Photographer's Best Friend: tips for successful dog photography

Way back in my introductory post, I mentioned one of my favorite subjects: dogs. Animals in general offer images of playfulness, gentleness, and unguarded enthusiasm that is hard to find in humans! For me, shooting dogs (with a camera!) is a way to give back by helping showcase adoptable dogs for a local rescue. It is also a blast to incorporate animal companions in family images. There are a few things to keep in mind that make a huge difference in capturing successful images of dogs in any situation.

1. Make ridiculous sounds. If you want to get that cock-eyed, inquisitive head tilt with eyes looking at the lens, you're probably going to have to make a fool of yourself. The sounds I make vary from a high-pitched trilling to a rather spot-on duck quack, if I do say so myself. Whistling, smooching, and yelping have all come in handy.

Patrick's portrait for Peace for Pits, Inc. dog rescue.

2. Bribe, bribe, bribe. Few things get a dog's attention like a tasty treat or squeaky toy. Bring a few along or have the handler do so and hold them behind your head to get a great portrait.

3. Shoot in shutter priority. While manual mode is my go-to in most situations, a fast-moving dog in mixed lighting calls for continuous focus and shutter priority to keep those eyes in sharp focus! Just be sure to recalibrate your settings when going from dark to light or vice versa.

4. Get low. Once you've got that perfect portrait, get down at the dog's level, or even lower, for a more playful perspective.

Patrick, taken while flat on the grass!

Have any tips for mastering a dog (or other furry friend) session? Leave a comment or head over to the Google+ community page to share!

-Friday Ambassador

Overcoming Yourself

 Matthew at Lake Tahoe, (Thursday Ambassador) ©MOKOPhoto 2013

Prior to PH 123, the only experience I had taking photographs of people was shooting my husband.  I found the thought of shooting anyone else horrifying. I am not certain why.  It could possibly have something to do with me being very socially awkward...I don't do well with people, and never have.

I have always been in love with nature, and fascinated by the act of capturing a moment of nature in time.  The world is ever-changing, and no two shots in nature are the same.  They may look the same, but there is always something different....

  Back on point, there was an assignment in PH 123 which required I shoot three different people, and they could not be anyone living in my home.  Me shooting my husband went out the window.  I had no idea what I was going to do.  Luckily, he is a problem solver, and he hates to see me upset.  He had a plan.

At work, I was sitting at my computer when I saw my husband walking from across the street with two of our occupants.  Bless his heart, he had asked them if I could shoot them for my assignment, and they happily said yes. I shot them in my office, and out front on a bench.  The images turned out great considering it was my first time.

Angel, (Thursday Ambassador) ©MOKOPhoto 2013

I needed one more person, so I went to my friend Bev's to see if I could shoot her, and she decided to ask her wonderful son Angel if I could shoot him.  He is such a great kid, and gladly said yes.  Once again, I surprised myself.  All the images turned out well, though all needed a few adjustments.

I stepped outside my comfort zone for that assignment. I broke myself into  shooting people with that assignment.  I am forever grateful, because I know that it wont be so frightening next time.  The pictures weren't perfect, but it was an awesome learning experience.  I encourage all other students to step outside your comfort zone.  Who knows, I may one day only shoot portraits instead of  working for NatGeo, which is my current goal. I will obviously need much more practice, but nothing is impossible. It never is.

Photojournalism with a Twist and a Vape

Good Morning Everyone and Happy Sunday,  I know its  been a while since my last blog, but my current class of Intro to Photojournalism and some other obligations have been putting me through the ringer. Today's blog won't be a  long one and I apologize about that, but I wanted to share with everyone some things I have been working on. Within the last two months I had quit smoking, thanks a few wonderful people in my life. This opened up a whole new area to photograph. Its called Vaping or e-cigs... Call it what you want it saved my life and thousands of others.

I had the opportunity to attended a Vape meet at Liberty Vapor in Phoenixville, PA as part of my photojournalism class and Vapor myself, I found that everywhere in the vaping community there are people willing to help enhance your own personal creativity. Below are some of the photos that I took for my final assignment.

You can check out Liberty Vapor at www.Libertyvapor.net if you dont live in the Phoenixville area or stop in they would love to help you take that next step.

Photos by Wayne Salat

Photos by Wayne Salat

Photos by Wayne Salat

Photos by Wayne Salat

Photos by Wayne Salat

Again if you have any comments or questions please feel free to ask.

Enjoy Your Sunday and Photograph Something Everyday!

Sunday Ambassador~ Wayne

Location.. Location.. Location...

Good Morning Everyone and Happy Sunday... These weeks seem to be flying by especially when you are in a class that you really enjoy. This week I wanted to touch on a topic that came into play for a current assignment in Photographic Design. The topic is Location.... Now depending on what you're planning on photographing will depend on the Location... but not every location is the right fit.  Sometimes the studio is the best place to create your magic. The one assignment that comes to mind was from this past week was Audio Interpretation—Storytelling.  

 We are all students and we are all still learning, but sometimes you need to think outside the box for your assignments.   I chose a song by R.E.M: “it’s the end of the world as we know it” (but I feel fine).  There are so many different views on how a photographer could shoot this, but you have to incorporate everything about the song into one image. This isn't easy. I had scouted a few places and I ended up back at a place where I have photographed before. It’s called the Philadelphia Coal Pier; it’s been abandoned for years and has graffiti all over the remaining walls. This was the best place; I got all my ducks in a row and set up my shoot.  The challenge for this type of assignment is that you really need use symbolism to get the message across and not be so literal about it. Again thinking outside the box this was the direction I decided to go. I could have chosen several different locations.

Some really cool locations came to mind and they will be done, but for this assignment and for the "shock value", this location worked the best for me. If I had done this in a playground or in a studio I don’t feel that the impact or the message would have gotten across.  I don’t mean to be long winded today, but I have so many ideas and well my… ADD is kicking in… so just remember when you’re planning a photo shoot, take your time and choose the best location that will give the viewer the best possible vision of what you want your images to portray, this way you will create a long lasting memory in that persons mind and they will remember you and your work. 

Below are a few photos that I took for this assignment:

 Photos by Wayne Salat of Flash Mob Photography Network

 Photos by Wayne Salat of Flash Mob Photography Network

 Photos by Wayne Salat of Flash Mob Photography Network

 Photos by Wayne Salat of Flash Mob Photography Network

Photos by Wayne Salat of Flash Mob Photography Network

Again if you have any comments or questions please feel free to ask.

Enjoy Your Sunday and Photograph Something Everyday!

Sunday Ambassador~ Wayne

Increasing your portfolio without breaking the bank or paying out of pocket.

Good Morning and Happy Sunday Everyone! Today I wanted to talk about a great experience that I had last weekend. I recently joined a group called the Philadelphia Glamour Photography Group on Meetup.com. I joined at a time when they were just about to have their huge meet up that they have every year at Riddley Creek State Park, in Media, PA. The meet up was on a Sunday, close to 160 Models, Photographer's and MUA's showed up.  This whole thing was new to me, I was a bit overwhelmed as I didn't know any of the member's yet, but I did go with a friend, her boyfriend and her kids. That made it a bit easier when they arrived. Other than being overwhelmed, I was really taken back, by how inviting, accepting and friendly everyone was. They had a small ceremony for one of the members that  had recently passed and had planted a tree in his honor. This was very moving, being able to be a part of this was truly amazing.

Now on to my point... Many of us want to increase our portfolio, but you don't want to have to pay a model or you may not have the money. This meet up was free to everyone involved. The MUA's were paid for their work, understandable as they need to replace their makeup. Models brought many different outfits and then it was like a feeding frenzy. Models changing outfits, changing locations several times during the day. All with over a 60 or so different photographers asking them to do different things. Every model will get copies of their photographs, usually in digital form. (I'm assuming), but this was an opportunity to really expand your portfolio with several different models with different looks and not breaking your bank or paying out of pocket. There are many other groups that do similar meetups, some charge depending on the event, but I suggest that you take a look at this option and find  a group in your area or even start one of your own. So get out of your comfort zone and start taking a chance!  I did and I will never regret it.

Below are some of the photos I took during this meet up.

  Photos taken by Wayne Salat of Flash Mob Photography Network

  Photos taken by Wayne Salat of Flash Mob Photography Network

  

                                                      

   Photos taken by Wayne Salat of Flash Mob Photography Network

                                                              

Photos taken by Wayne Salat of Flash Mob Photography Network

Enjoy Your Sunday and Photograph Something Everyday!

Sunday Ambassador~ Wayne

Stop taking pictures of your kids...seriously

OK, don't actually stop taking pictures of your kids, they're only young once, just stop using them as models for class.  Get out of your comfort zone!  I know it sounds terrifying, right?  It is.  I'm not even going to try to convince you that it isn't.  I mean that's why it's called the comfort zone... because that is where we feel most comfortable.  It's different for each of us.  I prefer to shoot portraits, lit with strobes either in studio or on location.  Natural light?  Forget it.  Out of my comfort zone.  Still life...out of my comfort zone.  See the pattern?  We all do it to some degree and we need to stop if we are going to grow as photographers.

When I first started classes I had no idea what I wanted to shoot when I grow up.  And there are days where I still don't know for sure what I want to shoot.  I have, however, been exposed to so many things that I never considered 3 years ago.  One of my first classes was "Drawing - ART 1010" or something like that.  I hated it.  With a passion, I mean seriously, I use a camera for a reason.  But now, 3 years later I understand that it wasn't about becoming the next DaVinci, it was about learning something new.  In the case of that class, it was light and shadow and as a side benefit, now that I use a Wacom Intuos Tablet when editing, some of those drawing techniques really come in handy now.  The point is, I was forced out of my comfort zone and I am a better student and photographer because of it.

I have been in classes with plenty of other people that pitch a fit in the classroom... "well, I'm a nature photographer so I don't do well with people" and "I'm a natural light photographer so I don't really need to learn how to use these lights" and so on.  Guess what, those people did not do very well in those classes or assignments and it showed in their final projects.  The people that were not afraid to go out and learn something new, even do something that made them uncomfortable, without making excuses really did the best in my opinion.

Speaking of going out of comfort zones, when I took Time Based Media, I was not looking forward to it. Not one bit.  Create a 90 second video?  Storyboard it?  Work with audio?  You gotta be kidding me?  I tried my best to go into it with an open mind and I was very pleased with the results.  And it opened my eyes to a whole new world of opportunities for me.  (And yes that means I have a short film brewing in the back of my brain somewhere).

Bottom line, be open minded and get out of your comfort zone!



Athlete Profile: Eric Dasher from Mike Krogemann on Vimeo.