Night Out

Too hot for words...

Dapper Zachary

Dog Blog Post #1830

The boys have their best tuxes on - I wonder where they are going?

And why didn't they invite me to tag along?

Photography Assignment

Our Daily Challenge - June 30, 2015 - "Handbags and Gladrags"

Daily Dog Challenge 1337. "Your Favorite Color"

I love a deep, rich red and I think it goes well with the boys' golden coats.

That said, this is not a backdrop I use very often as it has pronounced creases every 10" or so along the fold lines and takes a bit of cloning during post-processing to smooth things out.

I compromised today, given the triple digit heat, and took just a handful of shots per dog and then processed just one for each.

Dapper Henry

Perhaps a stretch to say Henry is "Dapper" - as that implies a bit more neat and tidiness than Henry's coat will every be able to muster.

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Booty Box

Zachary: "Looks like our Box of Biscuits showed up today."
Henry: "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy..."

Zachary: "One Bag... Two Bags... here, hold this..."

Henry: "Don't you mean Bag?"
Zachary: "Three Bags... not paying any attention to you... Four Bags..."

Zachary: "Five and Six!"
Henry: (sniff sniff sniff)

Dog Blog Post #1829

How fortuitous!

The boys' Box of Biscuits arrived today, plus a new photography book for me. :)

Our Daily Challenge - June 29, 2015 - "Packaging"

Photography Assignment

Daily Dog Challenge 1336. "Starts With B"

Our Daily Challenge - June 29, 2015 - "Packaging"

More Fun With Sliders

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Puzzling

Look out - it's Manipulated Monday!

Puzzled Henry

Puzzled Zachary

Dog Blog Post #1828

While I've played with masking and layers in Photoshop Elements' Expert mode, I can't say I've done much of anything in Guided mode.

Here is the apply named "Puzzle Effect" under "Photo Play".

I found it extremely easy to use, and once the puzzle pieces were "extracted" I hopped over to Expert mode to select them individually and rotate them before putting them where I wanted them.

Photography Assignment

Our Daily Challenge - June 27, 2015 - "Begins with M"

M is for Manipulated

Daily Dog Challenge 1335. "Variation"

Slider-ed but not Puzzled

Artsy Henry

Artsy Zachary

Originals

Original Henry

Original Zachary

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Simple Pleasures

"Desert Time!"

Henry: "One Cookie. Two Cookie. Three..."

Zachary: "Cookies. It's Cookies not Cookie. There are THREE Cookies in the dish."

Henry: "Momma! Zachary made me lose count."

Henry: "One Cookie. Two Cookie..."
Zachary: "Please tell me we're not related."

Dog Blog Post #1827

Few things that I have qualifying as A Family Treasure are "dog safe", even for just photographic purposes.

A possible exception are these glass ice cream dishes.

Growing up, my family had always enjoyed ice cream - especially the homemade, hand-cranked variety.

These dishes (2 of 12) were purchased to hold small flower arrangements on the tables at our wedding reception some 27 years ago, with the thought that Hubby and I could enjoy many a good dish of ice cream together in the years ahead.

And we certainly have!

There is something to be said for sturdy, dishwasher-safe glass.

And who knows, perhaps Son will some day find a place for them in his cupboard.

For the record, they comfortably hold Three Big Cookies each.

Photography Assignment

Our Daily Challenge - June 27, 2015 - "A Family Treasure"

Daily Dog Challenge 1334. "Three"

Old-Timey Photo

Editor's Note: Zachary insisted I inform everyone that it was Day Spa Day, resulting in my Models being too pooped for proper posing.

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Tiny Door

Zachary: "What's this?"

Zachary: "I heard something..."

Zachary: "Henry? Was that you?"

Henry: "Zachary?"

Dog Blog Post #1826

Looks like the boys found a tiny door in the Wall.

I wonder where it leads to?

Photography Assignment

Our Daily Challenge - June 26, 2015 - "Wall"

Daily Dog Challenge 1333. "Interesting Background"

Tiny Door

Anyone seen a dog or two around here?

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Beyond the Window

Henry: "What's that?"
Zachary: "I heard it too."

Henry: "Oh, it's just you."
Zachary: "Come a bit closer."

"Hi!"

Dog Blog Post #1825

Nope... not photoshopped.

Well, yes, there was a fair bit of slider pushing done post-processing to make the colors/tones more... interesting... but there was no cloning or layering or anything like that.

That is, you really are looking through a physical window (of sorts) to the boys posing behind - all taken "live" and in a single shot.

Curious?

Keep reading to see how this was done.

Photography Assignment

Daily Dog Challenge 1332. "Together"

Our Daily Challenge - June 25, 2015 - "Seen From A Window"

Behind the Scenes

Window in a Wall

Yup... there's the "window" - a couple of printed images cut-n-taped onto a plastic picture frame.

For the previous pictures, it was positioned about a foot away from the lens, with the boys in their usual places...

Big Dog plus Window in a Wall

Zachary: "Hmmm..."

Nobody Home

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Exotic Dogs

Zachary: "Charge!"

Henry: "Visa or Mastercard?"

Zachary: "He he he"

Big Cat Henry

Dog Blog Post #1824

Sorry guys, you're a bit Late for Halloween with your Exotic Lion / Trojan (or is it Spartan?) costumes.

Photography Assignment

Daily Dog Challenge 1331. "Late"

Our Daily Challenge - June 24, 2015 - "Exotic"

Noble Zachary

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Double Delicious

Zachary: "We're on strike until a pay hike."
Henry: "Pfththththth"

What a shame.

Looks like I have this nice big basket full of Cookies...

(drool drool drool)

... and no one to share it with.

Guess I'll have to see if that nice German Shepherd down the street is interested.

(gasp!)

Dog Blog Post #1823

Two dogs.

Two bags of treats.

Looks like the math adds up.

Photography Assignment

Our Daily Challenge - June 23, 2015 - "Basket of Goods"

Daily Dog Challenge 1330. "Two for Tuesday"

Zachary: "Now, now, Mom. Let's not be too hasty, there... he he he."

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

The Dog Ate My Homework

Zachary, what are you doing???

Zachary: "Huh?"

That's Son's take home test!

Zachary: (cough)

Zachary: "Pfthththth"

Dog Blog Post #1822

This TRUE story took place when my Son was in middle school and we had our first Golden Retriever, Beau...

One day, said Son placed his completed multi-page take-home test on the coffee table and went to bed.

The following morning, we awoke to find the test in pieces... LOTS of pieces... scattered about the Living Room floor.

Our best guess is that Beau's ever-wagging tail relocated the paper to the ground, and paper on the ground was fair game for shredding.

In any case, Son was most upset as Teacher had informed then that she NEVER excepted late work.

Ever.

No excuses.

Period.

But lacking any other options, I picked up each and every scrap of (soggy) paper and crammed them into a ziplock baggie and told Son to turn the darn thing in.

Son was not happy.

I was sure he wasn't going to do it.

But he did.

He handed her that little baggie with its soggy contents gave her his "Dog ate my homework" story.

She told him she'd heard that one MANY times before, but went on to say that he's the first kid that ever produced the evidence.

And she accepted it.

He even got an A!

And the baggie came back home with its (still soggy) contents undisturbed.

Photography Assignment

Our Daily Challenge - June 22, 2015 - "Perforated"

Daily Dog Challenge 329. "Well, Nobody's Perfect"

Zachary: "I was framed."

Henry: "This baggie?"

Give me that

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

I Want To Be Alone

Henry: (pout)

Zachary, what's up with Henry?

Zachary: "We want to be alone."

We?

Dog Blog Post #1821

Good grief - what did I do this time?

Photography Assignment

Our Daily Challenge - June 21, 2015 - "Alone"

Daily Dog Challenge 1328. "I Want To Be Alone"

Behind The Scenes

Yes - the shot below is the same shot as the one up top minus the extra cloning to make myself disappear...

WE want to be alone?

Had the camera back a bit farther than usual and caught myself in the shot.

For reference, my "studio" (i.e. Kitchen) has about 8' of floor space across this end, putting Henry's rump ~18" from the fridge on the left and my rump leaning up against the cabinets on the right.

I'm curled up like a praying mantis to avoid throwing any shadows, as the flash is right in front of me.

In fact, the tip of the leg of the flashes tripod was cloned out of the lower right corner of this image.

Why?

Because I can. :)

Why am I not in the other shots?

Because I was standing for those and thus took up less floor space.

And because I cloned out any bits of myself that DID appear.

And then vignetted the heck out the results to hide the fact the flooring didn't match in the cloned area.

So there.



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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved