Pet photography in L.A.!

You guys! You almost let me go all of May without a blog post! And surely you are waiting for one! I want to introduce you to Cosita, a much loved 13-year-old Pomeranian. Her owners, Don and Fernando, and I agreed to meet at a Los Angeles park. I'm not going to say which one. But it was one I'd never been to before though it's very iconic. It has views of downtown L.A. Spectacular.

Anyway, we started off our shoot with the buildings of downtown in the background. For this shoot, I only brought my Fujifilm X-T2. I left my lights in the car and carried only the camera and a few lenses. The grass was really damp but nonetheless, I laid down so I could get beautiful images of Cosita at her level. After we did some nice sitting shots, we decided to do some action.

Now with this particular camera, I have not been highly successful at catching dogs running, I'll be honest. I love the camera but I usually bring either my Nikon or Camera systems along, depending on what I'm going for. BUT!!! This time... all day long. Well, not all day long, but you know what I mean. I found a nice woodsy backdrop in the park, then Fernando would throw a treat (she really didn't chase a ball but she did chase a treat) and off Cosita ran with me clicking like a mad woman.

One of the important things about catching action -- and seriously, you need to have a pretty fast camera if you're going to catch it -- is that the dog is well lit. You can do it with backlighting but I find that much more difficult, though the effects with a rim of light on the fur can be stunning. No matter what you do, you're going to get a lot of out of focus shots. It's just the nature of the beast.

Here's what I find I need when photographing action. 1) Lots of light 2) A fast lens 3) AI Servo or Continuous focusing. I usually use my Nikon when shooting action because honestly, my Canon could just not do it with me at the helm. But I get a lot of keepers with Nikon and now with the Fuji. You see, the Fuji is a mirrorless camera. It isn't a single lens reflect, like the Nikon and Camera. It has a slight delay. But dang! It worked. Take a look at some of my favorite images of Cosita.

And when you're ready for your own running dog photo shoot, give me a holler at 818.481.5214 or simply hit that Contact button in the lower right corner. We'll get you taken care of!