Howl At The Moon

Happy Slider Sunday!

The Wilder Side of Henry

Dog Blog Post #1882

It was hot, and to be honest, neither dog was Feeling Frisky.

Even Zachary phoned in the Cookie Catching.

Photography Assignment

Photoshop to the rescue!

After playing with various filters, I hit on the "Chalk and Charcoal" filter, which created an interesting B&W grainy backlit look that made me think of a wolf howling at the moon.

So I took that, duplicated the layer and used Linear Dodge (Add) to blend it back with itself, basically making the darks darker and the whites whiter.

Back in Lightroom, I ran my favorite combination of sliders (my own preset) to create a more contrasted, clarified, etc. image.

Finally, I turned it blue - just because.


Our Daily Challenge - Aug 22, 2015 - "Feeling Frisky"

Daily Dog Challenge 1391. "Fun Day!"

The Making Of

The Original

Fresh from Photoshop with just a bit more Contrast added

Runner Up

Not bad, but more Fearsome or Fearful than Frisky

Uh... No

Henry - Missing Cookies

Really Zachary? 

Yeah... it was that kind of shoot.

Zachary: "Too Hot"

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Personal Space

Alright, tonight's an easy shoot.

Everybody down...

Zachary: "Down!"

... and get nice and cozy.

Henry, hurry up...

Zachary: "Up!"
Henry: "Down."

No, Zachary... not GET up.

Zachary, down!

(Insert Zachary jumping off the sofa)

Get back up here.

(Insert Henry sitting up as Zachary leaps back up on the sofa).

Down!

(Lather, Rinse, Repeat)

Zachary-Stay-Henry-Down!

Henry: "But you said UP, Momma."
Zachary: "She definitely said DOWN."

STAY RIGHT THERE!!!

Henry: "What set her off?"
Zachary: "Who knows."

"Zzzzzzz"

I'm exhausted.

Dog Blog Post #1879

If you come to my house, you quickly discover You're Going To Need A Bigger lap, as Golden Retrievers have no concept of Personal Space.

Photography Assignment

Daily Dog Challenge 1388. "You're Going To Need A Bigger __________"

Our Daily Challenge - Aug 19, 2015 - "Personal Space"

Good grief this should have been an easy shoot, but the boys - who not 10 minutes before had been fast asleep on this very lap (mine) - were acting like a pair of preschoolers on Christmas Picture day.

And, of course, now they are fast asleep again.

Anyway, I pushed a few sliders because otherwise these were just boring shots.

Now they are saturated, clarified, sharpened, grained, and contrasted... boring shots.

:)

The Original for the last shot above

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

OSHA Violation

Zachary was perfectly happy playing Catching Cookies…

Zachary: "Snap!"

Zachary: "Snap!"

Zachary: "Snap!"

Zachary: "Gulp!"

Henry might have been as well, had he actually been able to CATCH the Cookies.

Henry: "Ooops!"

Henry: "Whoops…"

Now, while I'll be the first to admit I'm a terrible pitcher, I'm pretty sure I'm no WORSE for Henry than for Zachary.

Just sayin'...

Dog Blog Post #1483

I like the Contrast between Zachary's very still body and his very active face.

You can also see that over his three different cookie catching pictures plus the gulp shot (a total of four cookies) his body barely moves.

He is a Master of Cookie Catching, rarely missing despite being saddled with a very poor pitcher (that would be me.)

Henry?

Have I mentioned that Henry is really, really sweet?

Photography Assignment

Our Daily Challenge - Jul 19, 2014 - "Contrast"

Daily Dog Challenge 991. "Enjoy Yourself"

Apparently, the nightly Bitey-Face game was canceled due to excessive heat (75F in the house and much hotter outside) leaving me to improvise.

Would have been nice if they'd given me some warning.

Too Hot, Momma

Henry is officially lodging a complaint with OSHA…

Henry: "Melting."

… for inhumane working conditions, despite my having dropped the temperature to 74F prior to starting the shoot and the A/C running the entire time.

Silly me, what I was thinking.

These are Highland Dogs!

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Spooky Thing (continued)

Henry: "Momma? I think the Spooky Thing is under the sofa."

You're my Brave Henry - take a look.

Henry: "Oh, Spooky Thing…"

Henry: "Brave, but not stupid. Hey, Zachary!"

Zachary: "There is NOTHING under the sofa."

Zachary: (sniff sniff sniiiiiiiiiiiff)

Dog Blog Post #1415

Looks the boys have yesterday's Spooky Thing trapped under the sofa!

Photography Assignment

Our Daily Challenge - May 12 2014 - "Texture"

Daily Dog Challenge 924 "Behind"

Zachary: "Why is there a puddle of drool under the sofa?"

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Fishing for Cookies

Henry: "Now THAT's a bowl of water!"

Henry: (slurp gulp slurp gulp)

Henry: "Ahh…."

Dog Blog Post #1406

I wish I could say that Henry is normally a neat drinker, but I can't.

The boy looks like a Baleen Whale draining its pouch every time he leaves a water bowl.

It's as if he takes in one more mouthful of water than he needs and then lets it all drain out as he walks away from the bowl.

Photography Assignment

Our Daily Challenge - May 3 2014 - "Wet"

Daily Dog Challenge 915. "It's In The Details"

While the shoot was staged (I was tossing Cookies in the bowl) the fact he is a drinking slob isn't, and I really liked that I captured that part of the Real Henry.

Alas, Henry went first (as he always does) for the shoot, and in hindsight I wish I had set the camera up a bit differently. Same for the timing of the shots.

I applied what I'd learned to Zachary's shoot (below) but the boy isn't nearly as big as slob as Henry is.

See "timing" comment above if you think the shots show otherwise. :)

I might have to repeat this shoot some time, as the boys enjoyed it and there is definitely room for improvement.

Mr. Neatness…

Zachary: "Neatly… neatly…"

I love how you can see his whiskers pulled forward to "find" the Cookie.

(If you are really curious, you click on the image to get to the original, which can be zoomed.)

Zachary: "Delicately… delicately…"

Uh, Zachary?

The point of the shoot is to see you guys making a mess in the water.

Zachary: "Like..."

Zachary: "This?"

In Zachary's defense, he actually is a pretty neat drinker - when I'm not dropping Cookies in the water bowl, that is.


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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

A Touch of Green

Henry: "What are you looking at, Uncle Zachary?"

(silence)

Henry: "He he he"

Dog Blog Post #1357

Two dogs, wearing a A Touch of Green peering Inside a basket.

Photography Assignment

Daily Dog Challenge 866. "A Touch of Green"


Our Daily Challenge - March 21, 2014 - "Inside"

Henry: "I think Momma's brain ran out of Batteries today."

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Happy Easter

Dog Blog Post #650: If ever a shot of mine begged for a caption, it would be the one above!

No surprise on today's topics. From Daily Dog Challenge we had...

160. Easter

PLUS

Our Daily Challenge - April 8, 2012 - "Hidden"

AND

112 Pictures in 2012 - "11. Headwear"

The boys seemed to enjoy today's shoot even more than usual, although I can't say for sure exactly why.

Perhaps the cookies flowed a bit easier, or they got a kick out seeing each other in bunny ears - hard to say.

I know I got a kick out of the bunny ears!

For the shot up top: Yes, Zachary knows how to Bow, although I usually cue it from in front if him, which wasn't going to work with this setup.

But a few cookies under the table and a supportive hand under his waist the first time to show him what I wanted, and he obliged me with all the Bow shots I needed. (No, I didn't crop myself out of the shot, he was bowing on his own, but the black fabric didn't go quite far enough to the left - see the shot further down.)

Don't worry - there was the obligatory bit of mischief...

Would YOU trust those smiles?

Ok... what you are two plotting?

What do you mean you can't find your motivation??? It's right under the table!

I left the shot above cropped large since (a) Zachary was a big far to the left to make a good crop and (b) folks occasionally ask what my setup is and this shows it.

The stretchy black velvet is butterfly clipped over a pair of butterfly-clipped-together cardboard tri-fold backboards, which are raised about a foot off the ground and clipped to the ex-pen.

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© 2011 BZ Training - All Rights Reserved

My Bowl

Dog Blog Post #628: For the Daily Dog Challenge, we had...

136. My Bowl - Does your dog eat from fine china? Stainless steel? Something altogether different? Show us your dog's bowl today!

Now, the boys enjoy their meals from a nice sturdy set of...

112 Pictures in 2012 - "#25 - Crockery, China or Pottery"

… ceramic bowls, which are easy to keep clean and heavy enough so they stay put.

Like most dogs, they think near their bowls is...

Our Daily Challenge - "A Nice Place to Sit"

… as you just never know when food might be dropped into them.

Alas, there is…

Scavenge Challenge March 2012 - "2. Show absence. Take a picture of something which isn't there."

… nothing in them at the moment.

Awww….

(Happily, that changed just as soon as I snapped the picture!)

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© 2011 BZ Training - All Rights Reserved

It's the Journey

Dog Blog Post #468: The last Daily Shoot assignment:

Thursday: For the last Daily Shoot assignment, make a photograph today that is important to you. One that says what you want to say.

What do I want to say?

Don't stop? Keep going? Now what do I do?

.... but those thoughts would never do.

The Daily Shoot thoughtfully provided a way to look at all your tweeted shots, as thumbnails, on pages of 30 images each. Last night I screen captured them - a memento, of sorts.

For the today's shoot, I printed out all 9 pages, taped some together into larger sheets, and taped those to my fabric covered backboard. It's probably one of the most boring shots I've ever uploaded to the Daily Shoot - but per the assignment, this one was for me.

... and the world turns, and life moves on...

The shot up top marks my FIRST shot for 111 pictures in 2011 - #7 Memories - as was also uploaded to Our Daily Challenge (ODC) for "Yesterday/Yesteryear", as it represents 265 Yesterdays.

And thus beings a new page...

“Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.” -- Greg Anderson

Editor's Note: Notice anything about the images? When I actually looked at the thumbnails, I discovered I had a few missing tweets, mostly at the very beginning, either because I uploaded the shots to flickr without tweeting, or simply mis-tweeted. When I fixed that, it brought my total (before today) to 265 shots in 267 days. In a rush, I only reprinted the last page, as that's the one that had most of the missing tweets. That's why the count at the top of that one is different than the rest. Somewhere in the middle of all those images is one more missing shot due to a mistweet, which I also fixed, which is why the last picture on page 8 is the same as the first on page 9.

© 2011 BZ Training - All Rights Reserved