My Niece and Nephew!

While searching for my old, yet relatively new, point and shoot Canon digital camera yesterday it was brought to my attention that it was recently stolen and then- pawned. So out of frustration and desire I decided to go out and buy myself a DSLR camera yesterday afternoon right before class.  I purchased a Nikon 14.2 Megapixel D3100 Digital SLR Camera with an 18-55mm VR lens. After finagling with the camera for a few hours this morning I realized that my expensive piece of equipment did not come with an SD card- of any kind.  After purchasing a couple of digital memory cards and two special lens protectors/enhancers I went to town with shooting photos.  I knocked on my neighbor's door and asked to see my niece Scarlet and nephew Merlin.  Unfortunately, since it was quite overcast today parts of the house were extremely dark, even with the blinds pulled up and the front and back doors left wide open.  Therefore, to start, I switched my ISO to 1600 and kept the flash on- just to practice.  After 20 shots I turned the flash off and WOW what a difference.  I'll point these issues out in just a minute. Also, while shooting I notice my hand began to cramp up due to the weight of my camera after 20-30 minutes.  As a result I can already tell maneuvering in, out, and around the kennels will be difficult with my dense and bulky camera.  Additionally, I am very happy I purchased two lens protectors/enhancers because the pups almost immediately shoved their noses into the camera which was fine with me just as long as the actual lens was not damaged- I recommend buying at least one- it would be better to replace a $15-$20 problem than a damaged lens worth several hundred dollars.  I would also like to talk about the dogs I took photographs of today.  First, they are both Australian Blue Healer/ English Bulldog mixes with mesmerizing fur coloration and strong facial features.  However, Scarlet has a very slight lazy eye so the whites around one of her eyes (I can't recall which one) is more prevalent than the other.  Whereas, Merlin's face is droopy making him look sad or unhappy-which he certainly is not 99% of the time.  Here are some photographs of them both!

 

Caption for photo 1: Here is Scarlet.  I captured her photo with the flash because the natural lighting in the room was not crystal bright as I would've liked it to have been.  However, the flash indeed made her eyes look "milky" and therefore weird and not photogenic. Notice also that the flash caused a shadow under her chin, behind her body, and from my camera causing distractions in the photo.

Here is Merlin.  He was very difficult to photograph because he was lying down most of the time and chewing a bone in which his teeth were showing in an unpleasant looking way.  In this picture his eyes are slightly milky but the photo is a good shot of his face, however, part of Scarlets body in the background also takes your attention away from Merlin



Finally a great shot.  No flash involved with an ISO  1600.  I was able to get them to face against the natural sunlight from the front door which highlights the natural areas of their bodies.  Also, the photo focuses  on Scarlet in front and distances Merlin in the back since he s not focused.  Also note that the "sparkle" in their eye captures the viewers attention and makes them look angelically precious.