Happy Halloween

Zachary: "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!"

Umm... right.

Why don't you switch hats with Henry.

Zachary: "Going so soon? I wouldn't hear of it. Why my little party's just beginning."

It'll be beginning without Cookies if you two don't switch hats.

Zachary: "I'm melting, I'm melting... oh what a world..."

That will do, Zachary.

Zachary: "Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead!
Henry: "Aye Aye Captain!"

You're about to torpedo your Cookie chances.

(gulp)

Dog Blog Post #1953

The boys beg your forgiveness for taking the easy way out tonight.

After spending the day at the Day Spa, followed by the excitement of all their adoring fans dropping by the house, there was little enthusiasm left for the daily shoot.

Photography Assignment

Our Daily Challenge - Oct 30, 2015 - "Dressing Up"

Daily Dog Challenge 1461. "Halloween"

Artsy Version

This one took a spin through Photoshop Elements...

Zachary: "Feeling a bit sketchy."

... where the original layer was duplicated, had a pen and ink filter applied, inverted, and then blended back with the original.

Something else to tuck into my virtual shoe box of ideas. It reminded me an illustration you might find in a children's book.


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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Mischief

Zachary: "Uh oh"

What are you doing???

And don't give me that, "Just reading the articles", line.

Zachary: (gulp)
Henry: "There's articles?"

Dog Blog Post #1952

Oh dear...

I don't suppose they are just reading it for the articles?

Photography Assignment

Our Daily Challenge - Oct 30, 2015 - "Looking In"

Daily Dog Challenge 1460. "Mischief"

Artsy Version

Same pictures (plus one) processed with a slighter heavier hand, but not as heavy as my usual heavier hand.

Zachary (whispering) : "She's still glaring at us"

Henry: "Hey look, there ARE articles."

Caught in the act

Today's prop gave me no end of grief.

The idea was simple enough - use an iPad app (PicsArt) to add "stickers" to a background that looks like brown paper.

And that part actually worked splendidly.

I sent the final images (one for the front cover and an unadorned one for the back) to the Big Mac for printing.

Off to the printer the images went, where they sat. The little icon on the desktop blinking dismally.

It seems the printer isn't hooked up to the computer.

Strange.

It has been for the past... oh... five years or so.

Rats.

No time to fuss with it, so I sent it to the newer (fancier) printer. The one we purchased to replace the old one when we bought the new computer, but rarely use as the old printer keeps hanging in there and prints just fine.

Unlike the new printer, which decided to pick today to draw chartreuse lines across my images.

Rats.

No time to fuss with it (I'll just fix it in post-processing) so I grabbed the printouts and headed into the Studio (aka Kitchen) to make my Magazine.

A little tape, a sturdy folder as backing, a bit of trimming here, and...

It looked terrible.

The light showed through where the images were bigger than the folder, and the seam down the middle where "front" and "back" pages met had a shadowy gap.

Rats.

No time to fuss with it (I'll just fix it in post-processing) so I cut some good-enough sized sheets of newspaper to hide the worse of the light shining through, put the dogs in position, and starting taking pictures.

And that part actually worked splendidly.

The boys hit their visual marks and we were done in a half-dozen or so flashes.

Off to post-processing!

Where I realized that handy light-blocking newspaper was showing rather glaringly.

(clone clone clone)

And that seam down the middle had to be fixed.

(clone clone clone)

And, Wow, there are a LOT of green lines!

Forget it.

It's not a bug it's a feature.

Which leads me to the heavier processing, where I tried to see if it would obscure the worst of the fixes.

And it did.

But perhaps the originals weren't so bad after all.


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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Prince of Darkness?

Ok guys, think Dark And Spooky Graveyard...

Henry: "Trick or Treat!"

Uh... no.

You are SUPPOSED to be the Prince of Darkness.

The Prince of Darkness doesn't wear Donald Duck "Mickey Mouse" Ears...

Zachary: "Trick or Treat!"

... or smile.

Henry: "Better?"

Can you hide the smile?

Henry... Angel of Darkness?

Umm...

Zachary... Melancholy of Darkness

... this is hopeless.

Zachary: "He he he... snort... he he he"

Next year I'm dressing you two as Big Bird for Halloween.

Dog Blog Post #1951

The boys practicing for The Big Night.

Given the number of smiles and other less-than-menacing looks they gave me, they definitely need it.

And then there's Henry's costume.

Photography Assignment

Our Daily Challenge - Oct 29, 2015 - "The Weekend Starts Here"

Daily Dog Challenge 1459. "Secluded"

The top shot (which I ultimately picked for the Flickr groups) is definitely NOT what I was thinking of when I set up this shoot.

It was just a throwaway shot taken for my own grins-and-giggles.

But as the rest just weren't working for me, and that one at least made me smile, it came out on top.

A Bit of Artsy Fun

Artsy Prince of Darkness

Same shot as the second image above, after taking a spin through Photoshop Elements.

I added the iPad artsy-forest background I made that you've seen in the past, which had the glowing edges filter applied to make it more Halloween-ish.

In the end, the masking did it in as the whole left side of Zachary blended inseparably from the black fabric.

I threw a painterly filter across the whole thing try to merge things a bit better before giving up.

I did like how the background turned out, and will store it away in my virtual shoe box of ideas to try again some time.

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Waiting

Zachary... waiting

Zachary - Is it my boy?

(sigh)

Guess not.

Dog Blog Post #1950

Photography Assignment

Son comes home from College most weekends, prompting a happy reunion with the boys.

Sorry guys, it's only Wednesday. You still have a few days more days to go.



Our Daily Challenge - Oct 27, 2015 - "Great Expectations"

Daily Dog Challenge 1458. "Someday My ______ Will Come"

Henry's Take On It

Yes?

No

Henry: "He'll come home soon, I just know it. And we'll have a great time then."

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Ghost Dog

Wordless Wednesday has the boys spinning...

Henry-Go-Round

Zachary-Go-Round

Henry Still Going

Zachary Still Going

Dog Blog Post #1949

The boys, going Round and Round in the Dark.

Photography Assignment

Our Daily Challenge - Oct 27, 2015 - "Round and Round"

Daily Dog Challenge 1457. "Dark"

A bit of fun with slow exposure and low lighting: all shots today taken at 1/2s, f/7.1, ISO 100, and -2 2/3 EV for the rear-curtain flash, with the anti-reflector clipped to the fridge (reflector with black side out) to keep things dark on the left side.

Rear-curtain flash has the flash firing at the end of the exposure, right before the shutter closes, freezing the action at the end of 1/2s, and making it look like the boys are spinning forward - which they were.

If I had used front-curtain flash, the flash would have fired immediately and the shutter would have stayed open for the rest of the exposure time, resulting in an image where it looked like they were spinning backwards.

I've tried this basic setup several times over past few years using a wide variety of settings, and I think this is probably the best I've captured.

If I were to do it again (and I no doubt will) I would increase light from the flash another tick (-2 1/3V) but leave everything else as is.

As for the spin itself, while both boys know the trick and spin readily - can you say "Easy Cookies"? - Zachary is by far the most enthusiastic about it.

Henry All Done

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

The Well-Read Dog

The Noble Golden Retriever...

... Intelligent and Well-Read...

... Or Not

Dog Blog Post #1948

A Multitude of Dog Books to keep the boys Busy this fall.

Photography Assignment

Our Daily Challenge - Oct 26, 2015 - "Multitude"

Daily Dog Challenge 1456. "Busy"

The Noble Golden Retriever

Overwhelmed

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Great Pumpkin Patch

Henry: "Momma, I need some grass for my Pumpkin Patch."

Well, the lawn is pretty brown right now, how about this...

Henry: "Thanks Momma! Now I'm all ready for the Great Pumpkin to appear."

(Of camera, the sound of Zachary laughing his head off can be heard.)

Henry, annoyed

Dog Blog Post #1947

As a summer of tight drought restrictions has left our grass more brown than green, I decided to Repurpose some Easter Basket "Grass" for Henry's (not so?) Great Pumpkin Patch.

Photography Assignment

Daily Dog Challenge 1455. "Repurpose"

Our Daily Challenge - Oct 25, 2015 - "Grass"

As I kid, I loved watching the Charlie Brown specials...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_the_Great_Pumpkin,_Charlie_B...

... back in the Dark Ages, when TVs had just three channels, and you had to get up to change the channel.

Wake up Henry...

... or you're going to miss him!

Henry: "Zzzzzzz"

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Halloween Needs

It's Slider Sunday!

Zachary: "Empty"

Creepier Zachary: "Still Empty."

Zachary: "Mom! Need more candy!"

Dog Blog Post #1945

Zachary, reminding me that I still need to get Halloween candy.

Photography Assignment

Daily Dog Challenge 1454. "Wants And Needs"

Our Daily Challenge - Oct 24, 2015 - "On Your Grocery List"

The top version was done entirely in Lightroom by pushing sliders.

Lots of sliders.

It took me about 5 minutes to create, but was done AFTER the one that follows it, so I kinda knew what I was shooting for.

The second version started out in Lightroom, then moved over to Photoshop Elements were I played with merging a layer with glowing edges filter applied, and then subsequently inverted, which was merged with the original image duplicated and blended using one of the darkening options (forgot which one). It ended back in Lightroom for a last minute touchup on the pumpkin.

I spent at least 30 minutes fiddling with it, and rather liked the overall effect, but in the end the treatment didn't seem to quite fit the mood of the image.

The (Mostly) Original

Zachary: "The situation has not improved."

The usual sliders, pushed a bit further than usual.

In an Alternate Universe

Again - the usual sliders, pushed a bit further than usual.

Henry: "Empty."

Henry: "Found one!"

Two football teams that I follow will be playing each other today (Sunday) guaranteeing that I will FINALLY get to see a win.

Of course, that also means I will have to endure yet another loss.

The football gods are laughing.

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Quality Control

Zachary: "Glasses, please."

Here you go, dear.

Zachary: "5.1 oz. Check."

Zachary: "Next."

Dog Blog Post #1944

Zachary making sure the Orange Lacrosse Balls Measure up to his high standards.

The official standard reads:

"Section 17. The ball shall be white, yellow or orange solid rubber between 7 3/4 and 8 inches in circumference, between 5 and 5 1/2 ounces in weight and when dropped from a height of 72 inches upon concrete floor, shall bounce 43 to 51 inches at a temperature of 65 degrees fahrenheit."

For the curious, this batch weighed in at 5.1 oz.

Photography Assignment

Daily Dog Challenge 1453. "Orange"

Our Daily Challenge - Oct 23, 2015 - "Measure"

Meanwhile...

As Henry has little interest in Lacrosse Balls, besides stealing them as a ploy to get Zachary to play with him, we must improvise...

Henry: "0.0 oz?"

Henry: "Need more Cookies, Momma!"

5.1 oz. Lacrosse Ball

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved