OUR WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN - BILLINGS MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY

Well this is a sad story, but it’s yet another that reaffirms the power of photography for me.  I’ll start at the end and let you know that Sala (our nine month old crazy mixed breed dog) is okay.  He’s going into surgery this morning to repair a broken leg and should make a complete recovery within 6 to 8 weeks.

MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER - CHEECH'S PORTRAIT SESSION

I made this Cheech portrait when my wife Nini was out of town.  Cheecher is lonesome without Nini, and I think this photo captures his emotion beautifully.  He is really her dog more than he is mine.  We’re both missing her and she’s missing us.  But at least she’ll have a new Cheech portrait to enjoy.

I grabbed my 135mm lens and a piece of white carboard for a reflector and set out to make some dog portraits.  I propped the cardboard up on a rubbermade tub and coaxed Cheech into position so that he was facing the reflector, and you can see a little bit of it in the top of his eye.  I made all three dogs pose, but Cheech was the best behaved, so he got better looking portraits.  I processed the photo in LR4, then Photoshop, and then LR4 again.  I used LR4 for the black and white conversion and exposure, and then used Photoshop to remove some unwanted things and to fine-tune the exposure, then back in LR4 I increased the clarity and the highlights just a touch before exporting to jpg.

Montana Portrait Photo by Billings Montana Wedding Photographer Paul Bellinger www.paulbellinger.com

DEEP BREATH

Deep Breath, Columbia MO

Big Red taking a break on the trail at Grindstone Nature Area.  Another rare black and white from me.  I guess it's getting less rare lately.  See my favorite black and white photo here.

I know shooting into the sun is usually frowned upon, and more than that, it's usually very difficult to pull off, but I couldn't resist when I saw Big Red backlit like this.  I was able to use the zone system to get the exposure just right while getting off a quick shot before Big Red caught his breath.  I employed the zone system quickly by spot metering on Big Red's face and and adjusting the exposure so that it read -1 stop.  Knowing the zone system, I knew that -1 stop exposure on Big Red's face would provide enough details so that his face can be seen while also giving me a good range of mid-tones and highlights, preserving some details in the highlights that would have been blown out if I had increased the exposure 1 stop.  With the zone system I was able to make the decision quickly and confidently, and could start to think about composition and timing the shot with his breath.

By the way, it's hard to focus when you're shooting into the sun!

Photo taken Feb 18, 2012