By Susan Schmitz, owner of A Dog’s Life Photography

Co-authored by Arizona Basset Hound Rescue

Is now available for purchase

Proceeds benefit the Arizona Basset Hound Rescue

Dogs are not just simple household pets. They play many different roles in our lives. They sail through life with us like a yacht captain, cooking up experiences like a chef, while driving us to tears or laughter like a chauffeur. Bassets In Hats portrays how dogs wear many different roles in our lives… They wear a lot of hats.

~ Susan Schmitz

Preview the book below:

Available in three different price points. Click on your desired version to be directed to Blurb to complete your purchase:

Premium Version (Hardcover with premium paper) – $46.95
Standard Version (Hardcover with lighter paper) – $41.95
Economy Version (Smaller book with softcover and lighter paper) – $19.95

The following is a sample photo gallery from a private session with Elmo and Koko, the Pug and Australian Shepherd.

Private photo sessions start at $150.00 with a $50.00 discount available if your dogs are pure breeds and you are willing to sign a waiver allowing us to resell your photos. Click here for details.

Here is the before:

Here is the after:

Tips on taking this type of photo:

This is a great photo to start with. It looks like MaryAnn took this photo in the shade with a light source in front of the dog which produced a nice catch light in his eyes. She zoomed in real close and cropped the photo in a manner that really keeps the viewer’s interest. The only thing that I did to this photo was to make the colors pop and I brought out some detail in the fur. To do this in your camera, you can try to use your Landscape setting. This setting will tell the camera to increase the saturation of the colors and sharpen the photo a little. You will only want to use this setting if your subject is able to sit real still because depending on how sunny it is outside, it may need to use a slower shutter speed. This means that if there is even the slightest amount of movement by you or the dog, the photo will look blurry.

Tips on editing this type of photo:

If you have a basic photo editing program, just increase the contrast, saturation and sharpness a little bit.

If you are an advanced photographer, read on…

I used the Adjust 4 plugin from Topaz Labs for Photoshop, which I just LOVE. There are many different adjustment presets available. I ran three different ones to get the amount of detail and color pop that I liked – Exposure Correction, Mild Colop Pop then Photo Pop. Then I used the dodge and burn tools to bring out the dark and light areas of his eyes.

Don’t forget to submit your photo next Friday by posting it on our Facebook page. Click here for details.

“She is around 8-9ish. We “fostered” her for about 3 days before we knew she was ours. She was going to be put down in the shelter because she was so scared of people. That was 4 years ago now and she LOVES being around people! She was diagnosed with lymphosarcoma last Oct and just finished her chemo…. She is in remission and will hopefully be around for a long time to come!   I managed to luck out when taking this pic and got a great pic of her tounge!”

Here is the photo as submitted on our Facebook page:

Here is the photo after a quick fix-up in Photoshop:

Tips on how to take a photo like this:

Overall, I think Susan did a real nice job. The composition of the photo is great! I love the way that it is cropped so that the dog is coming diagonally out of the corner and the wood planks are coming toward the viewer. I’m not sure if she did this intentionally or not… but it adds a lot of interest to the photo (so does that crazy tongue!).  It is pretty sharply focused, so she must have had her camera at the correct settings. As mentioned in last weeks winning entry post, the best basic setting to use with a point and shoot camera would be either the “Kids and Pets” or “Sports” setting because they automatically set all of the technical stuff in your camera to take a photo of a fast moving subject.

The problem with taking photos in the bright sunlight is that you are going to get a lot of harsh shadows and bright highlights. So, you will lose detail in both the darkest and lightest areas of the photo. See how the white fur on her face and her left eye have almost no detail in them? This could be avoided by taking the photo in a shady area but that’s not always possible. One little trick you can use is to turn on the flash on your camera. Read your camera’s manual to see if you have a “fill flash” setting. This will reduce the amount of flash coming from the camera to just enough to fill in the dark shadows so you have detail in them. It’s not going to help you with the bright highlights though. Another option is to block the sun on your subject with your own shadow, someone else’s shadow or with an object like an unbrella.

For the semi-pros out there:

 I would use your spot metering mode to focus your exposure on just the dog. Lock your exposure reading in on the brightest part of the dog’s fur that is being hit by the sun. This will ensure that you don’t blow out your highlights. You can always lift the dark shadows during post-processing but it’s real hard to get back the detail in blown out highlights. Here are the steps I took in Photoshop to adjust this photo:

I made a duplicate layer copy and then used a filter in the Adjust 4 series by Topaz Labs called Portrait Drama which opened up the shadows, calmed down the highlights and brought out a great deal of detail in the fur. The default settings were lacking a bit of color for my taste. So, I bumped up the saturation slider a bit to give it a little pop.

 Then once I applied that adjustment and was back in Photoshop, I used a Kubota action called Digital Fill Flash (which is really just a curves adjustment layer that brightens up the entire photo and then adds a layer mask that is filled with black). I then painted with white in the layer mask to brighten up the dark shadows a little more. This basically does what using a fill-flash on your camera would do:

Don’t forget to visit our Facebook Page this Friday to enter your photo in the contest to win a free makeover. Or take a look at our photo correction services page for details on how to get your photos fixed.

~Susan

My doctors have put me on a change of diet to help with my seizure control and to help me lose weight. Dr. Lyons has also began to lower my medicines and has added some great vitamins and herbs to keep me healthy. It’s really working great because I haven’t had any seizures since I’ve been on this new regimen; almost 2 months.

Losing weight is really tough though! I walk about a mile every evening but I’m hungry all the time and sometimes get very curious about what is on the kitchen cabinets and in the garbage can. My foster mom and dad is teaching me that’s not a good idea and I’m improving on this everyday.

I still like to play and rough house with my foster furry brother and sister, but because I’m still a big guy sometimes my foster mom and dad have to remind me not to play too rough.

I get along great with older kids. The little ones I might accidentally knock down, but I don’t mean to. I’m such a happy go luck guy that I just want to give lots of kisses!!

I don’t care for the furry animals that go ‘Meow’ They seem like a good snack to me!

If you can give me lots of love and attention and pay for my very reasonable seizure medicine and take me in for occasional veterinary checkups then I’m the dog for you!! Remember my name ‘THOR’

To find out more about Thor please visit www.almosthomeboxers.org

“Fix Your Photo Facebook Fridays!”

Here’s the deal…

1. Become our friend on Facebook by clicking here.
2. On Friday (and only on Fridays or else you will be banned from the contest for all eternity… kidding, but you will be disqualified for that week), make a wall post on our page with your dog’s name and a little info about him or her. Then attach your best photo of them.
3. On or before Tuesday of the following week, the winner of each week’s contest will be announced. Winners will randomly chosen. We will pick a number from a hat. If your entry was that number for the day, you win.
4. The winner will receive a FREE makeover of the submitted photo (average $20.00 value).
5. We will post the before and after versions here on our blog along with helpful tips on how it is best to capture the type of image depicted in the winning entry and how to do some simple Photoshop editing to make it really pop!

You can find out more about our photo correction services by clicking here.

Here is an example of a before and after shot (of my maniac dogs Blingo and Misty)…

Before photo with poor exposure, color balance and composition:

After photo with some Photoshop magic:

We are looking forward to seeing all of your photos. Best of luck in the contest!

Is offering Deeply Discounted Photo Sessions the first Sunday of each month from 1:00 to 4:00 at:

$50.00 Fee Includes:

• 20 minute photo session
• Professional editing to bring out amazing detail and color
• Five low resolution digital files (with a copyright notice) that are suitable for sharing with friends and family on the internet
• Five 4×6 prints (To be picked up at Zippity Do Dogs 2 weeks after the session)

Limit of two dogs per 20 minute session. You must book and pay for additional sessions if you have more than 2 dogs. If dogs cannot sit and stay together for group shots, a fee of $5.00 per photo applies if you would like the separate photos merged together as one. Sessions must be paid in full at the time of booking the session. No refunds. One reschedule is allowed.

Call or stop by Zippity Do Dogs to schedule your appointment. They are located at:

4701 N. 7th Ave in Phoenix (just south of Camelback on the east side of the road)

Phone: 602-277-3647

Click Here  for examples of photos previously taken at Zippity Do Dogs 

 Perhaps you also know that they produce wall graphics of fun kid’s stuff like super heroes, cartoons and Disney characters. Here is an example of fairies in a little girl’s room:

What you probably don’t know is that they also do custom wall graphics that you can create from your own photos. Here is an example of some clings that I had made for the playroom wall at Zippity Do Dogs in Phoenix.

One thing to note is that to get a photo blown up this big, it needs to be a really sharply focused, high resolution image. If you are not a professional photographer, you can definitely accomplish this if you have a nice camera that has a bare minimum of 6 mega pixels and you take the photo outdoors where there is plenty of natural light to allow you to use a fast shutter speed (try using your “Sports” or “Kids and Pets” mode since they automatically set your camera to a fast shutter speed which will make the image sharper). Or you can just book the time and talent of your friendly local photographer (A Dog’s Life Photo can hook you up!).

If you happen to be a professional photographer, you’re in luck because Fathead just announced a new program for professional photographers. By joining the program, you will receive 25% off all of your custom orders. The program is real new and they don’t have a sign-up form on their website yet. So, just head on over to Fathead.com to check it out and then send an email to KatieBenages@Fathead.com letting her know that you want to join the program. Be sure to give her a link to your website so she can confirm that you are a pro.

Hi everyone! I’m Nugget, and I am just about the cutest little black pug girl you will ever meet!

I was born on Jan 2, 2010, so I am just about 3.5 months old now. I had kind of a shaky start to life, as my mommy quit feeding me when I was 5 weeks old, and I almost didn’t make it.  But APARN took me in and nursed me back to health.

Speaking of health, I seem pretty healthy, but the vet thinks I could have hydrocephalus, which is a big word (bigger than me, almost!) that means fluid on the brain. I have not shown any neurological symptoms (like seizures), but whoever takes me home to live with them needs to be aware that there is a possiblity that I could have them at some point in my life, and APARN wants to make sure that my new people will commit to me no matter what.

Right now though, I love to play, and I like to chase the bigger pugs in my foster home. I just started teething, so I really like to chew, and I need to have some healthy things to chew on, so I don’t chew on things I shouldn’t, like fingers or the other dog’s ID tags!

I am pretty small, I weighed just about 3.75 pounds at my last weigh in. So I need to be in a home where I won’t get trampled by bigger dogs, or enthusiastic kids.

I don’t get to go to the APARN events, as I haven’t finished getting all my shots yet, so if you are interested in adopting me, your first step is to fill out the adoption application, and send it in! Hope to see you soon!
Nugget
 
My adoption fee is $325.

Please contact the Arizona Pug Adoption and Rescue Network for more information – http://www.arizonapugrescue.com/

Click Here to view: I Love My Dog

Take a visit to Sharon’s website, follow her blog, fall in love with her work. I certainly did.

~ Susan

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