Beautiful Girl

My Cleo is a little exhausted by all the paparazzi!

I love everything about this picture. Taken with my macro lens, I love the DOF.

Balance...

The toy was balanced on her nose. When we tell her she can have it, the result is a flung toy that she has to chase!

Playtime!

Naptime

It's a Monday... on a Tuesday. The first day back after a long weekend is always hard. This is what I would rather be doing:

(No, this little girl is not spoiled at all!)

Random Saturday: Meet Cleo!

This is Cleo!

She is 7 months old and a ball of energy and fun. In this shot she decided to visit me (with a little human help in behind) to see what I was up to - I was looking at pictures of her! You can just see her two tiny paws sitting on top of the monitor.

I'm sure you will be subjected to much more Cleo in the months to come - assuming I can ever get my little girl to sit still long enough to pose! I have a lot of very blurry pictures of her.

Dog picture

To keep things balanced off with the cat picture from the other day, here's a picture of a puppy!

He was being tempted by a little piece of ham, which is what had him licking his chops! I love that I caught him with his tongue out, so cute!

Putting your photography skills to good use!

In combination with Monday's tips on how to take photos of pets for a formal session, here is the other end of the spectrum - how to take good photos of shelter animals. Those dogs that don't have a human who dotes on them and would love to pay to have their pup star in it's very own photo shoot.

Pup Fan recently attended a workshop to help photographers take better pictures of shelter dogs, and she kindly shared some of the most memorable points! Offer up your services to your own local shelter or rescue, or just use the tips to help you get better pictures of your own four-legged friends.

http://istillwantmorepuppies.blogspot.com/2011/11/lessons-from-second-chance-photos.html

Always a great way to stretch your skills is taking part in various challenges! I've posted many pictures from a couple of versions of the 30 Day Challenge, and here's another excellent one if you have a dog: The Daily Dog Challenge.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/dailydogchallenge/

I'm sure you could adapt many of the challenges to a non-pet circumstance as well, if you don't happen to have one of your own, or one you can borrow on a regular basis. For example, Monday's challenge was: "Make a monochrome photo with your dog today! Remember, monochrome means 'one color', and while often black, it doesn't have to be."


Good luck, and have fun!

(Taken in France, 2008.)

Happy pup

I chose not to crop this one, because I thought it wouldn't make a lot of sense with the context half-gone. I always find it a challenge to capture an animal looking "natural" - when the natural state is anything other than sleeping. Often you have to get them sitting or eating. Here I feel you can really see this little guy's spunk and energy and happiness.

I really wanted to take him home, but I settled for his picture, instead.