Adjacent to the chain-link fence that defines the back of the property there is a "barn". Above the door sill that leads into the barn there hangs a couple of rows of plastic kennel muzzles. (Kennel muzzles are placed over greyhound noses to protect their thin skin while they're out playing.) I have always liked the many colors that are used for the muzzles, and also how they appear in different kinds of light. I've photographed them before. The main problem is that even when I stood on the topmost step on the stairs that lead into the barn they were way over my head; in order to photograph them at their height I had to hold the camera above my head at arm's-length, aim in the muzzles' direction, and shoot blindly (using Live View on my camera won't help much here). And as I was using my 50mm it was kind of a crapshoot because at least with my wide-angle I know I could definitely get everything in. But I wasn't interested in "getting it all in."
I took a few pictures; this one came out the best:
It reminds me of a picture that a photographer friend of mine (hi, Rachel!) took of racing muzzles.
I haven't post-processed this picture at all.
I wanted to show perspective, and use a large aperture to show a shallow depth-of-field while focused on a particular muzzle. I set the focusing mode to closest-subject, hoping that most of the blue muzzle filled the frame. And while I used center-weighted metering here, I know that matrix-metering would've given me the same results (I tried).
(Shot with the Nikon D300 using the 50mm f/1.8 lens; aperture-priority, with aperture set to f/2; camera set shutter speed at 1/320 second at ISO 400; center-weighted metered; auto white balance; norrmal JPG.)
That is a really cool image! I love that idea and the DOF! The colors are fantastic.
ReplyDeletethere were a couple of pink ones hanging nearby. i was thinking of adding one of those to the picture but then i think it would've been a little too distracting for my taste.
DeleteI love all the colors, too. Somehow I always end up with pink. I like to think it's a sign that a dog with a pink muzzle is supposed to go home with me. :-)
ReplyDeletetwo greys can be better than having one. we'll always have at least one grey in our home, although two seems more likely.
DeleteI love muzzle pics. Such a greyhound specific item. I don't think they will ever put an articulating display on dSLRs. Sometimes it would come in handy.
ReplyDeletei think the nikon d5000 has an lcd display that can be rotated around and down.
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