Paisley’s Photo Shoot

Spent this past Sunday afternoon with this adorable little girl and her family. Can someone be any more photogenic than this? My strategy for this shoot was: no strategy. Just follow little Paisley around and see what happens. The result was an amazing little adventure all around the house, climbing different surfaces, discovering her favorite toys, and capturing the cutest little expressions.

Paisley is just gushing with life, joy, intelligence, energy, and curiosity. She has the most wonderful spirit I have ever seen in a child. The first shot I took of her that day I immediately showed to her. She understood right away what the camera was all about, and every so often during our time together, she’d stop, walk towards me, and make me turn my camera around to show her the result. It’s like she was my model and my art director =)

Kept the gear simple, using one lens the entire time: The new Nikkor AFS 50mm f/1.4G that my wife just bought me this past week. Great timing, as it’s the perfect lens for the job. If you’re a crop sensor shooter that likes taking portraits, especially in available light, the 50mm is a must-have. Brought in a camera-mounted flash for fill at times, and that was it!

Please See more images of the shoot on my website here: Paisley’s Photo Shoot

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Nikon D300s + Nikkor AFS 50mm f/1.4G

Suki’s Night Walks

I take Suki on shorter walks during lunch, but we usually go for longer strolls at night. This particular walk was a little more difficult for me because I was hauling some camera gear on my shoulder while out on the town, but I wanted to get a nice night shot of Suki for my 52 week Flickr project. The image above didn’t quite make the cut as my selection for week 3 of the project.  I really like this shot of her, but the fact that it’s ever-so-slightly front-focused bothers me.

Someone on Flickr asked me if I took my latest shot of her using available city light. I was glad he asked, because that’s exactly how I wanted it to look! At this spot, there wasn’t nearly enough ambient to get this kind of image, so I used a couple of carefully placed, gelled speedlights to help me out.

At times I hear photographers complain that they don’t like the look of flash and and so they shy away from using it. I say they’re missing out! Perhaps when they’re referring to “the look of flash,” they mean the harsh, bare, unflattering light that comes straight from camera axis. But “artificial” light can be modified: softened, directed, colored, and controlled to achieve a desired look. Using it creatively opens up endless photographic opportunities that simply wouldn’t be possible by relying solely on the sun or the crummy light radiating from a street lamp.

So get to know your flash! It can take your photography to the next level.

The Dog Park Greeter

Nikon D300s + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D at f/2.0 ISO200 1/500 Second

Suki is an extremely social and friendly dog, especially for a Shiba Inu. At the dog park, she has this tradition of being the first to personally greet every dog that enters the gate. Every time she sees someone new entering the outer gate, she runs over to the same exact spot and sits while the newcomer gets ready to come through the inner gate:

Nikon D300s + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D at f/1.8 ISO200 1/250 Second

This wasn’t always her custom. When she was younger she’d rush the new dog and start wrestling with him or her. Now she keeps sitting as the new dog moves toward her. As the newcomer comes closer, she assumes a more playful stance:

Nikon D300s + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D at f/1.8 ISO200 1/250 Second

Once they meet, Suki determines how social/anti-social the other dog is, and they usually end up running together and wrestling for a bit, that is, until the next dog begins to enter and Suki runs back to her “greeting spot.”

In other news, my latest Flickr photo appeared on Flickr’s Explore front page. Pretty cool!

click above to go to the image on flickr

This shot of the Bay Bridge was taken a couple months ago, but I wasn’t satisfied with the final result. I spent some time the other night re-interpreting the RAW file and finally came up with something I was happy with. I guess my Flickr contacts approved of it as well!

I’m not sure how the above images appear to you unfortunately. They appear washed out and stripped of contrast in Firefox, Chrome, and Safari. Sigh…

**update**

I finally figured out why these images were appearing different on my posts and am in the process of editing my affected blog posts one by one!