Some of my favorite photos I took during 2013 (part 1)

Bailee-Mae and Julie:

Andy:

Winston in Marsh Creek:

Tangerine:

Izaskun near the Peach Orchard:

Miami near the Peach Orchard:

Daisy wades in Marsh Creek:

Honda:

Duncan:

Axel, Janel, and Duncan:

PieSky:

(All shot with the Nikon D300 and D600 using the 18-35mm, 50mm, or 105mm lens; shot in RAW, converted to DNG and imported into Lightroom.)

Irish, Maia, and Midori

Friday afternoon at GIG was warmer than I preferred. I don't particularly like photographing dogs with their tongues dangling and with them panting, trying to stay cool. Some Greyhounds are not overly fond of warm weather, so I try to find shade wherever possible for them as I photograph.

Irish, Maia, and Midori belong to a volunteer of the Greyhound adoption group that ran GIG this year. I thought it might be nice to have the hounds pose by one of the numerous rail fences that cover the Gettysburg field. I had a certain image in mind before I had them pose, but it required a different time of day.

Anyway, the volunteer's father offered to hold the leashes while I photographed. I particularly like how all three Greyhounds are "smiling" and have their ears at half-mast; Maia (in the middle) is starting to tongue-dangle but not enough to be distracting. I knelt down below their eye level and tried to keep Sickels Road off in camera right out of view. If I had to do this over I would've asked for the leashes to be down on the ground and then threaded through the fence.

When I returned home and started processing the photos in this session I was amused by Irish's (on the left) expression -- almost as if he saw something funny was going to happen to me. I hadn't noticed this at the time I took this picture. I like their relaxed faces and how they're all looking in my direction.

Tintype and wet-plate post-processing is kind of an interesting effect at the moment. I had one preset to mimic 19th century film processing, so I applied it to this picture since we were in a Civil War battlefield. I am pleased with how this turned out overall.

(Shot with the Nikon D300 using the 10-24mm zoom lens and SB-400 flash; shutter-priority with shutter speed set to 1/250 second; aperture set to f/14 at ISO 200; -0.7 exposure compensation; center-weighted metered; shot in RAW, imported in Lightroom and DxO Film Pack 3.)

Miami #2

I had hoped for more clouds in the western sky for a more dramatic sunset, but what the heck -- it's Gettysburg and there are so many places to photograph. I had Miami pose for me in the grassy fields north of the peach orchard. I added some fill in post-process because using a flash here would've made its presence too obvious.

The Sherfy barn, which sits next to Emmitsburg Road, is the red building in the background.

The leash was digitally removed in case you were wondering.

(Shot with the Nikon D300 using the 10-24mm zoom; manual mode; 20mm, 1/60 second at f/4.5 and ISO 200; auto white balance; center-weighted metered; +1 exposure compensation; shot in RAW and imported into Lightroom.)

Miami

Another shot taken in a grass field north of the infamous peach orchard in Gettysburg, PA. during GIG 2013. I was attracted to how the setting sun acted as a rim light on his legs, brisket, and ears. I couldn't use fill flash here to lighten his body because the grass he's standing in would be illuminated in a pool of light from the flash. I elected to add some fill in post-processing, and used a graduated filter to the sky to bring out some of the clouds. His leash was digitally removed, too, so just know that he wasn't off-lead here.

(Shot with the Nikon D300 and 10-24mm zoom; aperture-priority with aperture set to f/5.6; camera set shutter speed of 1/200 second at ISO 200; center-weighted; +1 exposure compensation; shot in RAW and imported into Lightroom.)

Winston

When I went to the Greyhounds In Gettysburg event this year I flew to Baltimore a day earlier (on Wednesday) than I had done in previous years so I could meet up with Gretchen and her two English coonhounds on Thursday afternoon. We met at Sachs Covered Bridge and stayed downstream of the bridge. Downstream of the bridge there are a couple of footpaths that one can walk alongside Marsh Creek. We walked down one of those paths until we got to a place where we thought Winston might want to step into the creek.

It was clear to Gretchen that Winston was very excited just being outdoors and sniffing whatever new smells there were by the creek. Unlike last year the trees were late in displaying their spring greenery, so there was a lot more sun and harsh shadows than I preferred. Winston was just dipping his front paws into the creek when I tried to hold my camera down low and blindly pointed it in his direction, taking one fill-flashed picture with my D300 and the SB-400 flash attached to its hot shoe.

When I got home I thought I'd try using a Lightroom preset for a different look.

We walked back to the bridge and fortunately there were few people around while I took a couple of pictures of Gretchen and Winston.

Lately I've been trying to capture a bit of something that describes the relationship between owner and pet. Most owners beg off from being included in a picture, but I'm glad that Gretchen was more than willing to be a part of the picture. I think it makes for a stronger image:

(Shot with the Nikon D300, Nikon 10-24mm zoom (top picture) and SB-400 flash; Nikon D600 and 50mm lens; aperture-priority; center-weighted; shot in RAW and converted to JPG using Lightroom.)

Joey

I had two sessions booked at Dewey for Saturday.

Joey was my first customer. She is a striking red. I met her and her owner Ruth across the street from our rental house and led them to the beach. We chit-chatted a bit to get to know each other as we approached the surf. I tried getting some pictures of them running along the water's edge:

Then I thought it might be nice to take a photo of their footprints in the sand (I haven't taken one yet that I've been supremely happy with):

The sunlight was still low enough in the sky so the shadows were not overly harsh.

The most special moment of the session for me was when Joey and Ruth sat on the sand together for awhile. It was soon obvious to me that they have a very close relationship. I decided to stand off a ways and use my wide-angle zoom to show them together under the immense sky that Saturday morning:

I decided to make a virtual copy of this and convert it to black-and-white:

I did the same for the next picture:

Then I thought I'd go in the opposite direction, taking some zoomed-in shots while still far away:

You can see that the large aperture (f/2.8) I was using blurs the background nicely while still retaining enough depth-of-field to keep Joey and Ruth sharp.

Finally, one last shot of them together:

(Shot with the Nikon D300 using the 10-24mm zoom, 50mm prime, and 70-200mm VR zoom lenses; shot in RAW; converted to JPG using Lightroom.)

Dewey Beach Friday morning

 

On Friday morning, at the first sunrise I saw at Dewey Beach, I was surprised to see how empty the beach was of people and greyhounds. There were no greyhounds near where I stood while watching the sunrise. So I walked down near the water's edge, searching for something to catch my eye. I found a shell on the beach and took several pictures of it.

I removed several dust specks, cropped and made the horizon level, added a graduated filter to darken the sky from the top of the picture to just below the horizon, added a bit more exposure to the shell, and added a bit of sharpening.

I was disappointed that there were no clouds in the sky to make it more interesting. But that's another story...

(Shot with the Nikon D300 using the 10-24mm zoom set at 10mm; aperture-priority mode with aperture set at f/8; camera chose 1/60 second; ISO 800; normal JPG.)

Look! Up in the sky...

Is this what a night sky, unpolluted by the city lights of Los Angeles, looks like?

 

While in Colorado last week I thought I'd try a night-sky exposure using my D300 and my dad's tripod. After taking a couple of shots using the 50mm (because it's faster than my zoom lenses) I went to the 10-24mm lens and set it at 10mm and the aperture wide-open at f/3.5. I set my ISO to 800, focused the lens to infinity at the Milky Way, and then took pictures at ever-increasing time exposures. I put the garage in the frame to give myself a point of reference (I was just fooling around, anyway). Then I pressed and held down the shutter-release button, using the stopwatch on my smartphone to see the elapsed time. The last picture, exposed for 122 seconds, shows the most detail but it's a little fuzzy because I was holding down the button and not using a cable release (I thought about bringing it but didn't). What's in the image is a portion of the Milky Way running through the constellation of Aquila.

I'm no astrophotographer, but it was fun for me to experiment and see what I could get.

(Shot with the Nikon D300 using the 10-24mm zoom at 10mm; manual exposure mode; aperture set to f/3.5; exposure time 122 seconds; ISO 800; auto white balance; normal JPG.)

Three weeks 'til Dewey

I'm always thumbing through pictures I've taken. And with three weeks to go before I leave for Greyhounds Reach the Beach at Dewey Beach, DE, I was browsing through some pictures I took there last year.

One type of picture I tried getting (and not getting) was the greyhound dogprint-in-the-sand picture, so that is one thing I'll be looking for. And I'm curious to see what I'll find on the beach when I get there. Last year on Friday morning I walked along the beach and saw lots of horseshoe crab remains:

Then there were always shorebirds to look at:

 

And it's fun to see what sort of shapes seawater takes as it finds paths over and around the sand:

 

I tried to frame this last picture in an interesting way but I didn't get what I had imagined. And I was careful not to stare at the sun while looking through the viewfinder. I used fill-flash to lighten the shadows a bit.

Every picture here was taken during the first hour after sunrise. The light angle is low; the shadows are less harsh. The play between light and shadow is just more interesting as opposed to mid-day. I suppose I'd see similar things on the opposite, bay side of Dewey Beach if I was to go there during the late afternoon. I hope to do that during this visit.

But then, the ocean is not on that side.

(Shot with the Nikon D300 using the 10-24mm and the 18-200mm zooms; program mode; auto white balance; normal JPG.)

Dog-washing

Every quarter the greyhound adoption group that we got our hounds from holds a dog-wash fundraiser. Last weekend I went to see people bring their hounds to get bathed, nails trimmed, ears cleaned, and just fussed over.

I used my 10-24mm zoom for quite a few shots, trying to get close enough to fill the viewfinder. But I also wanted to use the 50mm for some informal portraits. Here are some examples, with the aperture set to f/2 or f/2.5 (to blur the backgrounds) and the D300 set on aperture-priority:

Here are a couple of examples using the 10-24mm:

When I think I'm close enough to my subject with this lens, I have to force myself to get closer. For me using an ultra-wide-angle lens means getting in close enough to make you feel like you're standing next to the subject, not for getting everything in.

I don't think I used the 18-200mm once. Also, while I had an SB-800 flash mounted, I used it when there were some deep shadows that needed a little filling. But with wet, sunlit black dogs I don't recommend using flash at all on them: they come out too shiny.

Finally, one last shot using the 50mm:

There used to be a greyhound there.

(Shot with the Nikon D300, the 10-24mm zoom, and 50mm lens; SB-800 flash; normal JPG.)

New hounds in town

There are ten new hounds in town -- ten newly-retired greyhounds transported from the Caliente racetrack in Mexico to an eager and expectant group of Fastfriends Greyhound Adoption volunteers.

While we waited for the hauler to appear, I wandered down to a corral to meet a four-year-old bounce-back male greyhound named "Arrow". He's in wonderful shape, is very friendly, and will lean on you if you give him just the slightest chance. I don't think it will take too long for him to be placed in another home:

 

I stayed with Arrow for awhile and took a few pictures when he wasn't trying to get in my face and plant his nose on my lens. He is so much like Katie in this respect: you can't kneel to his eye-level and photograph without him walking to you.

I walked back up the hill to the driveway and met Nascar. Poor guy had his right wrist broken, repaired twice and it's not quite right yet. Using my 10-24mm I took an overhead shot of him napping:

Then I walked over to the converted garage that now houses a bathtub and a number of kennels and looked at the kennel muzzles hanging at the entrance. I always liked the different colors used for the muzzles. I have this vague idea in my mind of how I want to show these but I haven't gotten it yet:

Then Tom and the hauler appeared and it was time to see the new arrivals:

The greyhounds were quickly taken to the corral where they were checked for ticks:

...took a quick dip in the pool to cool off a bit:

...then bathed:

...then photographed for their website, examined, and taken back to the corral to be small dog- and cat-tested:

For one particular hound, taking a second dip in the pool is better because being cat-tested is a bother:

In most of these pictures I used fill-flash to lighten shadows. Arrow's and Nascar's pictures are in open shade with no flash used. The 10-24mm zoom was used most often, although I did switch to the 50mm f/1.8 to take some informal portraits:

It was fun to see the new retirees prepped to be made ready for fostering and eventually placed in their forever homes.