More of the Winter Sun and Some Studio Fun

One of the nice things about the weekend is that I'm home in the middle of the day when the backyard isn't yet in shadows.

 

Probably my favorite shot of the day!

I also spent a little time re-arranging the studio so I could have a little more space.  I'm not completely done with the re-arranging, but I'll be happy when I have it all sorted out.

Winter Sun

I got a bunch of photos today, many of which I will post tomorrow, but here are a couple of my favorites.  I just love the winter sun - bright but not so high in the sky that it flattens everything out.

A Little of This, A Little of That

In preparation for my shelter shoots (which will start next week), I have been playing around with different techniques with the iTTL flash.  This time I didn't use any modifier and bounced the flash off the ceiling.  While it gave me some interesting results, it's not what I'm looking for with shelter animals.  I have to look at the ceiling in the 'studio' because the colors are warmer than I wanted, and I had to do a bunch of post-processing.  I think next time I'll try using a modifier and bouncing the flash off the ceiling and see how that goes.  Even so, these are kind of 'artsy' and could look interesting on the wall.

Yes, I am still striving to get The Perfect shot of the girls together.

A little orange-y.  I could have tweaked it more, but I didn't.  (Obviously!)

This was a preset I picked up somewhere.  Again, a little orange-y, but I like the eyes.

Momma, when are you going to actually give me that treat and now just keep showing it to me?!?

Pretty, pretty girl!

Yep, another preset.  I actually think this would look pretty cool as a large print - like a 20x25

Of course, there was also some frisbee action.

Frisbee Hog.

Surprise, Surprise!

More frisbee photos.  Because, well, I can, and that seems as good a reason as any.

Yet More Frisbee Photos

We got A TON of snow yesterday, which has made for some entertaining frisbee action photos.  This is probably my favorite sequence of the entire snow storm/aftermath.  Abby is nothing if not the picture of grace.... Heheh.

Now that is dedication!  Heheh!

Heheh.  Seriously, that second photo just kills me!  But I promised Abby I wouldn't just post embarrassing photos of her on the interwebs without also posting some dignified ones.

You think this makes up for the face plant photo? We'll see about that....

Fi, on the other hand, managed to have fun without embarrassing herself...

And as the sun was setting, Gary suggested I try to get a photo of the sky and the snow.  Had I been a little faster with the tripod and getting things set up, this would have been more red and less purple, but you get the idea...  Oh, and yeah, we got a lot of snow!

Snow Day

Luckily, I have recovered from the bubonic plague; I'm still a little tired, but much better than I was over the weekend.  However, taking the day off was definitely the right call - not only did I need the rest, but we got WAY more snow than predicted, and it was wet, heavy, slippery stuff (I'd say we got at least 14 inches if not more).  Parley's Canyon (the big canyon between Park City and Salt Lake) was restricted to 4x4s and car/trucks with chains only.  Given then Parley's is part of I-80, the major east-west thruway in this part of the country, the travel restrictions meant the roads were pretty nasty.

Anyhoo, I was at home with the girls today, and we did a Donner Party walkie around noon; it was a good thing the girls are well-fed as I slipped twice on the ice under the snow  (soft falls both times - no harm, no foul).   I took the girls out for some frisbee action later in the afternoon and it was still snowing quite hard, so I had to use the hood on my camera.  The hood is great for keeping everything dry, but the clear plastic section for viewing the screen and eye-piece is a bit tough to see through clearly, so I'm never 100% certain where my focus point is.

But we had fun, the camera stayed dry (which is more than I can say for the girls and myself), and the girls picked up enough snow on their leggies to leave puddles of meltwater throughout the house!

 

 

Yep, I kinda missed the centering here...

Back to the grind tomorrow....