Furtography Session: "Thunder"

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"Thunder". Nikon D7000 with 80-300mm lens; focal length 145mm; f/4.8; 1/200 sec; ISO 500. Support my animal shelter work by downloading this photo at www.dreamstime.com. 100% of funds go back into shelter adoption photography and education programs.

Tuesday, 8:38 AM - ​“Thunder” was turned in by his owner on a Friday afternoon. Unfortunately, it was late in the day and I couldn’t get his photos posted before leaving. So he sat all weekend without any internet exposure. 
 
Monday morning was quite busy and all I had time for was a quick kennel photo to post to waltonpets.net.  But each time I’d pass through the kennels that day, “Thunder” would grab my eye with that sad, “Pick me” look. But I was still too busy with other duties to work with him.
 
First thing Tuesday morning, all else aside, I made time to work with “Thunder”. He was a perfect gentleman as he sat in his kennel waiting for me to put on his leash. Once we were headed outside, he knew it and lead the way! In his excitement he pulled quite a bit, but responded to a gentle tug and came at more of a heel.  He was so happy to get outside (probably to use the bathroom!).  It took a few minutes for him to see the sights and smell the smells before I could get his attention for a few photos.
 
I walked him to my “wood-line photo studio” behind the shelter. The sun was just coming up during the photo shoot (8:34 AM) but hadn’t yet come too far over the horizon, allowing me to shoot him in morning shade rather than afternoon glare.  Over the next ten minutes I took 42 shots, which boiled down to just 4 good ones for the website.
 
The first three shots were taken from a kneeling position to be on his eye-level.  I shot using my 70-300mm telephoto lens from about 15 to 25 feet away. This zoom lens isn’t really ideal for this light, but it is the only really good zoom lens I have right now. It produces some nice shots, but also adds some “noise” due to the higher ISO needed with a long lens in low light. My camera was set to a 1/200 second minimum shutter speed to reduce the blur from his movements and my unsteady hands. The white balance was set for “shade”, but later tweaked a bit in Photoshop (that’s the beauty of shooting in RAW).
 
After knowing I had what I needed, I switched to my newer 40mm macro lens for some practice and fun. Changing the angle changes the entire feel of the photograph. I stood over “Thunder” and got a few close-up portraits from above. The only one that turned out nice was one focused on his cold, wet nose… very cute! Using a wider aperture gives less depth of field and puts his eyes in blur, focusing the attention on his nose. That shot was taken at f/3.5 and a shutter speed of 1/100 seconds to reduce some of the motion blur.
 
After his photography I brought him to the interaction pens to see how he was with other dogs. He was quite excited each time to see another four-legged friend. He immediately wanted to let the other dogs know he was the big man on campus with his posturing, but didn’t really show any aggression. (Not sure how he’d react if another dominant male challenged his ego, though.) Once introductions were made, he enthusiastically sniffed and pounced, all while wagging his tail. 

After that it was back into the shelter for heartworm testing, vaccinations and deworming; then into my office for photo editing and website posting. All in all, over an hour for one complete workup. Walton Animal Guild had offered yesterday to sponsor a neuter voucher, and "Thunder" seemed the perfect canditate for WAG pet of the week!

​Walton County, Georgia

"Thunder was photographed on November 15, 2017 for Walton County Animal Control. He was adopted on November 17, 2017!

"Thunder". Nikon D7000 with 80-300mm lens; with fill flash; focal length 195mm; f/5.3; 1/200 sec; ISO 1250. Support my animal shelter work by downloading this photo at www.dreamstime.com. 100% of funds go back into shelter adoption photography and education programs.

"Thunder". Nikon D7000 with 80-300mm lens; focal length 70mm; f/4.5; 1/200 sec; ISO 500.

"Thunder" close up using 40mm macro lens; f/3.5; 1/100 sec; ISO 140. Support my animal shelter work by downloading this photo at www.dreamstime.com. 100% of funds go back into shelter adoption photography and education programs.