Toby the Labradoodle finding a ball at the "beach"

Image available on shirts, mugs, puzzles, mouse pads and much more.

If you’ve been following Sisters Pet Pics over the years, you will have noticed our growth and changes along the way.  Here we go again!

As we’ve added products and services, we’ve also expanded our focus to include many other styles, subjects and locations.  Although our specialty will always be pet & family photography, we have been adding to our portfolio for quite some time.

This growth called for the biggest change yet…a new business name.  Sisters Studios was born!  Here’s what WON’T change: our love for animals and the people who share our love, our studio location, 3979 HWY 190, Covington, LA. and our dedication to providing our customers with high quality depictions of their vision.

Here’s what did change:  our web site for one!  Check it out, Sisters Studios.  You’ll notice all manner of things to enjoy.  All new galleries – see if you or your pet is featured!  And we have a store!

We’ve been working on our on-line store for quite some time and we’re proud to announce that it’s ready for viewing.  You’ll see the link on the new web page, Sisters Studios Image Store.  There are several galleries, including Wildlife, New Orleans, and a few of our digital paintings.

All images are available as prints, but some are also available on other substrates such as T-Shirts, mugs, puzzles, tote bags and my personal favorite, stamps (!).  We will be adding images weekly.  If you don’t see what you want at first viewing, check back soon.  There will be more.  As always, the strike-thorough watermarks will not appear on any print or item purchased.

Okay, that’s enough change for one day, huh?  I hope you enjoy what we’ve become and appreciate the journey we’re on.  We’ve enjoyed being on it with you!

Chaos Ensues (Click to enlarge)

It Ain't Easy (Click to enlarge)

My post today is meant to give y’all confidence.

This was a family shoot…sort of.  Here’s the story.  These dogs are litter mates.  Yeah, I know.  They don’t look alike, but litter mates they are.  Greyhound folks are a close knit group.  They all work very hard to make the remaining years of their charges be the very best.  As all these dogs are purebred and records are kept online, a little Google search will find litter mates  Such was the case here.

One of the humans found the others and organized this “family” portraiture session.  They’re all members of the Greyhound Pets of America (GPA) and arrived from all over.  This week I’m finalizing the 2010 GPA calendar layout and I came across the image in the left.  I couldn’t exactly put it in the calendar, but it’s a perfect example of the organized chaos that is sometimes witnessed in the studio.

I had to laugh out loud when I saw this image again and wanted to share it with you.  You see, it doesn’t always go smoothly.

Mouton The Greyhound

You met Mouton before — with his house brother Deuce the Great Dane — in I Wanna Hold Your Hand.

We’re working on the Greyhound images we shot all summer for the 2010 Greyhound Pets of America – Louisiana Chapter (GPA-LA) calendar.  Though I shot hundreds and hundreds of images, about 160 of them were serious contenders for this year’s calendar.   Submissions were made today; decisions will be made very soon, and next week looks like layout camp to me.

Mouton was last year’s contender, but this year we had so many more contestants.  While viewing the submitted proofs today, I was reminded of all the special dogs and their people who came in this year.  I’ve said this before, but the people who adopt Greyts are as special as their dogs.  From the sweet and giving couple who have two, one with a feeding tube, that they dote on, to the woman who has a house full, but manages to foster some too.  I couldn’t forget the woman who gets all the unadoptable ones and she turns her spacious home over to them to come in and out through an open door to the back yard…because they want to.

Though this project is supposed to be a fundraiser for the GPA, I feel so guilty because these people have given us so much by setting such a profound example to the rest of us.  I was laughing this afternoon about how Greyhound families are different from other breeds.  Many of those who only have one pamper them almost as if they were fragile…which they’re not.  But the gentle nature of the dog seems to inspire some extra gentleness in the people.

I’ll be glad to get to the end of this year’s project, but I’ll lament the end of them coming by twos, threes and more into the studio to be their goofy selves.  Is it too early to look forward to 2011?

Corona The Greyhound (Click to enlarge)

Meet Corona.  She’s one of two well-loved Greyhounds of one of our clients.  Some months back 9 year old Corona’s mom and dad discovered she had a condition prohibiting the eating and swallowing of solid food.  They were devastated.  What to do?  Anything.  She had surgery to install a feeding tube that you cannot see because we posed her strategically to hide it from the camera.  They have found other ways to give her some eating joy.  Licking stuff like nut butter or even their skin.  She loves to be fed, so the tube must give her some pleasure.  Although she’s gained some weight back she’s got a way to go.  But she’s happy, so her mom and dad are happy.

We photograph elderly and ill pets all the time, and find ways to hide certain maladies to give their families tender remembrances.  Even though a tumor or a tube is part of the animal, the pet is not defined by that, so it’s more comforting to hide it, if possible.  Sometimes clients will tell me that they want a scar left in the photo because “that’s who they are”.  To them the scar is part of what defines their pet.  It bears mentioning that these things need to be considered when posing your subjects.

I also want to point to a post I wrote a few months ago: Splitting Hairs.  In it I tell of an empirical study proving that love can heal.  My friend’s dog Gracie had just been diagnosed with brain and tongue cancer.  She was nearly 12 years old.  Gracie underwent radiation, then chemotherapy.  She has now passed her 12th birthday and is back to playing ball – her favorite pastime.

It’s love and medicine, folks.  Love leads us toward the right choices for healing.  There is always hope.  And hope you must.

Patra The Rescued Retired Racing Greyhound (Click to enlarge)

You may remember yesterday’s topic: the most versatile lens in your camera bag, the Nifty Fifty, that is – the 50mm prime.  Meet Patra.  I spoke of her a little yesterday as well.  She growled at me when we first met, because she just doesn’t like strangers very much.  Also, she’s a momma’s girl.  She’s only 4, but she’s had a rough life, and she just doesn’t want to be taken from the home she loves.

However, I sat next to her on the floor and I just didn’t believe this was a threatening expression.  It was more soulful, don’t you think?  Her eyes just seem to have seen the worst of the world.  At least that was what I was able to capture as I sat there.  She didn’t want to sit up and participate in antics or personable cuteness; she had more to think or worry about.

Lights weren’t an option for this shoot.  I wouldn’t have been able to get this close with lights, and certainly she wouldn’t have stayed for any length of time.  Nope.  The only option would be a lens which would allow an aperture opening of 2.8 or wider, to be able to shoot in the circumstance of low light.  The secondary benefit was the slim DOF that seemed to accentuate her eyes even more.

The 50mm can be your go-to lens for situations where you don’t need deep DOF and do need to shoot with low ambient light.  Those settings occur mostly with single subjects indoors.  Before the days of having a studio, that described most of my shots.

To use this lens you only have to get close, focus, meter, relax and shoot.  These journalistic captures are the easiest.  You’re just waiting for your subject to talk.  Do you hear Patra?

Sunshine The Rescued Retired Racing Greyhound (Click to enlarge)

So you have a nice camera and a fairly nice lens.  You want to photograph your pets inside the house, but the only light you have besides ambient is an in-camera flash, and you get the dreaded red or green eyes on your sweet little person.  To the naked eye they don’t look anything like a demon, but as soon as the flash pops, they look like Kujo’s sibling.

Flash portraiture is a difficult thing to accomplish if you’re only using an in-camera flash.  It is my recommendation that you spend $100 on a lens before you spend hundreds on a speedlight, which you can use off-camera. Here’s why.

I highly recommend that you purchase your camera body’s 50mm prime equivalent for low light situations.  They don’t call it a Nifty Fifty for nothing.  Some time ago I hemmed and hawed about whether I should spend $300 on the f1.4 50mm or $100 for the f1.8 version.  I can tell you now that I have not been sorry about saving myself $200 for the f1.8.  The Nikon version is a very nice piece of glass.  It’s sharp and fast.  That’s what you want.

This is Sunshine, a 14 year old Greyhound who lives with her mom and dad and 4 other dogs, 3 of them rescued Greyhounds.  Now, you know I’ve said how I think these Greyhound people are heroes for what they do, but this family is a double scoop of heroes.  They get the dogs that no one else can take: the old, the infirm, and even one who growls (I never saw a Greyhound who had been so abused s/he didn’t like people).  It was a surprise to me that Sunshine’s housemate cannot leave the property because she is totally traumatized.  Hence, the location shoot for the Greyhound Pets Of America – Louisiana Chapter’s 2010 calendar.

This shot of Sunshine was taken inside because none of these old folks (the dogs ) wanted to step outside in their lovely backyard because it was too dang hot.  This is a nice example of what the lens can do.  I’m sitting on the floor next to Sunshine and I’ve used an aperture of f2.8 allowing the background to just blur gently behind her.  Because the DOF is so slim only one eye is in focus.  Perfect.  The story of a tender aging dog is told in the eye of the soul.

What’s your favorite lens?

CiCi The Rescued, Retired, Racing Greyhound (Click to enlarge)

Yep, you can.  Will you?  That’s the question.  Any camera can make you a photographer, but any camera will not automatically make you one unless you learn how to use it.  Some time ago I bought my daughter a 2px PnS.  I showed her what the buttons did.  Of course she really didn’t want to spend time learning, she just wanted to use it.  And use it she did.  I helped her upload some unbelievable crap.  Finally, I suggested she delete, in camera, those images in which she could not identify any subjects…you know, blob images.

She began to learn the abilities and limitations of the device, and began to make some intriguing captures.  One of them is the best image that we have of Nick, our now deceased Lab/Chow mix.  For that one image I am so glad she ran around capturing OOF toenails and tails.  It’s quite good and I intend to mount it on our home wall.

My point today is to tell you that this is not rocket science.  I’ve said that before, but it’s the reason I keep this bloggie thingie.  You can do it…and do it well, regardless of the device you own.  I’m not saying that once you learn about your camera and its limitations you won’t yearn for something that you have more control over, with more pixels, bigger sensor, etc.  But it’s well worth the learning.  The image of our Nick brings tears to my eyes, yet makes me so grateful for the keepsake.

As I am wont to do, I post an image every day, meant to inspire you to capture one of your own or just to think, hey I can do better than that!  Either way, I’ve succeeded with my goal of getting you to improve your pet photography.  Here’s CiCi.  I’m told this chocolate color does not exist in the greyhound world.  Well, it’s not supposed to exist — these things happen when too much inbreeding is done.  Oh well, what’s done is done, huh.  In the meanwhile, we have this lovely little CiCi girl who couldn’t be prettier.  Why don’t you post your pretty girl or handsome boy?  We’d love to see them.

Bella The Rescued Retired Racing Greyhound (Click to enlarge)

We are hurt, but we’re bold and powerful as well.  Yes, we still cry, but we laugh too.  Just like the sweet and personable Bella, pictured here.  Yesterday was the 4th anniversary of the landfall of the devastating Hurricane Katrina.  For days we have been worrying and thinking about where we were, and have been cathartically sharing stories of our experiences of the event.  For those of us who lived in this region before, during and after Katrina and the failure of the federal levees, we will forever be marked by the experience.  When we meet new people, inevitably the subject will arise, how did you weather the storm?

I remember being in a hotel in Austin, TX, four years ago today.  It took us nearly 19 hours of straight driving to navigate 500 miles.  Eight of those hours to get from Mandeville to Baton Rouge – normally an hour’s drive.  We tried to get housing closer than Austin; alas, there were no rooms at the inn.  The only accommodations for 2 adults, a child and 10 animals (dogs, cats, 2 large parrots) was at a Residence Inn in Austin.  And were we ever grateful for that!  We made that trip with all our lives and some precious possessions in a crowded mini-van.  There are much worse stories than ours, absolutely — many truly horrific.  But the worry and stress we experienced silenced even the most abrasive and rebellious of teenagers, my daughter.

The only sound was the hum of a fairly well tuned (we hoped) engine and of the portable TV which we set up on the dash.  When it began to rain just as we put Baton Rouge behind us, but still crawled at an almost walking pace, I felt my chest cramp with anxiety.  Would we be trapped in our van when the storm hit?  Parents do not have the luxury to worry aloud.  We will be okay, is the only expression allowed.  Even our beloved animals settled into their situation quietly and uncomplaining in their crates or on our laps, as if they absorbed the monumental importance of introspection.

Though we were safe in Austin, the television and laptop did not provide comfort. We awakened the next day to news of the collapse of floodwalls and levees. The mesmerizing horror of  floating human bodies and stories from the Dome, then from the Convention Center, was almost more than I could bear, but not quite.  I was glued.  I must confess, the stories of the animals swimming toward boats filled with rescued humans in the failing hope of being rescued themselves put me past what I could bear sanely.  I ceased to be of any use to anyone.

We had just moved to the house we evacuated.  We did not know our neighbors.  We had no blood family here and had lost contact with our old friends.  The isolation we felt made us feel we had escaped a warring region and were finding refuge in a bunker far from those we knew and loved.  I wondered if I would ever be close to sanity again.

But this is what I report.  A month after the storm we were finally reunited with our battered but quite habitable home…and we healed.  The trees which blocked our egress were finally removed.  We survived.  We are strong and we are no longer alone.  The storm had been a harsh teacher.  Some may have succumbed to the lesson and for them I weep and pray, but for many of us, we picked up our lives, not where we left off, no, but with this profound experience behind us we went forth with the knowledge that our time here is temporary.  Our lives are temporary.  Those of our region know that better than most.  Now we are more prepared.  Now we are ready to go again…quicker and more efficiently.  We have gathered our loved ones close; we have healed important relationships, and tell those we love how much they mean to us every day.

So to those from other states who said our region should not be rebuilt I say, look at us now.  You were wrong.  There is no place like home for you and there is no place like home for us.  We are better citizens from our experience.

Tango With His Mom's Greyhound Tattoo (Click to enlarge)

Did these people bring it or what!  Tango decided he wasn’t going to look at me with his ears up, but who cares, huh?  This is better.  He looks so comfortable posing with his mom.  By the way notice the tattoo on her upper left thigh.  Those are her three Greyhounds.  Make it larger and notice the three legged Greyhound on her leg.  Pretty dang good.

Shooting on high key white is not for the weak at heart.  I’d love to discuss this subject with others, as I do think it’s the most advanced studio photographic skill there is.  This shot is touched up to make the white whiter.  Its’ difficult to do with no post processing.  Refer to How To Set Up Your Pet Photography Studio to understand that to shoot on high key white you will need all the lights I have depicted.  You need to really fire up the backdrop so I shoot at 1:1:2:2.  That is, the backdrop lights are at twice the power of as the key and hair lights.

For those of you who have some studio lights, give it a shot.  They say if you can shoot on high key white successfully, you can shoot on anything.  I don’t know about that, but I do know it’s a tough one.

Shiloh The Rescued, Retired, Racing Greyhound In The French Quarter (Click to enlarge)

This is a new scenic at Sisters Pet Pics.  Shiloh and her house sister, Bella, were the first to be photographed on it.  If you’re not sure if it’s real or not, ask the dogs.  Bella kept walking up to the shuttered door to be let in the house!  Shiloh, on the other hand, took it all in stride and posed beautifully on the steps.

Although this is a wonderful backdrop, there are problems associated with shooting against it; it would be phenomenal with a large group of humans and dogs.  There may be a danger of trying to show too much backdrop and not enough dog.  That’s an issue to consider when photographing all subjects against any lovely backdrop.  Consider the story you are trying to tell; then tell it.  In this case I wanted to show you a little more of the building.

As always, I’d love to see some examples of what you are trying out there.  I’d most welcome a critque of my work.  Really.  Don’t be shy.  I’m gentle.