How do they ever get the animal and the person to CALMLY look into the camera with pleasant expressions on their faces at the same time?
Holiday seasons are one of the best times for taking photographs of pets and sending them to friends and family. Today, we tried to get a good photo of Allen and our dog Leaf. With Linda as the photographer, it was somewhat of a disaster.
We have great admiration for good animal photographers. How do they ever get the animal and the person to CALMLY look into the camera with pleasant expressions on their faces at the same time? It's a mystery to us. When Leaf looks directly into the camera, the glint of light turns red in his eyes. If he looks at Allen, his cute profile is fun to see. His eyes with their unique expressions, though, aren't clear in a side view.
After putting up with us for about fifteen minutes of hassle, Leaf found a solution. He licked Allen's nose, then turned, and stuck out his big, pink tongue at the camera. So there!
On the other hand, our cat Cuddles poses like a runway model. She's the ultimate beauty, posturing for the camera, arching her back, and gazing contentedly toward the lens.
Go to our blog this week and please, please share your best ideas for taking photographs of people and animals together or of animals by themselves. We'd all love to hear from you. Also at the blog, make any comments you have about the Story of the Week. That way, everyone, including the authors, can read them.
Thanks to this newsletter's readers who came last week, in the snow, to our bookstore events for ANGEL ANIMALS: Divine Messengers of Miracles. It was great meeting and reconnecting with you.
Posted by Allen and Linda Anderson at 12/9/2007 8:52 PM 
Categories: Observations, Amazing Angel Animals
Categories: Observations, Amazing Angel Animals
Just a helpful comment on taking animal pics, or two.
Get someone else to engage them while you are taking the pic. To get a head-on, let someone else hold a fav treat or toy, while you take the shot.
Take it when they first wake up, or after a long romping session. Being a bit tired helps them be calm.
Use a digital camera and take LOTS of shots. The ones that don't come out can be eliminated, and you will get a few that work. Plus, your pet friends will get used to you and that black/silver thing on your face, and they will not pay as much attention to it.
Get familiar with the software that comes with the camera. There is a red-eye remover in there. Yes, it does really work. People used to have to pay a photography place to get that same effect, to save shots done on regular film. Now, we can do it ourselves.And in the Editor link, you can lighten, darken, or add contrast to any pic.
If possible, take pics in a room with diffused light. North light is best, just like for artists. Outside, bright sunlight is a no-no for pictures. Try early morning, or late afternoon, with the sun at a angle. It is easier to use the photo software you get with the digi camera to lighten, rather than darken, and your friends will open their eyes, instead of squinting.
Happy photographing, and if you haven't bought a digi camera yet, consider one of the Panasonic Lumix, with the 20X zoom. You can take great pics from across the room, when they don't even know you are doing it! Plus, that large lens allows for really capturing the Soul-full look of our wonderful furry family member's eyes!
You can see some of my shots at my blog!
Aryd'ell
Friend and Mom to:
Princess and Jazz
Queen Puffin, Callie-Katz, and Yoda
Al the Great Soprano Cockatiel and innumerable fish, outdoor birds, insects, possums, and groundhogs!
http://gypsysramblings.blogspot.com
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Just a helpful comment on taking animal pics, or two.
Get someone else to engage them while you are taking the pic. To get a head-on, let someone else hold a fav treat or toy, while you take the shot.
Take it when they first wake up, or after a long romping session. Being a bit tired helps them be calm.
Use a digital camera and take LOTS of shots. The ones that don't come out can be eliminated, and you will get a few that work. Plus, your pet friends will get used to you and that black/silver thing on your face, and they will not pay as much attention to it.
Get familiar with the software that comes with the camera. There is a red-eye remover in there. Yes, it does really work. People used to have to pay a photography place to get that same effect, to save shots done on regular film. Now, we can do it ourselves.And in the Editor link, you can lighten, darken, or add contrast to any pic.
If possible, take pics in a room with diffused light. North light is best, just like for artists. Outside, bright sunlight is a no-no for pictures. Try early morning, or late afternoon, with the sun at a angle. It is easier to use the photo software you get with the digi camera to lighten, rather than darken, and your friends will open their eyes, instead of squinting.
Happy photographing, and if you haven't bought a digi camera yet, consider one of the Panasonic Lumix, with the 20X zoom. You can take great pics from across the room, when they don't even know you are doing it! Plus, that large lens allows for really capturing the Soul-full look of our wonderful furry family member's eyes!
You can see some of my shots at my blog!
Aryd'ell
Friend and Mom to:
Princess and Jazz
Queen Puffin, Callie-Katz, and Yoda
Al the Great Soprano Cockatiel
and innumerable fish, outdoor birds, insects, possums, and groundhogs!
http://gypsysramblings.blogspot.com
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Abby is a sucker for a squeaker, so I keep one of the victims of her "pelting" exercises nearby. I can get her attention with it a few times before she figures me out, and then I resort to "do you want a cookie?". That gets me a few more shots before I have to pay up!
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You know how your cat will touch noses with you just for the heck of it? I just tried getting that shot for the camera. Guess who ended up looking straight at the camera while I was still offering to touch noses.
You can see the result at my blog, DixieHemingway@wordpress.com
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with a lot of treats my dog sits for the camera.
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A suggestion for getting rid of the red-eye, have the flash come from a different angle than the camera. In other words, have a flash unit that is on a cord from the camera, like you would see in a professional studio, or take the photos with enough ambient light that you don't need a flash. Some of the new digital cameras don't need a great deal of light. Open a drape or turn on a few more lights, then turn the automatic flash feature off on the camera.
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