Pensive Heyokha

Dewey Beach had the worst weather this year in the five times that I've gone: windy and sometimes rainy, but mostly windy. The wind did not seem to bother the Greyhounds on the beach much but it did make things miserable for their humans. I had to cancel or reschedule some appointments for Thursday and Friday because of it.

On Saturday I did a couple sessions and then headed back to the rental house. My friends Meredith and Mitch's dog, Heyokha, was lying on the big sofa that turned out to be a popular sleeping spot for the hounds during the weekend. Lying on the new purple bed sheet protecting the sofa, Heyokha was bathed in the light flooding through the big sliding glass window and door that led out to the beach-facing deck.

He is an active, big boy. But at this moment he was quietly watching something (I don't remember what). I started taking a few pictures using center-weighted metering, zero exposure compensation, and aperture-priority:

  

(Note: On the Nikon the exposure compensation button is marked with "+/-" and sits next to the power switch.)

It's much too light, although I could fix that in post-processing. And he doesn't have the expression I want. I adjusted my exposure compensation to -1 (one stop), moved to his left, and tried again:

 

This looks better to me: the sunlit side of his face is not as blown-out as in the first picture while still retaining detail in the shadows. But I thought I'd switch to matrix metering and turn down the exposure compensation even further to -1.3:

I like this even better and I got a different (and better, I think) expression this time. Switching to matrix metering (the light meter samples everything in the viewfinder to determine what it thinks is the proper exposure; center-weighted emphasizes what's in the center of the viewfinder and less in the corners) got me the darker image I had in mind.

(Shot with the Nikon D600 and 105mm VR lens; aperture-priority with aperture set to f/4; ISO 800; normal JPG.)

Three months

It's been three months since Katie's death from lymphoma.

I think of her (and of our other two departed greys, Alex and Nikki) every day. And there are many days where I browse through some of the several thousand pictures that I took of her. She was with us for nearly nine years, and even now those thousands of pictures seem inadequate. Oh, most are terrible and not worth sharing with everyone, to be sure, but I saved them.

I cling to these pictures as a way to hang onto her for as long as I can. I won't say that looking at these pictures always brings me comfort — it doesn't. But when it does I go back and think of how well she recovered from her amputation. We were so pleased and happy for her that she gained weight during her chemo treatments because it can cause appetite loss and Katie was never really food-motivated.

I'm rambling now and I can't write a coherent train of thought, so I will leave you with this picture of Katie as she was back in 2008, a couple of months after Nikki had died:

 

I used light coming in through a window to get this. I added +0.7 exposure compensation because I didn't want the light meter to render her in a dull gray. She had this wondering look on her face as Sadie was standing in front of her. Katie's eyes were wonderful and I tried to capture that.

(Shot with the Nikon D300 and the 18-200mm zoom; aperture-priority with aperture set to f/4.8, ISO 1100 at shutter speed of 1/30 second; cloudy-weather white balance; +0.7 exposure compensation; normal JPG.)

Minty (2003? - 2013) and Hoover (2006? - 2013)

Both taken before their time from smoke inhalation from an overnight fire at home last week.

Minty at Dewey Beach last year:

Hoover at Gettysburg last year:

(Minty: Shot with the Nikon D600 using the 18-35mm zoom at 18mm; aperture-priority with aperture set at f/4; camera set shutter speed to 1/1250 second; matrix-metered; auto white balance; normal JPG.

Hoover: Shot with the Nikon D300 using the 70-200mm VR zoom at 70mm; program mode; shutter speed 1/250 second at f/8; -0.3 exposure compensation; auto white balance; shot in RAW and converted in Lightroom.)

Love

(Shot with the Nikon D600 using the 50mm f/1.8 lens and SB-800 flash; aperture-priority with aperture set to f/4; camera set shutter speed at 1/320 second at ISO 100; +0.7 exposure compensation; slow-sync; -1.0 flash compensation; auto white balance; normal JPG.)

Katie gets comfy

You can be pretty sure that if you ever paid us a visit that Katie would be lying on our bed when you stepped up to our door.

(Shot with the Nikon D300 using the 50mm f/1.8 lens; aperture-mode, with aperture set to f/2.8; camera chose shutter speed of 1/25th second at ISO 800; center-weighted metered; +0.7 exposure compensation; auto white balance; black-and-white conversion using Lightroom; normal JPG.)

Sadie says, "Mmmm..."

In the late afternoon I was standing just outside the back door of the house when Sadie walked up and paused at the door. I was thinking she would either: (1) join me outside, or (2) stand her ground at the threshold as I held the door open waiting for her to pass through. She chose (2).

So as she stood there I thought, "Hey...I like the way she looks while standing against the dark interior of the house. Maybe I can get a shot or two of this." I went inside to get my camera (Sadie twisted her head around to see what I was doing), grabbed a handful of dog kibble, then stepped back outside and got her attention by talking to her and handing her food.

I had a different picture in mind when I started this exercise, but Sadie would not open her eyes wide enough. Instead, I tried to get her actually doing something, instead of my usual staring-back-at-the-camera shot:

I played around with this in Lightroom; I tried different black-and-white treatments but none seemed quite right. I left the picture in color and just removed most of the color from her red tag bag, and added some sharpening around her eyes. Then i added a vignette to isolate her face further.

(Shot with the Nikon D300 using the 50mm f/1.8 lens; aperture-priority, with aperture set to f/2.8; camera chose shutter speed of 1/800 second at ISO 400; center-weighted metered; -0.7 exposure compensation; auto white balance; normal JPG.)

A perfect picture

At the Blur of Fur run at the Greyhound Gang's event both Sadie and Katie participated. Both girls ran twice. For Sadie's second run she would run after me. I had the "advantage" of starting before her, as well as starting further down the run. I was sure that it wouldn't take much to get her to chase after me. All I had to do was run for all I was worth away from her and she would automatically go. That's her nature. And I knew she would have no trouble overtaking me before I got close to the end.

Gayle stood at the end of the run to take our pictures. I had my D300 set to shutter-priority and added one stop of exposure because the sun was at our backs, otherwise the shadows would be too deep.

At the signal I took off. Then, after I had run for a few seconds, Sadie started after me. I thought she might try to jump on me as she passed. You see, we jog sometimes during our walks. And when we jog she gets playful: she jumps alongside me, or clamps her mouth around the back of my hand and tries to lead me down the street. But not this time. She kept her eye on me as she passed, then turned around and waited for me while Gayle kept photographing.

I'm glad that Gayle took this. I've looked at this picture many, many times. The picture shows something that I cannot put into words. The picture shows, in one moment, the relationship that Sadie and I have. The picture is perfect.

(Shot with the Nikon D300 using the 18-200 zoom lens; shutter-priority, with shutter speed set to 1/2000 second; camera chose aperture of f/5.3 at ISO 1800; +1 exposure compensation, auto white balance; normal JPG.)

Solvang Thursday

We spent this last weekend in Solvang, CA, for the 8th annual Solvang Greyhound Fest. The weather was great, and there were lots of greyhounds to see and meet.

We checked into our motel room Thursday. Later, at dusk, I stepped out of our motel room to walk over to Dascomb Cellars for their wine-tasting. The sky was clear. I spotted a crescent moon, just a few days past new, hovering over a weather vane that topped one of the buildings where we stayed:

Then it was a short walk down Copenhagen Drive and First Street to Dascomb Cellars. There once was another winery (Wilson-Bradford) at the location a few years ago that sold wine glasses with greyhounds etched on them (see following picture below), but apparently it was in business only for a short while:

 

Anway, here are a few pictures of the greyhounds at the Dascomb winery:

 



 

None of these are color-corrected, so there's way too much orange and yellow because of the lighting in the store.

(Shot with the Nikon D300 using the 50mm lens; aperture-priority, with aperture set to f/2.8; center-weighted metered; +0.7 exposure compensation; auto white balance; ISO varies; normal JPG.)

Katie keeps an eye on things

(Shot with the Nikon D300 using the 50mm lens; aperture-priority with aperture set at f/2; camera chose shutter speed of 1/40 second at ISO 800; center-weighted metering; +2/3 exposure compensation; auto white balance; post-processed using Lightroom; normal JPG.)

Lights in the sky

Earlier this month there were some news stories written about a newly-discovered comet, Comet Lovejoy (C/2011 W3), that was predicted to come perilously close to the sun and not survive the encounter. Much to the surprise of many of those who follow and study such things, not only did the comet survive but as it moves away from the sun it now appears to be the finest comet seen since Comet McNaught in 2007 (C/2006 P1, also known as the Great Comet of 2007). If I was in Australia I could possibly see Comet Lovejoy looking like this:

Image copyright Lester Barnes

As for Comet McNaught it looked like this in late January from Australia:

Image copyright Robert McNaught

What an awesome sight that must have been!

About a week or so earlier in January Comet McNaught was visible in the northern hemisphere. It was so bright that it was visible during daylight hours. I tried looking for it using a building to block out the sun but I never saw it. I did try my luck photographing it at dusk. I managed to get a few pictures before it disappeared behind an advancing wall of low clouds:

 

Not a very awe-inspiring sight compared to how it appeared over Australia just a few days later. Still, comets that get this bright are uncommon, so I appreciate what I saw nonetheless. C/2006 P1 won't be back again in about 92,600 years.

(Shot with the Nikon D200 using the Nikon 300mm f/4 lens; program mode; camera chose 1/100 second at f/5; matrix-metered; -0.7 exposure compensation; ISO 800; normal JPG.)

A greyhound threesome in black-and-white

I don't see enough greyhounds rendered in black-and-white. So, if the thought occurs to me and if I think the image might lend itself to being in black-and-white, I give it a try and see what happens. Sometimes it's straight-up b&w; sometimes, it's sepia; sometimes, it's in platinum.

Here is an example of a color photo processed using the Platinum preset in Lightroom. First is the original picture in color:

And here is what it looks like after using the Platinum preset:

I can't say I recall how the three of them ended up arranged this way, but I thought it looked interesting enough to photograph. There's a strong sense of perspective implied by the angles of the greyhounds' forelegs, the edge of the surf behind them, and the tilted horizon line. I think I like the the black-and-white version more.

Greyhounds often lie upright in this "sphinx" position, where they rest on their elbows with forelegs extended in front of them and the back legs supporting a rear end that doesn't touch the ground. It looks uncomfortable (you often hear greyhound owners say this) but they have no problem lying this way. But they often put their heads down on their forelegs, look up at you and give you these big, sad puppy eyes so that you'll feel sorry for them. Sometimes they'll add a loud sigh to enhance the effect. It's one of their tricks.

(Shot with the Nikon D300 using the 18-200mm zoom lens set at 18mm; shutter-priority with shutter speed set at 1/500 second at f/10 and ISO 200; auto white balance; SB-800 provided fill-flash at -0.7 flash compensation; shot in RAW.)

Katie's not sure of my sanity

I can't help myself: I love it when dogs tilt their heads, trying to comprehend what you're blathering about or what you're doing in their face. It's like they think you've lost your mind but still can't help themselves but look at the spectacle that is you.

Both Sadie and Katie do the head-tilt. I had both girls out on the front porch the other night at dusk to take some photos. Both tolerated my repeated attempts to get something decent in the nice but failing light. Amazingly, Katie was in no hurry to go back inside as she is often wont to do. So I tried photographing her from different angles: some below her, some at eye-level, some above her. She was a good sport through it all. I finally said, "cookie", and she started tilting her head to her left, then to her right.

I was trying to be careful about the background here. I didn't want too much of what was behind her to be a distraction. While focusing on her eyes I set the 50mm lens aperture at f/2 to blur both the foreground (see how her nose is a little fuzzy?) and background. After importing into Lightroom I dodged her eyes and left ear to lighten them, sharpened the area around her eyes, and finally added a slight vignette.

(Shot with the Nikon D300 using the 50mm f/1.8 lens; aperture-priority; aperture set at f/2, camera chose 1/320 second; ISO 400; center-weighted metering; +0.3 exposure compensation; normal JPG.)

Solvang Thursday at Carivintâs Winery

We arrived in Solvang, CA, last Thursday afternoon after a two-and-a-half-hour drive for the 7th annual West Coast Greyhound Gathering. After unloading our stuff in our Royal Copenhagen Inn hotel room and walking about the town a bit, we stopped by the Carivintâs winery before a special wine-tasting (just for the gathering) started at 6pm.

Carivintâs, as part of their way of doing business, donates a portion of their profits to animal shelters and support groups. For Greyt Legs (the non-profit organization that helps newly-retired greyhounds with leg injuries get needed medical care, and who also puts together the West Coast Greyhound Gathering) whippet-owner Paul Ramos (who is in the second picture) of Carivintâs created two special greyhound-labeled wines (which featured Tennile, one of the first greyhounds helped by Greyt Legs, on the back label).

A percentage of proceeds from those two wines would be donated to Greyt Legs. So if you are ever visiting Solvang, with or without your pups, pay them a visit -- they're wonderful.

Here are a few pictures taken during the wine-tasting:

(All photos: Nikon D300; 18-200mm zoom; SB-800 with diffusion cover and light bounced off the ceiling; auto or flash white balance; exposure compensation +1/3; normal JPG but for the wine bottle, which was shot in RAW. Note also about the bottle picture: flash mode was slow-sync to exposure the background properly. In most of the other pictures, the flash mode was the default.)

Remembering to check the camera before (and while) I photograph

Checking my camera to see how I have it set before I go photographing has saved me a lot of grief. But something I also need to do is to check it as I'm using it as well.

Case in point: Two days ago I went on an afternoon whalewatch cruise out of Redondo Beach, taking my Nikon D300 along with me. While we didn't see any Pacific gray whales during the three-hour-long cruise we did come across pods of several hundred common dolphin. I guessed I needed to add about +0.3 exposure compensation to lighten the dolphins since they'd be darker than the ocean if they jumped. I took over 150 pictures. When I previewed a few frames to see how they were coming out I noticed the majority of them were overexposed. Then I noticed that I had inadvertently set the exposure mode to center-weighted, rather than set to the usual matrix. Horrors! Fortunately I was able to compensate for the overexposure without looking too heavily post-processed.

So check your camera before you go, and while you are shooting. Here are a few frames from the cruise: