January 23, 2012 Learning Pet Photography 2

Dylan resting in the grass

On Sunday, I was able to photograph Dylan, my sister's new Wheaten Terrier Puppy. What a cute little ball of fur he is! All that fur moving at such a fast and unpredictable rate is very difficult to photograph.  Most of the photos were a blur of fur. The photo below showing Margaret holding Dylan is a photo which shows the difficulty of trying to photograph anything that is moving very fast.

With my camera on a tripod, the flash attached to the camera and my reflector in hand, I waited patiently for the little puppy to run through my viewfinder. The puppy ran through the camera so fast I could not even focus.  I then realized that I better take the camera off the tripod and follow him around waiting for my picture. Margaret was pivotal in keeping him from running up the stairs which he all of a sudden was able to do. Margaret would hold out the toy and Dylan would play with it for about 2 seconds before he was off.

Margaret Holding the Blur of Dylan

One successful happening was walking the dog on a leash. Margaret took Dylan for a walk outside. I took the flash off the camera as we had wonderful diffused light in the overcast sky outside. Dylan posed for me in the middle of the road and looked right into the camera! Dylan also liked to rest in the grass and I was able to take a few photos as he rested.

Back inside, I put the flash back on and raised the ISO from 200 to 400 so that I could raise my shutter speed. The shutter controls how fast the aperture will stay open and when you are inside on a gray day, there is not much light available. You need to leave the shutter open longer to get enough light. But with the slower shutter speeds, you tend to get blur which is exactly what I got with Dylan. He is so quick, you need a quick shutter speed to get him in focus. That's where the ISO setting comes in. You set the ISO higher than 200 and that allows you to photograph at a faster shutter speed. It allows your camera to pick up the photo faster the higher the speed.

Dylan at rest

Is there a treat for me?

Laney also was there and I was able to get some really nice photos of her with her facing the window and another one with her head resting on the sofa arm rest.

Laney's beautiful profile

Laney gazing out the window

Stay tuned for next week's installment of Learning Pet Photography.