[scratchpaddy]

Hey Gang, been out of commission awhile, almost permanently..ahem... anyways back in the game.. I saw some great leaping pics and reminded me of a shot from Romania I took in 2007 of a wild dog leaping for a piece of bread. Enjoy! Mo and the gang will be back!

Good to hear! That's a good looking pup, there. Wild, you say? He doesn't look too afraid of people with bread.

Great photo of the 2 of you. Skippy always looks so happy.

Thanks Pam!

I really like the look of that pup @scratchpaddy has. It always looks so happy and playful, and looks like a very smart one too.

Zoe was like that.

I'm sorry, but you can't have her. Sometimes I wish I hadn't gotten her neutered. I've met a few people that get really disappointed when I tell them that there won't be any baby Skippys to adopt.


She caught a Mastiff the other day. It was a pretty big catch. She was real proud of it.

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Last edited by scratchpaddy; 02-15-2014 at 08:07 PM.

[frogoutofwater]

I've volunteered to photograph some animals needing adoption at the county shelter, tomorrow will be my first trip there. I'm thinking equipment I'll probably use a Tamron 90/2.8, and bring a 35 limited and K50/1.4. I'm bringing a flash and card but I doubt I'll need it. There are both cats and dogs and they have asked me to start and concentrate on the older, or special needs animals that are harder to place. Any tips or suggestions? Thanks!

Hi Toy Tank - Thanks for taking the time to photograph dogs at the shelter. Good photos really help the adoption process. How did your session go today? I've been doing this for a rescue organization in New York City for about six months now. Here are a few suggestions based on my limited experience so far.

1. Take sanitary precautions, especially if you have pets at home. (I'm particularly careful around the cats at the shelter because I have cats.) Wash your hands on arrival. Minimize handling the pets, especially around eyes, noses, etc. Wash your hands before you leave. Strip off when you get home and throw your clothes in the wash.

2. Make the shelter staff's and volunteers' experience at the shelter easier. Make sure you understand the ground rules of how to interact with the animals - don't give your own treats or toys unless someone approves it first (they might have dietary or behavioral issues). Go with the flow instead of trying to impose your vision of how the perfect photo shoot would be, especially at the beginning. With each return visit, you can work on improving something, but don't push for perfect all at once. Be consistent and reliable. I try to go every other week at about the same time, and I always upload the photos I've taken within 24 hours (usually within 6 hours). (These are the things the volunteers told me they liked about how I worked with them, in comparison with their experiences with certain other photographers.)

3. You might luck out and be given a relatively uncluttered environment with good light in which to do your photographs. It's just as likely that you'll end up in a cluttered and/or poorly lit location. If that's the case, then you might try shooting fairly wide open, and ideally with a bit of distance between the dog or cat and the background, so you can blur out the background. (For pet photography, generally I prefer to shoot at around 6.3, especially with dogs, to get as much of the head in focus as possible, but I often find that I need to shoot at about f/4 and ISO 3200 in order to get a decent shot with decent shutter speed indoors.) For indoor work, I also use a flash with a Gary Fong light diffuser.

4. I find that some of the best photos I take are ones where there is some human-animal interaction. With smaller dogs and with cats, you can often get a great photo, if a volunteer stands or sits facing away from you and holds the dog or cat over his shoulder looking at you - take some shots like that and some with the volunteer turning his or her head toward the dog.

5. I often find that the best shots happen after I've just been hanging around for a while, usually sitting on the floor watching the action. The animals relax around me a little (and so do the volunteers) and I get to capture some interesting behavior.

6. I've experimented with portable backdrops and nothing has really worked well so far. However, once the weather gets a little better and I'm doing more outdoor work (at Union Square in NYC), I'm planning to bring a solid blue, fleece-lined water resistant picnic blanket with me. It can function almost like a seamless backdrop, with the dog sitting on it and either a volunteer holding it behind the dog or maybe clipping it to the bars of the fence. I can throw it in the wash when I get home.

I'm definitely still learning a lot - in particular, I want to get better at lighting in the tough situations where I photograph. But it's very rewarding work - the only problem is that I want to bring all the animals home with me.

If you'd like to look at some of my work, here are a couple of galleries:

Adoptable Dogs at Mighty Mutts
Adoptable Cats at Ollie's Place - frogoutofwater

And here are two recent, favourite photos from the adoption drive:

[ToyTank]

Hi Toy Tank - Thanks for taking the time to photograph dogs at the shelter. Good photos really help the adoption process. How did your session go today? I've been doing this for a rescue organization in New York City for about six months now. Here are a few suggestions based on my limited experience so far.

.......

Thanks for the tips! Good advice, and a post I'll be referencing in the future.

I didn't have much time today (I had plans at the "cabin fever days" barstool ski races today in Martin City, MT!!!) but I did get a tour, heard the rules and got a pretty good set on one Bulldog, and I tried to get shots of a boxer mix pup but I ran out of time before I got anyting really good. Next time I'm setting aside at least 2 hours.

Brutto-













C.P.-

[frogoutofwater]

Nice work!

[dansamy]

I like the last picture of Brutto the best.

[ToyTank]

Frogoutofwater- REALLY Excellent photos in your links!

[frogoutofwater]

Frogoutofwater- REALLY Excellent photos in your links!

Thanks! Labour of love.

Recently, I made a photo Valentine's card as a fundraiser, through moo.com and using an image of one of my cats holding a rose. Inside it says "Please be mine" and the back of the card says "Share your love. Save a stray" and refers to the shelter I work for. It was just a small print run, but I'm pleased to report that I raised over $650 for the shelter through sales (I donated the full purchase price) and donations.

I also made some inexpensive calendars (through Vistaprint) at year-end with images of the dogs and cats and gave them to the volunteers.

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Last edited by frogoutofwater; 02-16-2014 at 10:02 AM.

[Racer X 69]

I'm sorry, but you can't have her. Sometimes I wish I hadn't gotten her neutered. I've met a few people that get really disappointed when I tell them that there won't be any baby Skippys to adopt.

There is always cloning!

Is Skippy a mix?

And here are two recent, favourite photos from the adoption drive:

Great tips Frog, and excellent shots. The emotion is captured very well.

I didn't have much time today (I had plans at the "cabin fever days" barstool ski races today in Martin City, MT!!!)

The things that people dream up when bored during long winter days!

Actually that is something I'd like to have a go at. Same for the motorized barstool races.

I especially like this one with the dog looking through the fence. Knowing the circumstance it really tells a story. Great work.

Like many of us, a trip to the pound always leaves me sad. Seeing so many animals that have been rejected, tossed aside like something that one has grown tired of and simply thrown away just rips my heart out.

I leave wanting to take them all.

Why is it that so many people treat pets as is they can just be thrown away?

Having a pet is not something to be taken lightly. Taking a dog or a cat as a companion is a commitment, much like having a child. It brings with it so much responsibility. Care and feeding. Training. Responsibility to other people in the community to not allow the animal run wild and be a bother (a big pet peeve of mine is people who allow their dogs to run loose, pooping in the yards of their neighbors and causing other problems).

In some areas the feral dog and cat populations have gotten out of control. It is irresponsible humans who are at fault. We often talk about animal control, when what we need is human control.

[Kerrowdown]

These really are pets, miniature Highland cows, couldn't you just take him home with you?

[frogoutofwater]

I'll bet there are a number of Pentaxians (including a group on this thread) who volunteer, or want to volunteer, as photographers at animal shelters. Do you think it would be worth starting a thread to share images, tips and experiences? It would also be a good way to raise the profile of organizations with which we're working.

Also, these photos aren't of a pet, but were taken at a wildlife rehabilitation centre where I also volunteer. My work focuses mainly on wildlife care (i.e., cleaning up bird poop, but also feeding birds and assisting the licensed rehabbers). We've got a baby pigeon right now - meet Vanessa, who seems to be doing fairly well.

[Racer X 69]

I'll bet there are a number of Pentaxians (including a group on this thread) who volunteer, or want to volunteer, as photographers at animal shelters. Do you think it would be worth starting a thread to share images, tips and experiences? It would also be a good way to raise the profile of organizations with which we're working.

Also, these photos aren't of a pet, but were taken at a wildlife rehabilitation centre where I also volunteer. My work focuses mainly on wildlife care (i.e., cleaning up bird poop, but also feeding birds and assisting the licensed rehabbers). We've got a baby pigeon right now - meet Vanessa, who seems to be doing fairly well.

Again, you have captured the mood and emotion well.

Although I do not have the time to volunteer or spend time at the shelter documenting discarded pets, I believe there may well be much interest among those here who do, to have discussion about it.

So why not go ahead and start a thread like you mention?

It may even result in tips and ideas that would help those who do not make better photos too!

[jcdoss]

Wesley at the dog park again.




K30, M200 @ f/5.6

[hangman43]

Put that camera away

[Jean Poitiers]

Put that camera away ...

Almost too cute to be true, Tim ... TFS, J

[frogoutofwater]

Put that camera away

That first photo is incredibly adorable and the second is not far behind.