don't ask), set up the big tripod,  then called the dogs over. 37 shots later, I gave up on the idea. Perhaps had I been able to look down on them from a ladder (which I wasn't about to climb) it might have worked.

Missing Skill of the Day? Henry's iffy stays and Zachary's shifting when Henry tramples him (can't really blame him) were the biggest problem, but that ol' reliable "Look Sad" came in handy yet again! For the curious, I'm crouched down out of shot on the lower right. I set the camera timer to 2 seconds, hit the button, and had just enough time to duck out of the way and give my "Look Sad" cue - a closed fist at the level for their heads to be (ie: on the floor). At least three shots showed this clearly as my head was visible, and an additional two had my hand visible. (sigh)

Next!

Here was what I figured the assignment was supposed to be - something small in front of something large, and trying to make it so that the large thing seems about the same size as the small things. Zebra returns from a much needed vacation, bringing Raccoon with him, for a cute little threesome that finds absolutely nothing in focus. (Don't believe me? Click on the image!)

Sadly, this was the best of the bunch, as neither focusing on the beenie babies nor focusing on Zachary improved the picture at all. On the bright side, this arrangement took seconds to make, requiring nothing more than me telling Zachary to stay, lying on my stomach with the camera sitting flat on the floor, and taking a few seconds to arrange the critters. Zachary sat stoically through a dozen shots without a single reward, and then basked in a shower of cookies.

Next!

I finally gave on my grand plans, grabbed a chair, the big tripod, Henry's favorite red blankie (the clean spare), Raccoon, and Henry. The blankie was tossed over the chair, the Raccoon was placed on the blankie, I grabbed some cookies, I...

... where's Henry?

... where's Raccoon???

I retrieved Raccoon from Henry (looking mighty guilty on his puffy pillow), put Raccoon back on the blankie facing stage left, used my nose magnet (ie: cookie) to lure Henry next to the other side of the chair facing stage right, and confidently told him to "Look Sad" on the chair seat.

Which he did.

For about a nano-second.

Then he started snuffling Raccoon again.

(sigh)

Suffice it to say that it took a few minutes for the novelty of Raccoon to decrease below the value of my (admittedly mundane) cookies.

But it did.

And this is the result...



I think it's time to teach Henry a new pose, don't you?

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