More Adorable-ness

 Meet Chunk.  I dare you to look at this face without smiling.  If you are ever in need of a pick-me-up, Pug puppies are the way to go.  I thought his leash was perfect --- it says "Bad to the Bone".

 

Adorable

 

Friendswood Animal Advocates had an Adoption Event at Gulf Coast Equine and Pet on FM 2351 last Saturday.  I took pet portraits again, but this time it was outside.  The owner of Gulf Coast has been very supportive of my animal advocacy group and allowed us to use his Fall display as a backdrop and to bring some animals that are being fostered and are in need of adoption.  I met some great people, even some with 2 legs, and had a good time visiting and photographing.  This little girl came by with her great grandparents, without a pet actually but someone had this darling Pekinese puppy and let us borrow him.

 

 

 

This great Fall display is out in full sun in the pumpkin patch so we put up a white awning for shade.  However, the sun was still coming in around the tent top so I used a large brown muslin backdrop and clamped it behind the hay bales to block the sun coming in toward my camera.  I also had to block the sun from the right of the camera as it moved during the day and used my large white muslin backdrop.  My lighting was an SB 900 with an umbrella on camera left as fill, usually only at 1/16th or 1/8th power except when I had black dogs and then I think I went up to 1/4th power.   And all would have been well if I hadn't decided to use a 1/4th CTO gel on the flash...don't ask.  All I can say is, don't do what I did!  It took a few color balance and hue/sat desaturation layers to fix it, as best as I could.

Fiona Was Adopted!

FINALLY.  This sweet kitten has been at Friendswood Animal Control for weeks and I do not understand why.  She is darling, very calm and loving and sweet natured, and how can anyone resist that heart on her nose???  Dr. Pickle spayed her last week and finally someone came and rescued her. I shot an updated image of her yesterday since the original was 6 weeks old and she had grown a lot.   Her brother Felix was adopted not too long ago, but I was crushed to learn that Frank was just put down when the kennels were full since he had been there so long.   My dream is for Friendswood to have a no kill shelter --- it is entirely possible but there is a lot of work ahead to make it happen.  Dr. Pickle is helping us by spaying and neutering some of the animals and we are keeping tabs on if that seems to make them more adoptable, and if so if they are chosen soon after the surgery.   It is a great bargain since it does not cost the adopter anything and is required by state law so must be done after adoption if not before. Happy NEW HOME Fiona!

Newborn in Black and White

I did process these in black and white, as well as sepia.  Not sure if I added vignetting in Silver Efex, but probably as I usually do.  I forgot that I had so little space to work in that I could not get them far enough away from the backdrop to blur it as much as it needed (and there was a HUMONGOUS TV on that wall so couldn't use their home as the backdrop) so I had to add the curtains here in post-processing.

 

 I caught the ghost of a smile on the baby in the second shot which was actually the first and then I asked her to move the baby closer to her face.  I prefer her straight on profile in the image above but the sweet expression on the baby below...shoulda combined them but all those yarn fuzzies defeated me.

 

Newborn

Nikon D700, 60mm macro lens, natural light

This little girl was one week old on the day I was asked to photograph her.  But I would never have guessed she was so new, she acted like an older baby.  We wanted to try the naked, sleepy, curled up, womb-like shots but little A would have none of it!  Every time she dozed off and we tried to lay her down and position her she would wake up.  I tried photographing her awake and curled up, but that wasn't happenin' either --- she only wanted to be stretched out and kicking!  It has been too long since my son was a newborn and I had no tricks up my sleeve that worked, so sadly I only got a few of her that were even worth working on and this was one.

 

Awwwww

This little male Pit-bull or Labrador Retriever mix is such a sweetie.  He and his brother were rescued by a vet in Friendswood, Dr. Susan Pickle, who is doing so much to help the animals in our city facility, and from communities all around.   She is spaying/neutering them, vaccinating them, providing medical care and medication if needed, all to try to get the animals to be more adoptable.  These 2 are all that are left from a litter, and they are being boarded at her veterinary clinic until they have a home.

 

He's Back!

 

Nikon D700, 24-70mm lens at f4.0, 1/125, ISO 200

flash with diffuser on camera left

Toby was diagnosed with an auto immune disease that caused him to lose a LOT of fur and left him with sores and cracked, flaky, itchy skin.  The good news is there are drugs to treat it, the bad news is they are not cheap.  He has been on the medication for over a month and his fur is growing back, his skin has healed and he is once again the pest we know and love (and the flower beds with huge holes are proof).

This was shot for my pet photography class and she wanted dramatic light.  He was sleeping on our couch about noon and I had my flash on the bracket from having shot at the shelter so I laid it on the coffee table at about a 45 degree angle to him.  Can't remember the power level though.   Processed above in Silver Efex and below is the color version.