I have been excited about joining this forum and had planned to do so this weekend when I had my website loaded with picures from the Potomac show. I know people who can't attend want to see the great dogs that were there. I understand though that a friend listed my web address the other day about the photos as many were asking to see them. I took the awesome photo of Kellie (Alyce's bitch) going WB last yeaer at Potomac that was posted on their website. I was dismayed to learn that in the course of one afternoon there were many posts, not about my talent with photos, but about my kennel and also info about my litters and my dogs and I'm not sure what else. What a way to welcome someone to the list with 30+ years of animal experience and a lot to share and offer others! I never read the posts and thankfully they were removed. I would like to start my introduction correctly. As far as photos, I have posted many already on my website at http://redlionkennel.com/redlionwebsites/photography i took these pictures on Wednesday. I will be posting many from Friday of the finals in WD, WB, Sweeps and BOB plus I got all the teams and brace entries. I hope to have those up by sunday
As for myself, I have bred Chesapeake Bay Retrievers for 30 years and compete in show, licensed field trials and hunt tests. You can read about my accomplishments if you so choose on my website. I've had Labs for about 10 years. I started in field trials and was very proud of my black male CFC Homeboy's Jazz. The thrill of winning a dog's field trial championship is quite exciting. He was also a finalist at the Canadian National Open. I work very hard towards breeding a dual purpose chesapeke and Lab. I show the same chesapeake at the national show that I run in field trials/hunt tests and hope to accomplish the same with my Labs.
I've volunteered countless hours for helping people with their dogs in many venues so that they can have an amimal that is a pleasure to live with and hopefully become involved themselves in the sport of dogs. I'm very particular about the health credentials of my dogs and won't sacrafice those for any CH or FC title. I looked forward to meeting some of you at shows or hunt tests this year so please fine me and say hello. If you have questions or comments please feel fre to email me privately. Thanks. Jane P

Nice photos from Potomac. Thanks so much, Jane.

Welcome Jane. Unfortunately your initial post, which listed prices for digital photos of our Labs that you had taken at Potomac was an advertisement of your services. Noone was trying to be disrespective about your dogs, your canine accomplishments or your experience as a photographer. New posters on this forum are always welcome however, there are a few rules which everyone must follow. If a poster chooses not to follow the rules, they will hear about it. Please familiarize yourself with these rules and things will go much smoother for you in the future.

sorry but this drives me NUTS!!!

“No one” is always two separate words, unlike “anyone” and “someone.”

thank you

Alot of us have been going to Potomac for 20+
years and we all take photos for each other. Some post them on websites along with a roaming show photographer that has done this show for years.
They are all free!

Thanks for putting them on your website.

tx jane!!

thanks for the note about the rules. I didn't make the initial post that had my info on. A friend was trying to be helpful to list my website so anyone could look at the photos that wanted to. I'm sure that person wasn't tring to do anything wrong.

Sharon
I'm sure everyone appreciates your photos. I think you said you spent 2-3 hours and didn't crop or edit them as you didn't have any more time and you stayed this on several different posts. I understand that completely. I've already spent more than 12 hours and have another 8 hours to go before I have the pictures they way I want them for viewing - cropped, resized and uploaded. It seems like you complain if someone isn't doing all of this for free for every picture. I have them for free for anyone to view and enjoy. If anyone wants to use them for advertising etc that is a different story. Hope you understand.

Jane

What type of camera are you using and what software do you use for editting the photo's if you don't mind the question?

Amber

The pictures were thoroughly appreciated! You did a splendid job! Thank you from one who could not attend!

Hi Jane,

Wow, it looks like you put a lot of time in to this project!

However, I would like to make a suggestion that when photographing conformation, you need to be down at the level of the dog. Most of the photos I saw on your website, you are looking down on the dog. This terribly distorts the dog's proportions. When shooting a dog for a conformation photograph, you want the best possible angle to show of that dog's balance and angle. This means getting down on your knees or actually sitting on the ground so that your eye or lens in this case, is level with the dog. I know it probably isn't an easy feat at the Potomac to get a prime spot, but I have seen some nice ring side shots of dogs from this show. Another thing I see with your photos are the dogs look like they are going "downhill", meaning their rears appear higher than their shoulders. This may not have been the case, but I sometimes the photographer has a tendency to aim the camera that way. One way to remedy that is to simply rotate the photo slightly to bring the dog's back to being level.

Another thing to consider when photographing conformation dogs is they way they are stacked. Over stretched, understretched, head to high, tail wags, etc can all spoil a photo. Also, feet/leg placement is critical as well. If the back legs are uneven, or the outside rear leg is behind the one in front of the camera, it will throw off the rear balance/angulation. Same with the front. The outside front leg should be seen slightly in front of the inside leg/leg in front of the camera to keep a balanced front/forechest and show proper bone, etc. In other words, all four legs should be seen in the photo. Look at the photos on this forum under the Spotlight section. There are many good photos that show proper balance and angle.

I am not trying to be mean or nasty here, but if you want to take photos and sell them, perhaps you should make sure that when photographing conformation dogs, that you have a quality product to offer the owners. While the photos you took maybe "cute", if I am going to pay for a photo, I want one I can use to advertise my dog with that shows proper conformation and does my dog justice.

As others have asked, what type of camera are you using? If you are not using an SLR with a telephoto lens, ringside shots are not going to be the best quality as you should be shooting the dog from across the ring anyway. You would get much better proportions. Photographing conformation dogs is not as easy at it may seems. The best photographers that I've seen are those who have an eye for conformation and know what the dog should look like and how he looks best in the photographs.

Thank you Jane for sharing the pictures. As usual you have those that will always find something to Bit-- about. You were trying to do a good thing. Thanks

Thanks for your long post and I totally agree with you about the positioning of the dog for a photo. That is correct to have all the legs viewing, level view etc. Unfortunately that is rarely available during a 2 minute judging of the dog at Potomac. The reason is this: I purposely went the day before and set up a tent ringside at the sweeps so i could be in the front row so as not to have people in front of me all the time. The dogs stand in front of you very close to the fence. Any shots from there have the fence in front of the dog. As you see i did my best to at least get photos without fence covering half the body. No one wants ths for their dog. I am using a Cannon Rebel XT and did have a 300 lense also. I enjoy taking the head shots and showing the personality of the animals which I tried to capture and my reason also for cropping. I've never been to a show where the handlers never set the dog up n the same place/position twice! one person had the dog stacked for the judge perfectly with a side view. So I would be ready. the next person free stacked perfectly also - but was standing at an angle. I ran from one side of the ring to the other as people who saw me can tell you between each dog. till I would get there it was too late so I would try for a moving shot and those we all know are hard to capture correctly. The next handler did a beautiful job also and would stand in the same place with the butt towards me or the head and no side shot possible either. I can only take what the handlers give me. In Labs everything is free stacking....so how can I have 4 legs showing if the handlers don't have that and the dog isn't in the perfect possition time after time? If I were purposely positioned a dog for someone to take their picture you best believe your suggestions should be and are followed by all good photographers. Many handlers at Potomac over and over told me yes this is a competition and we are servious but we are here to have fun...and that is what they did...so I had to capture their beautiful dogs the best I could. I missed many because of thier not positioning them one after the other, all standing and pointing the same way. or I would have caught them with a nice side view showing however the handler had them stacked. Have you been to Potomac? Have you photographed dogs there before? if so, i want to see what you were able to get.
A photograph isn't just to have the dog stacked perfectly - it is to show the essence of the duo in front of you, their connection and their beauty as it is in front you. I do believe that is what I captured at Potomac. Look at some of the pictures with the handlers faces and the dogs they love and you can see it on my website.
Thanks for your post and I'm sure it's helpful for everyone! Jane P

Amber
I have a Cannon Rebel XT. I crop and scale the photos in several different programs, depending on what I want to do with them. I have Adobe 7 which is great for reducing size especially. I use Jasc paint Shot Pro 8.1 for resizing some, borders and frames around the pictures and a cheap little thing called MGI for added text or fading the edges. Many programs do the same thing but then each also has it's own additional things and the way they work is similar but some have differences there also.
jane P

http://www.lvsassociates.com/register/product_info.php?products_id=3

Very cheap, very enjoyable and lots to learn beginning at 101

These are a two examples of what are considered quality photography in the labrador world. It is my honest opinion and the two below are not advertising or being advertised. I chose to post their URL's for good examples of photographing the breed.

http://www.lor-allabs.com/web.htm

http://www.wigwaglabradors.com/photography.htm