Clearly, I Am Easily Amused

I was going to try some more outdoor low-light with flash shots today, but the girls decided they'd rather play with the squeaky balls that are strewn about the house.  And who am I to deny the girls squeaky balls (or anything else, for that matter)?

Besides, I'm easily amused and the squeaky ball photos just crack me up.  I could seriously see making a photo book of these.  It might not be Underwater Dogs, but I still love these photos!  I could take them all day.  And apparently, Fi and Abby would be fine with that, too.

For some reason, blogger lightens some of these photos, and I don't know how to fix it...  Some of these have quite a bit more shadow that what you see here...

This is my personal favorite of the day!  I love the look on her face~

Abby is really quick to catch the ball and it's hard to get the ball in mid-air with her.

Fi does her Gene Simmons impersonation!

Yay!  One where Abby's jaws aren't clamped shut yet!

This was one of those photos that is quite a bit darker in Lightroom.  Go figure...

Both going for the ball and no bitey-face.  Good thing I have a picture of this, as it will likely never happen again!

Not the sharpest photo, but another one where Abby doesn't already have the squeaky toy firmly in her jaws.

Fi's always got perfect technique!

Obviously wildly back-lit, but I really like the effect. I'll have to try this on purpose some time!

Day 90/365.

A Man On A Fast Horse....

No, this post has nothing to do with men or horses, fast or otherwise.  The girls got their haircuts today, and while they aren't perfect, as my grandmother used to say, a man on a fast horse wouldn't notice.  Of course, she would also say that a blind man would be glad to see it.  Another family favorite from our years in Saudi Arabia is, only Allah is perfect.  So keeping all those statements in mind, the girls are groomed.

And if nothing else the girls are less shaggy (and thus less prone to getting hot) than they were at the start of the day.

 

With the head shots, you can't see the hairy toes!

Of course, also got in a little squeaky-ball time after the haircuts and the 'glamour shots'.

I think this is what the Brits call 'argy-bargy'.

Dad, this last photo is for you; this is the set-up I used today for all the pictures - two flashes, the taller stand with the umbrella and the shorter stand with the soft box, both flashes were on half power. (Needless to say, I had the flashes go off on purpose - I got some photos where the flashes were off and used the on-camera flash, but it wasn't as cool looking!) For the squeaky ball photos, I have the two stands farther apart and I stand between them with the dogs facing me, so when the flashes go off they are 'lit up'.

Patient Dog patiently awaits treats.

Day 89/365.

Monochrome

Or what the rest of the world calls black and white...  I was busy running errands and doing stuff around the house, so not a lot of time for photos, but I thought I'd get a 'monochrome' shot, just for kicks.

Fi surveying the yard and the street for interlopers.

Day 88/365.

Inside and Out

Or, Variations on a theme.

Outside...

Inside...

Heehee.  This photo just makes me laugh - it's part baby bird and part Great White Shark!

As an aside, these indoor ball shots definitely come out better in the living room where there is more open space and the room looks black.

Day 87/365.

More Fun with an Off-Camera Flash

In spite of today's snow, my allergies seem to have gotten the better of me today, so only a few photos from today's attempt.  I was trying to use the flash to 'highlight' the girls outside in gloomy conditions, but I wasn't very successful.  I think I need to read that section in my 'Off Camera Flash' book again.

This one actually wasn't too bad.  I think I needed it to be a bit darker out and use both flashes to actually get the bright effect I was hoping for.

The cool thing is that this looks like natural lighting (it was too dark out, even with the 'fast lens' to get something like this in natural light), but again, not what I was hoping for.  I don't know why my model is looking sulky here, BTW.  She was well-rewarded for her efforts!

And since I still had treats when we came back inside, I got a couple 'dramatic' photos of the girls.

Day 86/365.

Space Invaders!

I was so enamored with the results of yesterday's photo shoot that I thought I'd try it again today.  I changed it up a bit by using two flashes (rather than the one of yesterday) and both had small soft boxes on them (yesterday it was just the raw flash).

I am really, really, really pleased with the photos I got today.  The extra lighting definitely helped, as did using the soft boxes to diffuse the flash so it wasn't quite so harsh.  And the photos just crack me up!  Fi LOVES this inside catch game, and was more than happy to indulge my desire to get a bunch of photos.  Which was a good thing, when I looked at the first couple of photos on the camera and saw this among them:

It looks like Fi is watching an asteroid flying in!

Pleased with what I saw on the little screen on the camera (yes, instant feedback is great!), I took a bunch more.

I love how Abby is watching the ball, too.

This looks like Abby is watching the moon.

And I got some really fun catches:

Definite Jaws of Doom!

Photos like these are why I want to continue to work on my photography - it's fun for me to be able to capture the girls having fun!

Day 85/365.

Jaws of Doom

I don't want the girls to fall in the trap of sitting and posing every time I break out the camera (okay, I might be a little late on that, but better late than never...), and I read something that suggested doing different things when I break out the camera, so I don't immediately get the sit-look-at-the-camera-and-wag-the-tail pose all the time *yes, Abby, I'm looking at you*.  So today I got out some stuffed toys, used a bare flash and hoped for the best.

I got Jaws of Doom!!!  (That's a good thing, by the way!)

"Yours?"  "Nope!  Yours!"

"Mmmrph!"  translation: Caught It!

Good times!

Day 84/365.