Tuesday, May 1, 2012

A boy and his puppy

Happy May!

When we first brought Jasper home, he was only a few months old. Our son was only a bit over 1 year old. Jasper immediately found a liking to our son since our son was small, on the ground a lot, dropped food, and had food on him at all times. Jasper loved to lick our son's face and toes. Our son didn't know what to make of him back then.



These days, their fondness of each other grows daily. Jasper does over-lick our son, but our son certainly doesn't take it lying down. Ok, maybe sometimes he's lying down, but he gets back up! All photos below were taken with the following settings: Canon T1i | Manual | 50mm | ISO 200 | f/3.2 | 1/125 sec | SpeedLite 380EX

Pinned Getting back up

Look at Jasper's tongue! He's ready to strike!

Ready to strike Gotcha

It's funny when our son protests the offense because he's just as guilty!

Nooooo Gotcha back, puppy

Here's some tips to get sharper photos than mine above, especially if you're trying to capture fast moving subjects:
  • If you have an external flash, like my SpeedLite 380EX, use it. The flash will freeze the action. If you only have the pop-up one included with your camera, check out these accessories from Photojojo (DIY, flash bounce).
  • When using my SpeedLite, my camera doesn't take photos at speeds higher than 1/200 sec. Something about how fast the SpeedLite can fire. So I could have increased my shutter speed above 1/125 sec.
  • Since both subjects are moving quickly, I could have increased my f-stop above f/3.2, like to f/4.0 or f/5.0. The increase in f-stop means more of the photo will be in focus (less blurry background (or bokeh) effect).

Remember, an increase in shutter speed will reduce the amount of light that reaches the camera sensor. An increase in f-stop will as well. To compensate, I'd have to increase my ISO.

Shutter speed, f-stop (or aperture), and ISO are the keys to your desired exposure. They work in unison, and a change in one affects how much light is captured. A change in one probably means you need to change the other settings. Check out this post from Bubbly Nature Creations that has a shiny diagram to illustrate this.

Lastly, I shoot in manual but only after becoming familiar with the other most-used modes, "aperture priority" and "shutter speed priority". Many pro photographers shoot in "aperture priority", which means they select their ISO and aperture (or f-stop) and let the camera select the shutter speed. Pro photographers like to control the depth of field of their photos, which means getting a blurry background or not. Portraits -- yes for blurry! Landscapes -- not so much! Fashion -- also, not so much since most of the outfit and model should be in focus.

As always, comments/critiques are always welcome on my photos! My feelings won't be hurt, I promise! Just be gentle :).

Show some love. Leave a comment below and I'll definitely respond!
-----------------------
Follow this blog!
RSS | Facebook | Twitter | Email | Bloglovin'
-----------------------
Originally posted at expandng.com - A boy and his puppy

14 comments:

  1. youru photos are amazing! you've captured both little j and jasper amazingly... i am taking notes as i read your photography posts--they're really helpful. it's amazing to see little j have so much fu with jasper!

    hope you have a great day, l!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think these are great tips you provided Lisa. I think for shooting Fashion shoots this weekend 4 or 5 aperture is probably best for a full body shot. My mom selected 10 and 11 on some and the back ground isn't really blurry at all, you'll see that in today's photos. I am still not sure what is the best ISO to select, yesterday's ISO was 800 which was indoor, today I think the ISO is 1600. Then there is the white balance, do you adjust that as well? How about the exposure, do you dial up or down the bright and darkness? I am overthinking this ahhh!

    ReplyDelete
  3. That is the cutest photo shoot ever!!! I think you did an amazing job and its great you have the external flash... something I want to get, but just haven't been able to yet! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. So so cute! I bet they have so much fun together. They must keep you on your toes.

    ReplyDelete
  5. HAHA. Oh Jasper! LOL

    I love your photos. Thanks for those tips. As you know, I have a hard time with taking movement (or it's also called sport/action) photos. I can't wait to get a DSLR. I've been checking craiglist every three days to see if there is a camera I like.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Can I tell you how jealous I am that you found the perfect yellow to paint your stairwell?! When I owned a loft with exposed brick and timber, I really wanted that yellow, but everything I found was either too pale or too Crayola. I wound up painting my huge wall (15 foot ceilings) a chocolate brown instead. That is what this post was about, right?! =)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love that Jasper and J have so much fun together. My dogs are old and really want nothing to do with my kids. :-( Great pics!

    ReplyDelete
  8. So, so CUTE! Love baby and animal photos - it's like the best of both worlds. Our son, V, is allergic so our cat now lives in the basement. No worries, though. We felt so guilty, we had it partially finished for her :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I have the same breed of dog. Can you tell me how you keep tear stains away? We used to use angel eyes and it worked but the stain was never completely gone. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope you receive my response, since I don't have an email for you. We've actually found that giving them filtered water to drink helps a bunch to prevent the stains. We just clean their eyes with a cotton ball and water. Our vet also told us to feed them quality food. They eat natural Blue Buffalo. Hope this helps!

      Delete
    2. Thanks, Lisa! I naver heard of this brand of dog food, but we will try to see if it helps. We do give him filtered water to drink on a daily basis though.

      I have a son too who is turning 1 in two weeks. I hope someday soon our baby and our puppy can start playing together. Right now, the baby just wants to crawl to the dog and grab his tail. It's funny for us to watch, but I don't think the dog appreciates it very much. :)

      Delete
    3. Our son definitely only wanted to pull the puppy's tail before he turned 1. We are trying to reinforce "gentle" with both him and the puppy ;). No, the dog doesn't appreciate that :P! Hope you find a solution to that tear stain problem! The dog food helps but doesn't completely eliminate the stains. Thanks for reading!

      Delete
  10. I love your photo shoot they both look happy, very happy and I love the yellow on your staircase, so beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I don't know if my message will get lost in the midst of all the comments you get, but I just want to say that I love the photos of Jacob playing with Jasper. It's awesome that they play well and Jasper knows not to nibble too hard. By the way, yes, I thought Yoshi has a licking problem, but Japser's licking problem is like 10 times worse! haha

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for leaving a comment (or two). If your email address is available on your Blogger profile or blog, then we'll respond that way. If not, we'll respond right here in the comments, so be sure to subscribe to comments :).

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...