Shoot Seven Straight Images

I started the shoot taking an image of the early morning long shadows as a volunteer arrives at Mutts  in the morning to illustrate the long hours that are put into caring for the animals there. The entrance lane is quite pretty so I thought it would also illustrate how nice it is to work in such a landscape.



I then spent time in the paddock and the kennels taking images capturing the affection that the volunteers feel for the dogs. Taking images of them clapping the dogs and giving them treats as well as making eye contact with them.



Some of the puppies have arrived from Romania but were not used to people and were rather frightened. I captured an image of one of the braver pups coming towards me to take a treat from my hand. The other pup was too timid to come near me. This image shows the time that must be spent working with the pups to get them confident around people.



This image shows the strength that is needed to put a lead onto one of the more energetic dogs. He is so excited that he cannot stay still long enough to get a lead attached to his collar and it takes two people to hold him still to get this done so that he can be walked over to the paddock.


I selected two images to modify in Photoshop. I wanted to focus on capturing movement in these images, to underline the amount of time the staff spend exercising the dogs to keep them fit and happy, as well as training them to interact appropriately with people.

I decided to create two composites images, using the images I had taken in the paddock of the dogs running after balls that the volunteers had thrown for them. Firstly I went through the images and selected the ones with the best positions of the dog and the volunteer that I wanted to use.

 
In Photoshop I combined the freeze frame images of the subjects to create this composite image. I feel this image captures the movement of both the volunteer and the dog as they play fetch together. This image feels more dynamic and full of energy than the individual freeze frame images and this will help the viewer visualise the motion in the activity as well as the fun being had and energy being expended.



I also had taken a series of images in a photo burst that I wanted to use.



I wanted to create something a little different to the previous composite image but captures motion in a more dramatic way. So I experimented with how I could present this, then I selected some of the images from above that I felt  would work best in my composite image. To achieve this effect I deleted the background of almost all of the images, then I combined the images but I changed the layers to screen, which produced an effect so that it appears as if the dog is running so fast that it is only possible to capture a pale shadow of where he has been. Also, I made it so that the volunteer was in the same place which could have made it look as though she wasn't moving as much, however, all these layers create an effect where it looks as though she is moving so fast she cannot be seen, like she is moving at the speed of light.  The multiple images of the subjects also indicates that this activity is one that is done many times.