Friday, February 10, 2012

Elvis

Elvis is a four-year-old miniature pinscher ("min pin"), lives in west Los Angeles, and is owned by an executive of Linea Pelle. I got to meet him when the owner of the three Italian greyhounds that I photographed at Dewey Beach last October bought a photo session as a birthday present for Elvis's owner.

His owner frequently travels for business so it wasn't until last month that we were able to get together for the session. I was told that Elvis was protective of his owner, especially when a stranger showed up, so I brought along a bag of dog treats to make peace with Elvis. As soon as I stepped into his home he started barking right away, but stopped when his owner told him to. I have no doubt that Elvis thought he could take me down if he wanted to. He is not belligerent or aggressive in any way; he is just confident.

He is a bright, fun, ever-watchful dog. He kept an eye on me most of the time that I was there, but he would take a time-out whenever I offered him a treat. His best friend, Lucky (a chow mix) was there, too, and Lucky would stand nearby waiting for his dog treat (which his owner, Nancy, said never did). They made quite the pair.

His owner suggested moving his dog bed over by their sliding glass door. It was a great idea. When that was done, Elvis either sat or laid down and I was able to take a few shots. I like how this one came out:

Elvis 

Elvis's owner wanted a few pictures taken of Elvis's right profile, so I did that, too:

Elvis

I never used my flash; I relied entirely on the light coming in through the sliding glass door. Having a fast prime lens (I used my 50mm f/1.8 lens for this) was a big help. I could've used my 18-200mm, but I didn't want to increase the ISO and introduce more noise (I prefer to keep the ISO below 1000 if I can). Besides, it could only open up to f/3.5 at 18mm, and I've gotten used to doing portraits with the 50mm at f/2 or f/2.8 so I could blur backgrounds more.

Elvis is an awesome little dog. I was glad to have met him.

(Shot with the Nikon D300 using the 50mm lens; aperture-priority, with aperture set to f/2.8 (top) and f/4.5 (bottom); camera chose shutter speed of 1/100 second (top) and 1/60 second (bottom) at ISO 800; matrix-metered; auto white balance; shot in RAW; processed in Lightroom.)

7 comments:

  1. A confident little dog, eh? Wait until you meet Kuster! lol Elvis looks adorable and I love both shots. He looks so intense in the color shot, but the sepia really draws you in to those intelligent eyes!

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    1. He was actually more relaxed when lying on his bed.

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  2. Very cute little dog. The small ones seem to either be totally over confident or totally scared- I rarely see one just right in the middle range.

    I totally admire your photos, and have to wonder if it is the post processing that makes them so incredible or your shooting (or some of both, likely). Do you ever post before/after pictures of pre and post processing?

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    1. thank you, but i still need a lot of work.

      no, i've not yet posted a before/after of any picture yet. i guess someone might be interested in what i'm doing. i'll have to try that sometime.

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    2. I'd be interested as all get out in that! :)

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  3. I love Min Pins, they have such beautiful lines. We never see them in our part of New Zealand although there are some in the country. Elvis looks lovely and you captured him beautifully.

    I'd certainly be interested in seeing your before and after shots:)

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  4. The profile image has beautiful lighting with nice detail.

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