I have been around dogs for pretty much all of my life. Except for when I was at college, there has always been a dog in my home. I think the longest gap without a dog in my house has been maybe 6 months. Randall, the Bichon Frise pictured above, is the latest one to live in our home. Technically it belongs to our oldest daughter, but he lives here (as does she) and we all take care of him.

In taking photos of pets, I have seen a lot of similarities to kids. They can be incredibly cooperative, as Randall was above, or Schroeder, an Australian Shepherd we used to have. They can be extremely disinterested like Ozzie, one of our cats, or very excited like Daisy, our neighbor’s Weimaraner. Sometimes they don’t even mind an accidental finger in the eye. And much like kids, we don’t want them to be too far out of character when we get a photo of them. Just like anything else, we want the photo to reflect who they are, because that is what we love.

Rio (our German Shepherd) reminded us a few years ago that pets don’t live forever. I had her for about 8 years (I jokingly say I had her longer than my wife and kids), and she and I were pretty close. It wasn’t until she passed that I realized how few pictures I had of her. Being someone who likes to take pictures of anything and everything, it is a bit embarrassing to admit this. But I have precious few pictures of her, and it bothers me. Since then I have tried to capture more pictures of our animals. Or at least some signature photos that really bring their character to light. I am pretty satisfied with the results so far. The picture of Randall at the top was shot earlier this week, and I think captured him quite well. Possibly the best pet photo I have shot so far. I know my daughter will be happy to have it when Randall’s time comes, and that makes me both proud and happy.

This is one of the two major sandstone formations that comprise the Red Rocks Amphitheater in suburban Denver, Colorado. To me it looked like a guardian, protecting the lonely pine tree struggling to survive in the rocks. Order your copy today.

My daughter is one of the hardest kids to get a good picture of. At 3 years of age (4 in a couple weeks), she is a non-stop dynamo of energy that never seems to stop. That energy is magnified even more when we are exploring a new (to her) place.

This past weekend she decided she wanted to go see Red Rocks - as in the Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre, but famous by the U2 video in the 80’s. It is actually a pretty popular hangout among people in Denver, there were a lot of people using it for a workout today (running up and down the stairs and “seats” is a popular workout).

Natalie was in explorer mode today, so she wanted to go all the way down to the bottom and look around. I was able to convince her to pose for me a little bit at the top first though. As she gets older, she is starting to enjoy being in front of the camera. Later in the day she told me I should be taking pictures of her splashing in the puddles left by the rain.

I haven’t shot any families with little kids other than my own, but my advice would be to be patient, follow the little ones around, and shoot a lot of pics to get the keepers. It’s kind of like shooting sports. They are that unpredictable and fast paced.

Besides being a photographer, I am also a website developer and consultant here in Colorado. It is a lot of fun for me when I get a project where I can use my skills from both areas. Such is the case this week, where I am working on a couple of websites for a Boulder glassblower. My existing light tent was not adequate for this project (no underlighting), so I set out to build a new one out of PVC. This isn’t rocket science, and a lot of people have done it, but I needed mine to be just a little bit different. I decided I was going to shoot the glass items on top of a glass riser, with a fluorescent light fixture underneath. To that end, I set of for Home Depot.

Shopping list:
- 8 1/2″ PVC Side Outlet 90’s
- 4 1/2″ PVC T’s
- 8 1/2″ PVC Male Threaded - Slip adapters
- 4 10′ x 1/2″ PVC Pipe
- 1 Low profile fluorescent light fixture
- 6′ 14/3, rubber coated extension cord (just cord, no ends)
- 15A Outlet Plug
- 1 18″x36″x3/16″ plate glass

Why I bought some of this stuff:
- The threaded male / slip adapters were because the side outlet 90’s have one outlet that is threaded. Instead of spending the time with a Dremel removing the threads, I just spent a few cents on the adapter and called it done.
- Fluorescent fixture and associated cord, plug was purchased because the selection of plugin light fixtures was not adequate for my needs. Total cost for the fixture, cord and plug was around $35, IIRC. If you are not comfortable with wiring together electrical devices, you should look for a pre-wired fixture suitable for your needs.

Construction was pretty simple.
1. Measure 14 sections of 30″ each (or whatever length you want to use) on the PVC pipe. After cutting, I used a file to clean up the edges.

2. From the remaining length of pipe, cut 4 pieces 3″ long. These are the risers to go higher than the light fixture (depending on your fixture, you may need to go higher than 3″).

3. Put together the 90° outs and the slip/ threaded adapters.

4. Using a rubber mallet, put one piece of pipe into one end of a 90° out. Continue doing this, making a square base such that the threaded/ slip adapters are facing upward.

5. Insert the 3″ lengths of pipe into the threaded/ slip adapters.

6. Attach 2 PVC T’s to a piece of pipe, and then set the completed piece on top of the 3″ lengths on the base. Do this twice.

7. To the top of each T, insert a 30″ piece of pipe.

8. Same as step 4, construct a square frame from the remaining 4 pieces of 30″ pipe and the 90° outs (with the threaded/ slip adapters facing up).

9. Invert the completed square frame from step 8 and attach to the top of the frame from step 7.

10. Completed item should look similar to the photo above.

11. For good measure, I took a wet paper towel and wiped down all of the pipe.

That is all there is to it. You will of course need sheets or fabric to make the shell of the tent, and some kind of material for the backdrop. So far I used 3 single-size sheets to cover my tent, a piece of posterboard for the backdrop, and my clamp lights for lighting (I have 3 of those).

My immediate plan is to hit a fabric shop and get white and black muslin for the backdrop, and also get enough white fabric to make a proper slip cover for the tent. But for now this setup is working well. Here is a photo from the tent.

This tent is pretty big and portable. If it is too big for your needs, you could try this alternative design. I just might have to build one of these and try it out too.

City and County 1, originally uploaded by DeNic Photos.

This HDR image of Denver’s City and County Building quickly became a fan favorite. I wanted to get a perspective that removed as many of the people as I could on this busy night in downtown Denver.

I took this image during a night outing with a local photography group.

I try to take part in as many group outings as I can. No matter the group, I always take something positive from it so I find them invaluable.

This month I have two group portrait workshops to attend to work on lighting and posing. I am looking forward to both of them as it gives me a chance to try out new ideas that I can then bring back to my clients.

Dan Achatz, a regular in the Flickr PFRE group, put together one of the best HDR tutorials I have seen yet. He goes through his process of compiling the images into a realistic representation of what he saw in person. It is well worth taking some time and watching the video.

After watching it, I followed his steps when making the HDR image shown above. It’s the used tire warehouse at Metal Movers, a Denver, Colorado based auto recycler. I am doing some website consulting for them and needed some photos of the different products and services they offer. A tire warehouse of this size is a lighting challenge due to all the dark colors and shadows, so I thought it would be best to do an HDR to represent it. This particular image is a combintation of 5 exposures, taken at the intervals that Photomatix recommends. I think it came out pretty well, the notable exception being the fluorescent overhead lights. I need to practice with HDR more, but I am really pleased with the results I am starting to get.

Snapped this photo of a rusting crankshaft in a Denver salvage yard recently.

Japanese Candle Shelf, originally uploaded by Dizzle @ 2*3 Photos.

During a break from shooting a fashion show I wandered around Wish Nightclub and came across a wall of shelves with a few random candles in them. For some reason this stood out to me

I shot a fashion show on Friday. It was inside of a nightclub. I was really tired and wanted to be sleep so to keep myself awake while waiting for the show to start I started wandering around the club, checking out all the nooks and crannies.

I came upon this wall of shelves that had a few candles placed inside. From where I was standing I could only see this one lone candle even though there were probably about 10 candles through out the shelf.

I immediately perked up and knew what I had to do. I think the image turned out well, low light, slower shutter, hand held.

The other day I lamented about how my little girl goes crazy once the camera comes out. I have figured out the secret. Put her in an environment where she is distracted, and you can get the really candid pics. Yesterday she and I went to City Park and Washington Park in Denver. Out in Lakewood, the parks just don’t have the massive, modern play structures you find at the better Denver parks. We had a great time, and she played hard as she always does. Since Washington Park is about a 15 minute drive from City Park, she had time to wind down a little bit.

Upon arriving at Washington Park (or Wash Park as the locals know it), she saw the ducks and geese in the lake. We went over to take a look, which was when I was able to snap this shot. I actually got a few good, candid portraits yesterday. She was in her own element, having a grand time. That is the secret.

I have the rest of the images from yesterday available if you want to see them.