The photo below is actually one of my favourite photos of Betty.  Taken on the day we rescued her it was the first time she felt safe enough to come and take a treat from me.  Now technically it's not a perfect photo but that really doesn't matter. I look back on it and all I see is how young and scared she was.   It's something I often forget about as she is such a different dog now, but this image makes me smile and I'm so glad I have it. Just looking at it takes me back to that day and the happiness I felt.

There is a well used hashtag doing the rounds on social media at the moment which is  #makingmemories and it's true!!  Photographs make the most amazing memories and those fleeting moments in time with your dogs need to be captured.  Doesn't matter if you use a fancy camera or your mobile phone!  Just #makememories.  This is what I will be doing more and more of with Betty and Hector in 2019 and beyond.  I want to capture them at their craziest, woofiest and doing everything they love to do plus all those little things that are particular to each one of them.

It's true what they say, the only thing wrong with dogs is that they just don't live long enough so make sure you create those memories one way or the other.    Give me a shout if you need a hand!

SILHOUETTE SHOTS

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Those of you who follow me on Facebook will know that I LOVE taking silhouette shots!  In fact, the shot above was featured by the Kennel Club only yesterday on their Instagram account for Dog Photographer of the Year - eek!!  So, with that in mind, I thought now would be the perfect time to let you in on how I take these shots.

The most obvious thing you need is a decent sunset....and believe it or not it is notoriously difficult to predict!  There are some handy little apps you can use but to be honest, you just have to wait until about an hour beforehand to decide if it's a going to happen or not.  If you are lucky enough to have a sunset then don't be too eager!  Wait until the sun is just dipping below the horizon.  You then have about 20 minutes in which to take your shots.  You will need to set your light levels from the sky rather than the subject and you'll probably need to use f8 at the very least although you can play around with those settings of course. If you're not so sure about manually setting your camera up then I'd suggest you use the 'mountain/landscape' setting.

Certain types of dogs do 'silhouette' much better than others.  Short fur, long legs and a long nose all help define a clean outline.  If your pooch is a little (ahem!) vertically challenged and furry then make sure you don't put them in long grass otherwise you'll never identify them!!  The other thing to remember is that ideally they need to be sideways on so that you can see the 'dog' outline clearly. Similarly, if you are going to include people then make sure they aren't wearing bulky clothes and make sure you can ideally see their arms and legs.  Keep your skyline clutter free and you won't go wrong.

The Dog is the eleventh of all zodiac animals. According to one myth, the Jade Emperor said the order would be decided by the order in which they arrived to his party. Monkey, Rooster and Dog were in another country, helping a god defeat evil spirits. After, they set off to the party together. Because they arrived at the same time, the Jade Emperor went by the order they met the god in the other country. Thus, Dog became eleventh.

If you are born in the year of the dog you are likely to be faithful, honest and ready to serve others. Believe in truth and justice and loyal to friends. Always willing to listen to people’s problems and is able to gain the respect of others. Will share their thoughts but do not easily forgive those who cross them. Trustworthy. Tend to worry too much. Hmm...... now what breed does that remind you of!! 

You are a “Dog Chinese zodiac animal” if you are born in one of these years: 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018.

The Chinese regard it as an auspicious animal. If a dog happens to come to a house, it symbolizes the coming of fortune. Well that's good news then!

"Do you use an app?  Is it photoshopped?  Is it because you've got a fancy camera?"  Well, the answer is yes you can do all of those things but actually, anyone can achieve background blur to a greater or lesser degree and so in this blog I'm going to show you how.

1. Choose a wide open F stop. 

If you are able to shoot on Aperture Priority (turn the dial to A if you use a Nikon and Av if like me, you're a Canon user), choose a higher f/stop.  Just to confuse you, the lower the number the higher the f/stop.  So, if your lens can go as far as F2.8 then use this as it will give you a very shallow depth of field i.e. only a shallow part of the image will actually be in focus.  If you have a kit lens then don't worry, even at F5.6 you can still achieve a blurry background by using the following tips.

2. Keep your subject as far away from the background as you can.

As I mentioned above, we are looking for a shallow depth of field so if you can separate the subject from the background then that will help enormously.  For example, in the picture below the dog is quite far way from the background trees and so we have that lovely effect where the focus is all on the dog and the tree trunk. 

3.  Use your camera's presets!

These days, cameras are amazing bits of kit so why not take advantage of all that technical wizardry?  Turn your camera dial to portrait mode (the one that looks like a head) and voila!!   This setting will instantly work out a shallow depth of field and turn the focus onto your subject rather than the background without you having to worry about dialling any settings manually.

So there you are - three very easy steps to achieving a blurred background no matter what kit you own.

Choose even light or shade. Choose even light or shade.

I'm guessing, if you're the owner of a black dog you probably think that what they need is lots of bright light to lighten them up. Right??  Wrong!  What they actually need is soft, even light. If you have too much of a contrast between your dog and the background your poor camera doesn't know what to do and consequently you end up with a picture of the dreaded black blob. 

So what can you do?

Firstly, avoid the harsh midday sun.  If you have to take a picture during this time then look for some nice even shade and pop your dog into that.  The best time to take a picture is actually an hour after sunrise or an hour before sunset. This is called the Golden Hour.  Try it and see! 

Anther tip is to take the photograph on a slightly overcast day.  The clouds will act as a great big soft box and give you that lovely diffused light which will help even out the colouring on your dog.  Even though it may be overcast, check where the sun is and position your dog so that the sun is partially to the side of them. This will help highlight fur texture and create catch lights in their eyes which will help give your dog expression and focus on the eyes.

Be aware of your backgrounds.  Busy or complicated backgrounds won't help your dog to stand out in the picture.  Choose somewhere with a 'plain' background or make sure the dog is positioned well away from trees and hedges etc. The further away they are from them, the less distracting the background will be in the final shot.

So, go out and have some fun with your dog trying out different lighting situations. Be patient and expect some failures but once you get the hang of the lighting and backgrounds you'll have this nailed!   

Rae

Welcome to my new blog!  It's one of those things I've been meaning to do and finally I've got a 'round tuit' as my Grandma used to say!! 

Recently, I asked the lovely people on my Facebook page Rae Prince Photography what were their biggest challenges when photographing their pets and the first post was specifically about 'how do I photograph and manage groups of dogs?'  I'd like to say, "it's easy!" but of course that isn't always the case, so here are a few little tips you can use at home and hopefully you'll find them helpful.

Watch out for the little one...she's the boss!

Practise! Practise! ....and practise again!

Spend some time teaching your dogs a reliable 'sit' or 'down' and a 'wait/stay.' A few minutes each day and they'll soon have it nailed.  Make sure you do it somewhere without distractions so that they can concentrate on you.  All the dogs in the picture above are agility trained so they have rock steady waits.  Believe it or not, this was the first take!

Use your best behaved dog

Put your most obedient one into place first and arrange the others accordingly.  This way they won't get too bored and run off after the squirrels.

Sshhhh....don't say a word!

Once you have them all in place, don't utter a word other than the occasional 'STAY!'  if needed.  Trust me, they will use any excuse to get up and come and see what you're doing if you start to talk. Also, think about who likes to sit next to who so there's no arguments.

If all else fails.....

.....keep them on a lead and either carefully arrange it so that it's hidden for the shot or edit it out afterwards. It will be our little secret and I won't tell a soul! 

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