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Friday, July 31, 2015

Alone

Alone
Zachary All Alone



Dog Blog Post #1860



Few things sadder than a Golden Retriever all alone.

At least, that's what the boys think.

Photography Assignment


Daily Dog Challenge 1367. "All By Myself"

Our Daily Challenge - July 31, 2015 - "One Is The Loneliest Number"


Mr. Henry
Henry: "More Cookies for me!"



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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Catching Cookies

After yesterday's experiment, I decided to go easy today...


Catching Cookies
Zachary: "One!"


Catching Cookies
Zachary: "Two!"



Catching Cookies
Zachary: "Three!"



Gulp!
Zachary: (gulp!)



Anticipation
Henry - the picture of anticipation



Catching Cookies
He caught it!




Dog Blog Post #1859



The boys had no problems catching the Big Cookies I was tossing today.

Even Henry managed to catch all four.

He didn't miss a one!

Unfortunately, for fiddly reasons (remote vs the umbrella - umbrella won) the flash refused to fire and I only caught the first one.


Photography Assignment


Daily Dog Challenge 1367. "Up In The Air"

Our Daily Challenge - July 30, 2015 - "Fly"


Anticipation
Zachary: "Ready for Round Two, Mom!"


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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Pool of Light - and a Snoot

Today I played around with a snoot I made following some simple DIY instructions I found on the internet.

As usual, I first tried it out on a willing volunteer to get the lighting Just Right...

Spotlight on Teddy
Teddy in a Pool of Light

After trying it on myself once to make sure the light wasn't too intense, I moved on Patient Henry...


Pool of Light
Henry: "Umm... I think you need to aim that snoot a bit higher."

Yes, dear. I think you're right.

But we've already taken your fair share of pictures, so let's give Zachary a chance.

Zachary?

Boring Lighting
Zachary: "Feeling a bit washed out, Mom."

That's because I wanted to show everyone what the lighting looked like without the snoot and without much flash, keeping in mind I raised the exposure (brightened things up) quite a bit during post-processing.

Now let's give the snoot a try...

Pool of Light
Zachary ALMOST in a Pool of Light

Rats... one more try...

Pool of Light
Zachary in a Pool of Light

Ta-Da!

Dog Blog Post #1858


At The End Of The Day the boys curl up with Teddy in a Pool of Light.


Photography Assignment


Daily Dog Challenge 1366. "At The End Of The Day"

Our Daily Challenge - July 29, 2015 - "Pool"


Any time I try something "unusual" with the lighting, I test it first on a stuffed animal, like Teddy, above.

That way I can fuss around with the intensity, distance, and location without needlessly firing the flash at the dogs.

When I'm happy, I then take a shot of myself with my head at the height the dogs' heads will be - something like this...

Body Double
Less-than-complimentary selfie of the Photographer

It makes for some really lousy pictures of me, but gives me peace of mind that the flash isn't going to hurt their eyes.


Snoot
The Snoot!

Flash is the L-shaped bit of plastic on the right, the tube is of black construction paper held together with a ponytail band around the flash head and a paper clip, which is hidden under the tissue, which is held over the open end of the snoot with a rubber band.

While it was a fun experiment, I'm not completely satisfied with the result.

I'm not sure if I should have:

a) raised the camera higher - to make the "pool" more obvious
b) not used a tissue on the end - to make the light more pronounced
c) positioned the dogs more perpendicular to the light source - so less of them is showing
d) all of the above
e) none of the above (i.e. something else)

The other problem is that, for all shots except the ones of me and Teddy, I was holding the flash in hand, up in the air, while trying to point the end where I wanted the pool of light to be.

This is kinda like holding a large Mag-Light (off) and hoping you have it pointed in exactly the right spot before you turn it on.

Let's just say that accuracy was lacking today.

I think I need to add some sort of swivel tripod clamp for my flash to my wish list.

The shots of Teddy and me had the flash/snoot sitting on the floor, just as you see it above.

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Happy Birthday Henry!

Yup, my Baby Boy turned 5 today...


Happy Birthday
Henry: "Aw-shucks"

... so I broke out the Frosty Paws.

Happy Birthday
Henry: "Boy that looks good."


Happy Birthday
Henry: (slurp slurp slurp)


But That Was Not Today's Challenge...


No... today's Challenge was Black and White.

(sigh)

Sorry Henry...

Happy Birthday
B&W Henry


Happy Birthday
Selective Color Henry


Happy Birthday
Bohemian Rhapsody Henry?



Dog Blog Post #1857


Happy Birthday Henry!


Photography Assignment


Daily Dog Challenge 1365. "Keep Your Cool"

Our Daily Challenge - July 28, 2015 - "Black and White"


Zen Zachary
Zen Zachary


Frosty Paws
Zachary: (slurp slurp slurp)

Editor's History Note to her Mom


Bohemian Rhapsody is a ~1975 song by the rock band Queen.

The album cover showed the faces of the band members, starkly lit, against the black cover.

You can find the song itself on YouTube and you might recognize it, although I honestly don't remember if my brothers were Queen fans or not and I was probably a bit too young.

The song reemerged 20 years later with the movie Wayne's World.

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Monday, July 27, 2015

Adorned

Ok Henry, since my original idea was a flop, why don't you just give me a couple nice poses...

Henry Adorned
(click)

Good...


Henry Adorned
(click)

Nice...


Henry Adorned
Henry: "Enough?"

Well... yes. I guess so.

Zachary?

Zachary Adorned
Zachary: "I'll show the pup how it's done."



Zachary Adorned
(click)

Very nice.

Uh oh...

Looks like my flash batteries just died...

Dog Blog Post #1856



The boys Adorned with a Chain embroidered collar.

As this was my Plan B shot (Plan A never made it off the Kitchen table) I played around with poses (see stream) - at least until my flash batteries died at the start of Zachary's shoot.


Photography Assignment


Daily Dog Challenge 1364. "Adorned"

Our Daily Challenge - July 27, 2015 - "Chain"


Henry Adorned
Henry: "He he he"

Great... yet another call from Zachary's lawyer to look forward to.

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Prized Possession?

Prized Possession
Zachary and the Lacrosse Ball


Prized Possession
Henry and the Big Bone

That reminded me of an old woodcut.


Dog Blog Post #1855



Interesting combination - Simplicity + Slider Sunday.

There is Zachary and his prized possession - his Lacrosse Ball, with a bit of help from Photoshop Element's Cutout filter.

And we have Henry - what dog doesn't like a Big Bone - after using Photoshops Element's Poster Edges filter.

Photography Assignment



Our Daily Challenge - July 26, 2015 - "Simplicity"

Daily Dog Challenge 1363. "The Simple Life"


The Originals



Prized Possession
Zachary

Prized Possession
Henry


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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Saturday, July 25, 2015

Duck Hunting?

Camouflaged
The Duck Hunter Awaits


Duck Hunting
(sniff)


Duck Hunting
"What's this?"


Duck Hunting
(sniff sniff sniff)


Duck Hunting
"Found one!"


Dog Blog Post #1854


I'm not sure this is how camouflage is supposed to be used.

Photography Assignment



Daily Dog Challenge 1362. "Spot(s)"

Our Daily Challenge - July 25, 2015 - "Duck"


Duck Hunting
Best Buds

The Editor leaves it as exercise to the viewer to figure out which dog is which.

Hint: There are three shots of each one.

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Friday, July 24, 2015

Reduce Reuse Recycle

Reduced Reused Recycled
Zachary the Art Critic

Dog Blog Post #1853



Zachary seems much more interesting in the picture on The Right Side.

I can't imagine why.

Here we have today's picture of Zachary from behind Reduced, the Fractal image is Reused (it was a background for Henry a few days ago) and the image of Zachary catching the ball is completely Recycled.


Photography Assignment


Daily Dog Challenge 1361. "The Right Side"

Our Daily Challenge - July 22, 2015 - "Recycled"


Henry... Just Because


Mr. Henry
Henry: "Hi!"


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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Thursday, July 23, 2015

You Had Me At "Hello"

You Had Me At 'Hello'
Mr. Zachary


You Had Me At 'Hello'
Mr. Henry


You Had Me At 'Hello'
Mr. Henry sans Hat


Dog Blog Post 1852



The boys realize you never get a second chance to make a first Impression.

Photography Assignment



Our Daily Challenge - July 22, 2015 - "Impression"


Daily Dog Challenge 1360. "You Had Me At 'Hello'"

How can I resist them?

This is not a new background, although it's one I've used very, very rarely as the creases are pronounced and the pattern makes cloning them away not really an option.

(Yes, Mom. I know I could iron it, but...)

The black sparkly velvet they are lying on IS new - a great find on the fabric store remnant rack.

Usually ~$22/yd, it was on sale for ~$10/yd, and then 50% off of that because it was a remnant.

Remnants are typically a yard or less, but for whatever reason this one was just shy of 1.2 yards and came in under $7.

And it's lovely.

The bed they - and the black velvet - are lying on is also new. A giant orthopedic dog bed I splurged real money on pretty much just for pictures, although I'm hopeful that once the weather turns cold one or the other will take a liking to it.

Despite my remnant's generous size - more than enough to cover the width of the bed - the depth wasn't quite there, so I had to do some post-processing magic to hide the strip of brown bed that was showing in the back.

Next time I'll put a piece of crushed velvet underneath my sparkly velvet, to hide the rest of the bed.


You Had Me At 'Hello'
Playboy Zachary


You Had Me At 'Hello'
Better luck tomorrow, Henry


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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Angel Wings and Flying Things

Angel Wings...


Angel Wings
Henry - Staring At... ?


Dog Blog Post #1851



Totally screwed up the lighting today...

(Don't ask)

... and in order to make SOMETHING out of the shots I had to do a wee bit of Slider Surgery.

(sigh)


Photography Assignment


Daily Dog Challenge 1359. "Curve(s)"

Our Daily Challenge - July 22, 2015 - "Heavenly"

... And Flying Things



Catching Cookies
Zachary - Cookie Spotted


Catching Cookies
Zachary - Cookie Tractor Beam Engaged


Catching Cookies
Zachary - Cargo Bay Open


Catching Cookies
Zachary - Cookie Acquired!



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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved