Day 11: My Presence is Presents Enough
Another pretty simple idea that can be taken in a ton of different directions is the idea of gift-giving!
Think boxes, ribbons and wrapping paper.
It can be as simple as getting your dog to hold a gift in his mouth by the box or the bow, or putting your sweet new puppy in a open box.
I took the idea even a little further and tied a ribbon around my boys’ heads and made THEM into the gift, even though they’re all grown up and don’t fit in a box any more.
I also wanted to play with a story idea of one of them receiving the other as a Christmas present but even though Loki’s the older brother and has to suffer having Journey as his Christmas present, Loki just rocked the bow better, what can I say 🤷🏻♀️ This isn’t the greatest quality photo in the universe – I just wanted to demonstrate the concept!
Let's Talk Bokeh!
See the super pretty sparkly bokeh in the background of the close-up shots? It’s all about that depth of field babeh.
Our depth of field is how much of the photo is in focus. There’s a few things that can affect the depth of field and therefore how blurry the background (and foreground) is!
- aperture you use. A smaller number = narrower depth of field. See the photo of Loki & Journey together? I used a flash and my f/ number was something like f/5.6 or so. EVERYTHING is in focus! The rest of the photos? f/1.4 to f/2
- the distance from you to your subject. Closer to your subject = narrower depth of field = blurrier background
- the distance from your subjct to the background. Further away = blurrier background
- the lens length. Longer lens = more compression = blurrier background
So if you want sparkly Christmas tree bokeh in your photos you’re going to want to keep these things in mind!
Keeping your tree further back from your subject will help.
Photographing your subject up close will help.
Having your aperture as wide as it will go (smallest number possible) will help. (Plus bonus! You get more light in)
You CAN force bokeh on your phone by getting really close to the subject.
I cover this and a heap more topics related to exposure, camera settings and other foundation skills in my upcoming courses: Master Your DSLR and Pet Photography Foundations. Want to be the first to know when it’s ready? It’s gonna be bite-sized and set you up for success in the Learning Journey if you want to continue taking your pet photography to the next level.
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