More viewers' pictures # 8

Photographer Christy Meek of Deltona, Florida, sent us the first four pictures on this page. "I would love to photograph animals professionally," she wrote.

The image on the left was entitled "Jas" by Christy, which is the name of her black Labrador dog, caught here peeking through the fence. "She hates it when we leave without her," says Christy. This picture perfectly captures Jas' feelings about being left at home.

As Christy's picture illustrates, you don't need to show the entire animal to tell a story with your photography. This photograph reveals a great deal about the dog's state of mind and is made all the more interesting by having the fence in the foreground, blocking much of the view of Jas but drawing your gaze to the animal's expressive eye.

Christy took a bit of a risk when photographing "Hershey," the attentive-looking dog on the right. Why? Because the animal is in strongly-mixed lighting - an abundance of deep shade and lots of strong sunlight where there isn't shade. Exposure in such lighting can be tricky, and contrast is sometimes too high for proper shadow detail without also washing out the highlights. Christy managed this picture very well, getting just the right exposure for sufficient detail in both dark and bright areas. And, the contrasty lighting adds to its drama.

How did she manage to capture him with his head up and with such an expression of concentration? "A neighbor's cat caught his eye," says Christy. "He wanted to play so bad." Being alert to such moments and having your camera ready to capture them on film are two essential factors in capturing good candid pictures of pets.

The patient-looking dog on the left is "Kiesha," who was photographed through the glass patio door while waiting for Christy to let her in for dinner. "The sun hit her just right," says Christy. "I had to get my camera."

Christy asked us to comment on her photographs. Although it is rare that we have the opportunity to provide a critique for every one of the hundreds of images we receive, we were able to do so in this instance. About this particular picture, we said: "There is a dark line of shadow running down her face from eye to nose that could have been eliminated using fill flash or a white reflector placed on her right side to shine the sunlight into the shadow areas." If Christy had used either technique, she would have reduced the contrast and changed the image into a professionally-illuminated picture. For further improvement, Christy could also have gotten down to Kiesha's eye level (as she did with the picture of Hershey above) and framed the image so you could see her paws. The picture, nonetheless, still has strong appeal, and is one that most of us would be pleased to have taken.

When we saw this picture included among Christy's photographs of her dogs, we thought she should perhaps be called simply an "Ographer" for only shooting pictures of animals whose names end in "og."

"My dad has these beautiful yellow flowers that bloom every summer," she writes. "I wanted to get a picture of them. The frog was a bonus!"

Indeed it was. It adds animation, color and a center of interest and makes for a simple, but fascinating composition.

Kat Callaway is the photographer who appropriately gave this South Padre Island, Texas picture its title: "Alison's Mystery."

She says, "This photo was taken with a Minolta 370-XN camera and a Kalimar 80-200mm zoom lens. The camera was set on a tripod and a shutter release cable was used to expose the photo for 5 seconds. The movement of the waves and the slightly overcast lighting of the day combine to give the photo an eerie, misty, mysterious look."

A second picture by Kat, entitled "Caught in the Act!" and photographed in McAllen, Texas, is described by her as follows: "This photo is priceless. My Lab mix, "Casey," had just stolen a pair of socks from my laundry basket. The look on her face ("I'm naughty but BOY am I cute!") describes her personality better than any words could! This photo was shot with a Canon Rebel 2000 and a 28-80mm Canon lens."





To see more Viewers' pictures, click here or on a link below.