Archiveslearning journey

Learning Community

in Uncategorized on 0 761 Views

Our Community

Our community is a HUGE part of your membership. It’s where you can meet others, ask questions and get feedback, support and critique.

It is a low-pressure, no-stress environment, where we encourage you to give as much as you want to receive. This means commenting on other people’s posts, interacting, and making it the kind of place YOU want to hang out. 

How to Access It

The Community can be a bit overwhelming at first, as it’s hosted on a separate network so works a bit differently to this website. Please make sure you read the information on this page and watch the video to get the most out of it.

You will need to create a new account for the Community. The website (here) and the Community are NOT linked, so your Inspawration login will NOT automatically work on Inspawration Connect. I recommend you use the same email and password for Connect that you use here. 

A note about updates to the site & the video below

Note: the Community has recently undergone some small cosmetic changes since I made the video below. There is no longer a YELLOW or TEAL header.

The “Groups” tab has also changed.

Any of the links inside the LJ will immediately join you to the private Learning Community.

You will now see the TOPICS listed on the left hand menu/hamburger menu on desktop.

  • If you are seeing/posting in the “Learning Community”, “Feedback, Critique & Photoshare,” “Gear Talk,” “Business and Social Media”, etc, then you are posting in the private, Learning-Journey members part of Inspawration Connect.
  • If you can ONLY see “Inspawration Connect”, (there’s a bug where this sometimes happens when you first sign up) then click the link below to get access to the private part of the site.
  • Due to the update, the navigation MAY NOT match the video below exactly!

I’ll be updating these ASAP but you should still be able to join and find your way to where you need to go!

Check your private messages once you’ve joined! I try and say “Hello!” personally to every single new member (I’m not a bot!) so don’t leave me hanging!

Inspawration Connect

Click here to join the community

Our community is a HUGE part of being in the Inspawration family. The positivity, support, helpful feedback and celebration is unlike anything you’ll find in any Facebook group.

No matter what stage of your journey you’re in, I highly encourage you to join the community, introduce yourself, and engage with others. After all, they were all once beginners too!

Inspawration Connect, vs. Private Group: Learning Community

Inspawration Connect is made up of two parts, and it’s important to be aware of which “section” you’re posting in. 

There’s main network, which is just Inspawration Connect. It USED to be public, but is now for members of Pet Photography Fundamentals, and folks who join my courses, plus old LJ/LC members who joined before I made it private.

Then there’s the Private Group, called the Learning Community. As you guys are my priority, I will give better, more detailed feedback to you, than to anyone who posts in the public Inspawration Connect. And since I don’t always know who is in the membership until we’ve spent some time together, I might not know you’re one of my students UNLESS you post in the Learning Community!

Therefore, it’s really important to post in the Learning Community if:

  • you want feedback from me and the other students, for me to demonstrate a technique or edit on your photo, etc
  • you want me and the others to answer your questions with detail and point you to resources in the membership
  • you don’t want just anyone to see your post
  • you want to engage specifically with our special community

You can view ALL posts available to you via the “Feed”.

You will know you’re posting in the main Inspawration Connect part when it says: “Inspawration Connect” along the top. 

You will know you’re in the private Learning Community when you’re in any of the topics listed under “Learning Community”

Inspawration Connect

Learning Community (Private to the Learning Journey)

The invite above will take you straight to the Learning Community.

Next time you open the app or website though, if you find yourself in the public Inspawration Connect, you can access the Learning Community & its topics by finding the menu on the left of the screen and opening it (mobile).

Accessing the chat & other features

Take some time to explore the site! There’s plenty of useful and interesting features there and I’m sure they will be adding more.

We have a chat where you’re welcome to message others, or chat informally about anything.

Questions requiring more detailed answers should be posted to the “Questions and Answers” topic. 

Please note: Any questions that would be of interest to other students, eg., photography issues, software questions, questions about dogs, camera settings, gear, etc, should all be posted in the relevant topic, and NOT messaged to me privately. It is not fair to other students if I answer general questions privately, as it deprives them of an opportunity to learn, and turns your membership into a one-to-one mentoring situation.  Questions about your specific membership, eg., billing, password issues, etc, or general website bugs or glitches can be messaged privately to me.

There are several “Topics” you can post under Think of them like old-school forum topics. So, if you want to just check out photos for feedback or get feedback, you could go to the Feedback & Critique topic. If you have a question about social media or business, you can use the Business and Social media topic. If you’re not sure, just want to post memes, want to share a win or ask a question in general, just post in the “Learning Community”.

You will also find our live events listed in the Events section. You can RSVP to the events here, and get a reminder from MightyNetworks emailed to you before it starts. 

Make sure you check out the Featured Posts, have a look at the Welcome Checklist, and then introduce yourself!

Important note

Because Inspawration connect is on a subdomain of inspawrationphotography.com, some browsers get confused with the username/password situation, and will try and use your Learning Journey password to log in to Inspawration Connect. 

Therefore, I highly recommend you use the same username/email address and password across both parts of the site, to save yourself a lot of frustration of constantly entering the “wrong password” into Inspawration Connect.

Click here to join the community

Roadmap Stages

in Uncategorized on 0 2 Views

Which Eye?

in Uncategorized on 0 436 Views
Focus on Foundations Photos in Focus Which Eye?

One thing you might be wondering, or not even aware of, is which eye should be in focus – most especially when we are taking a very close up photo of our dog where they are angled to the camera with one eye closer to the camera, and one maybe slightly further away, and we have a very narrow depth of field.

You’ll be learning more about depth of field, but it’s important to note that it’s normal (and in my opinion totally fine) if one eye is in focus, and the other isn’t.

If you’re working under these conditions, it’s very important to make sure that the eye closest to the camera (and usually the most visible) is the one that is in focus. 

This isn’t apply if the dog is looking directly into the camera, as the eyes will be on the same plane of focus as each other, or if you’re working with a wide enough depth of field that both eyes are in focus.

It’s important when only one eye is in perfect focus.

So make sure your focus area is over the eye closest to the camera, and that you choose the photo where that eye is in focus.

Below is a rather subtle example. The key is to look at the fur around the eyes, and where it’s sharpest.

This image has the focus on the "far" eye, the one that is kind of hidden by Journey's snout. We notice how out of focus his closer eye is.
This photo has focus on the closer eye, but we don't notice with the same clarity how out of focus the other eye is, since it's hidden/not the centre and focus of the image.

An extreme close crop of a similar image. 
Previous Topic
Back to Lesson
Next Topic

Disconnected Ears

in Uncategorized on 0 17 Views
Pet Photography: Next Level Expression Disconnected Ears

The ears of your dog can be a subtle but important part of your dog’s expression.

Some dogs will be very obvious when they’ve “disconnected” and aren’t involved in the photo any more, or they aren’t paying attention to whatever is around them. They’ve switched off. They’re over it. Ears are back or down.

If the ears of your dog are looking like this, I encourage you to re-evaluate the amount of reinforcement the dog has regarding taking photos. Are you putting too much pressure on him? Does he not understand his job? Has he been posing too long or without reward? Or does he not have enough history of reward for the camera and therefore just hates it every time you get it out?

Depending on the situation you may need to go back several steps, to low-distraction environments, and just work on building up his reward history associated with the camera.

If you’re putting too much pressure on him, stop doing that, and let him look around and create his own photos. If he’s been posing too long, make the posing time much shorter and more rewarding!

If he is uncertain about his job, try praising him while he’s posing. Journey’s best alert expressions often come from me enthusiastically crying: “YES! SUPER!!! WOOOOWWWWW AMAZING EARS BABY WOOWWWWW!”. There is absolutely no doubt in his mind that whatever he’s doing at that moment is amazing.

The examples below show some pretty “bad” ears and engagement.

Here is a selection of another 4 ears from Journey, from completely and utterly disconnected, to halfway there, to ALMOST but not quite… and finally, the photo I ended up using. 

The reason I chose the on of him looking up?

First, I find these photos can often tell a more interesting story than another photo of my dog standing and looking at the camera, and second, he is totally engaged in whatever he’s looking at. He’s totally focused. I would much rather this, than a photo where he’s half-listening somewhere else.

Subtle ears

In my eye, the examples above are pretty obvious, but some dogs can be especially subtle in when they’ve “tuned out”. It might be as simple as one ear very slightly rotated away. 

For Journey, this means he’s only half-engaged in what we’re doing – it usually only happens when I’m asking him to look at the camera and he’s a bit over it – and he’s half listening for something more interesting, without moving his head or looking away (border collies are too clever, right?!). These photos have a distinct feeling of “disconnection” about them, and I won’t use them. I would much rather he be looking totally away and be engaged and interested and alert, than bored and disconnected.

The first one is good. The 2nd two aren’t even subtle. 

Good, alert, connected expression on the left photos, ear flick/disconnection on the right. Some are much more subtle than others! Can you see?
Previous Topic
Back to Lesson
Next Lesson

Gazing direction

in Uncategorized on 0 19 Views
Pet Photography: Next Level Expression Gazing direction

Looking off to one side can often give us a more wistful feeling, like we’ve just happened upon the dog in the woods, or they’re watching another animal, smelling a smell on the wind, or are involved somehow in their own story.

As mentioned elsewhere, we are not a part of this scene necessarily, but we are observers. Therefore, the pose should support this feeling – depending on what exactly you’re going for. If you want the feeling of a dog “in his natural habitat” or as part of his own story, then his posed should be less forced/unnatural. 

If we are showing off a trick or it is part of a bigger story where the dog could have been interrupted mid movement or similar, then the pose can “feel” a bit more staged. Eg., the dog mid-roll, lying on his back and looking up. There are such a huge number of poses and potential options here, that it’s really just a matter of going with what “feels” like it suits the scene.

I would say though that in general, a photo where the dog is looking off to the side should look/feel less posed than one with the dog looking forward at the camera.

Different “angles” of looking will have different effects, too. A 45 degree angle (over one of your shoulder) can be a bit more dreamy. A 90 degree angle has much more of the dog’s focus and intention and creates less connection with the audience: the dog is really involved in their own world.

 Seeing the dog look into the distance asks questions of adventures, or possibilities, or dreaming of things to come. 

Looking up also has an entirely different feeling: dreamy, whimsical, romantic, wondering, or perhaps something joyful if the dog’s face is being “bathed in light”. 

You don’t have to plan where the dog will look, down to the exact angle, but being aware of the feelings of different angles will help you to create that story or mood in editing. Having a small idea of where you want them to look will also help you with composition, as you’ll make sure there aren’t plants or trees blocking their view. 

That being said, if the dog is looking all around… take the photos!! Some dogs will do better without being “nagged” for attention all the time. Let him watch the birds, the squirrels, sniff the breeze, listen to the deer… and take those photos, then create his own story. And when he’s looked around, make a sudden, sharp, surprising noise and be ready. 

 

I was recently asked how to train a dog to “look up”, and the truth is, that I don’t. While I have taught both my dogs a “look” command, they interpret it to mean “look somewhere else”. 

To get any dog to look up, I rely on one of two things. Either:

  • an interest in birds, squirrels or trees making noises above
  • a helper/owner luring their attention upward

For Journey, he loves looking all around. If I ask him about squirrels, he will look up into the trees. So of course, you could associate a word with looking up FOR something (eg., birds/squirrels) if your dog is so inclined. Just be aware that you are drawing attention to squirrels and you may not want this, at all. 

In that case, your best bet is to use a helper. They can stand close to the dog, get their attention upward while you take the photo. Then, remove both the owner and dog from the scene and take a photo without changing focus of the scene. Use this extra photo to remove the owner in Photoshop.

 

As you look at the gallery below, think about the way different angles of gazing direction, whether they’re looking slightly up or straight across, and even the way their bodies are shaped or curved, helps to create the mood or story of the picture.
Previous Topic
Back to Lesson
Next Topic