During a recent visit to our daughter’s home I spent a few minutes photographing fur babies. My daughter and her husband have three dogs…. Wayne, Wawa and Casper. It is sometimes a bit of a challenge to catch them remaining still for any length of time… so I made the best of the situation!
NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.
I haven’t used my M,Zuiko 45 mm f/1.2 prime lens very often since acquiring it. I’m very happy that I had it with me as the lighting was quite dark. I took the opportunity to shoot wide open at f/1.2 and was pleased with the resulting images.
I also had my M.Zuiko PRO 12-40 mm f/2.8 zoom lens in my camera bag. This also came in handy as it gave me a bit more depth-of-field when shot wide open.
The stellar IBIS on my Olympus OM-D E-M1X also contributed when shooting successfully at slower shutter speeds like 1/20 and 1/15 of a second.
During past visits I tried photographing fur babies with my Nikon 1 gear but had very little success given the lighting conditions. There is no IBIS with Nikon 1 camera bodies. All of the 1 Nikkor prime lenses do not have vibration reduction. This combination makes using 1 Nikkor primes handheld at slower shutter speeds less than ideal.
Using a constant aperture f/2.8 PRO zoom and a 45 mm f/1.2 prime lens made a world of difference. As did the IBIS performance of my E-M1X.
Photographing fur babies when they are in cooperative moods is a welcome occurrence.
Each of my daughter’s fur babies has their own personality. There is always a bit of bedlam when we first arrive.
After a few minutes things settle down and my wife and I are accepted as members of the fur family.
Technical Note:
Photographs were captured handheld using camera gear as noted in the EXIF data. All images were produced from RAW files using my standard process.
How you can help keep this site advertising free
My intent is to keep this photography blog advertising free. If you enjoyed this article and/or my website and would like to support my work, you can purchase an eBook, or make a modest $10 donation through PayPal. Both are most appreciated. You can use the Donate button below. Larger donations can be made to tom@tomstirr.com through PayPal.
Word of mouth is the best form of endorsement. If you like our website please let your friends and associates know about our work. Linking to this site or to specific articles is allowed with proper acknowledgement. Reproducing articles, or any of the images contained in them, on another website or in any social media posting is a Copyright infringement.
Article and images are Copyright 2020 Thomas Stirr. All rights reserved. No use, duplication or adaptation of any kind is allowed without written consent. If you see this article reproduced anywhere else it is an unauthorized and illegal use. Posting comments on offending websites and calling out individuals who steal intellectual property is always appreciated!
Hah!
My grandmother had the same dog, named Penny. Awesome photos. Nowadays, I have an abisinian kitty named Beep Beep, and she does not need a modeling license …
Tom,
A big awwww for the post and the images.
Dogs are my best buddies so couldn’t resist commenting on this.
Using f/1.2 had that lovely bokeh though the closeup distance made it obvious that it took several shots before the dogs settled down and got comfy (Exhibit A: Image #4). Just by their expressions, I can tell who’s a bit goofy and who’s a bit phlegmatic 😀
Oggie
http://www.lagalog.com
Hi Oggie,
You’re right that each dog has its own personality!
Tom