The sky blues | southern ontario pet photographer

When I started Happy Tails, I didn't realize I would also be starting a relationship with the Weather Network. Like most relationships, it has its ups and downs, and I don't care to admit how many times my husband has caught me shaking my fist at the television, moaning "Why? Why?" or patting it approvingly and saying "Good job!" like it went outside to do its business for the first time.

Since most of my shoots occur outdoors, I am always checking the weather. Obsessively. Like I have a say in it or something. First there's the long-range forecast, then the short-term and yes, even hourly leading up to a session. I admit that I have a problem.

It doesn't always go my way and many times I have to do some rescheduling — not a big deal, but it's always kind of a let down. Sometimes it's questionable right up until the session time and there are phone calls back and forth with the client: "What does it look like where you are?", "Exactly how dark is the sky?"

A lot of the time I get lucky and the rain holds off like it did with my recent session with Maggie. It was overcast, which is actually pretty great for photography, but as a result the sky was dull and lifeless. There isn't anything I can do from a technical aspect to improve the situation. So, in special circumstances, I fake it. Here is Maggie's before shot.

 And here is Maggie's after shot with a sky that I copied from a different photo.

The key is to use tricks like this subtly — if it looks fake, it's no good. I always try to keep my photos as authentic as possible. I would never make drastic changes to the scene or the subject — it's important that a pet looks like they always do, as their family sees them every day.

Sometimes I just have to give Mother Nature a helping hand.

What is your favourite weather to photograph in? Are you a Weather Network junkie like me? Feel free to comment!

Wags,
Stacey

photoshop tips: make your pet's eys pop!

Okay, so here goes — my first Photoshop tutorial! Now, I should preface this with the following disclaimer: I am by no means a Photoshop expert. At all. There are probably processing gurus out there who would be mortified by my editing techniques and if that's you, then please avert your eyes for a brief moment while I finish this post. There are probably better ways to edit, but this is what works for me.

I'm going to start off with a really easy trick that anyone can do to help make your pet's eyes sparkle a little more. I use this trick on the photos I take for the Burlington Humane Society — since I photograph so many animals there (you can see some of them here and here), I can only afford to spend a minute or two processing each photo. This usually involves brightening them up, adjusting the white balance if necessary, popping the eyes and then optimizing for the web. That's it. I'll usually use more complex techniques on client images.

This tip works best on cats and dogs that have light-coloured eyes. I'm going to use this photo of Scout as my example (she has since been adopted!). This is straight out of camera — no adjustments.

Open up the photo in your editing software. I use Photoshop CS5, but any version or program with dodge and burn tools will work. After opening, go under Layer and click Duplicate Layer. This ensures you aren't working directly on the original photo.

Next, click on the Dodge tool in the toolbar — it's the one that looks like a little paddle.

Then in the top toolbar, in the drop-down menu, click Highlights. In the little box to the right of that, set your exposure. I usually go with around 8-10 per cent. If you choose a number higher than that, the results start to look unnatural. We want to keep the pop subtle.

Next, make sure you choose a soft brush in the Brush drop-down menu at the top left and adjust the size using the slider or the bracket keys on your keyboard.

Dodge the irises of the eyes lightly. A note of caution: if there are whites of the eyes showing, avoid dodging them or do it very sparingly. If you are too heavy handed, the result will not only look unnatural, it will look alien and just plain freaky.

After a few passes, here is my result:

After a quick sharpen and flatten, here is my before and after:

There you go! A super quick and easy way to add a little zing to your pet's eyes. Just remember not to go overboard. What do you think of this tutorial? Was it helpful? Leave a comment and let me know!

Wags,
Stacey