Around The Farm Blog
I thought I’d share with you what happens here on photo taking day. You might think getting cute puppy pictures is easy- especially since the invent of digital cameras, but- you are WRONG, so very wrong. I am going to share with you why.
This afternoon, I am photographing Brussels puppies for their new families. So far, I have taken 168 photos. All but about 40 photos are instantly trashed. The remaining photos I will crop, tweak, sharpen and do whatever I have to do to try to get them to look decent. Many more of those 40 end up trashed too. Some of them I save for the families to get on their CD rom, but won’t put on the website. I may end up with 1-5 decent photos in the end worthy of the website, an email update or an advertisement. Mind you, these still aren’t calendar quality or framing quality photos. They are just clear, sharp, colorful photos- I hope!! Some weeks after taking 170 or so photos, we go back to the drawing board and start over completely. Some weeks, we make do with what we get. I have been known during “puppy season” to take 8 + solid hours taking photos, editing, sending them to families and updating the website with that week’s puppy photos.
So while in the middle of doing photos today, I got the idea to share it with you. Some days are particularly funny. Some days are very trying. Sometimes you get a puppy that won’t wake up. Some times you think about such things like double sided sticky tape and velcro.
Today our subject is Verdell Barkley. He is quite a handsome fella. However, he thinks a cute puppy is more than a pretty face. He wants you to see much, much more than his adorable bearded face. I set Verdell on a blanket on our couch, facing the camera, ready to shoot. I stand back….
Verdell decides to see what’s up on the TOP of the couch!
There’s gotta be something for him up there!
Guess not…..let’s see what’s over the edge….whoa!
Hold me! Squeeze me! That was scary!
Let’s just stay safe and sniff around on the couch….by the way, what is she DO-ING with that annoying flashing thing in my face?
Maybe if I hide my eyes, it’ll go away?
NOPE! Still there!!
Back to sniffing……
and digging…..
and wrestling….
and growling….
and even biting!
“Verdell! Be a good boy and stand still for your pictures…..”
Oh….alright……
JUST KIDDING!!
All that…..and just one still photo. But, wasn’t it worth it?
Surely you will understand if you get a full “action” photo and not just still portraits? I will try NOT to send photos of their hind end’s at least!!
Although…..my favorite all time outtake type photo was this one of Pixie our chihuahua….now talk about a dog on the move. That dog would not stand still for a single thing. We have precious few photos of her because of it. Every time I take photos, they all end up in the trash! So, one day while trashing more Pixie photos from our most recent photo shoot, I came across this one photo. Since it summed her up better than any other photo I had, I kept it. Don’t stare at it too long. The photo starts moving and it’s bound to give someone a seizure. VIEW AT YOUR OWN RISK!!
MAN! That dog is FAST!!