A battle with noise

These shots are the only two that were worth rescuing from a whole bunch, maybe 50 or more..

A lesson in being prepared

I half-heartedly took my camera bag around to some friends with the intention of seeing if I could get some shots of their Pomeranians. They have three, a mum, Bonnie, and her two puppies, Hamish and Willow. I've featured a shot of Hamish before but didn't really have a decent one of Willow.
But being half-hearted, I didn't check my gear before I left and when I got there and dragged out my bag I found I didn't have any batteries in my flashgun —doh!

Anyway, the only thing to do was to bump up the ISO to the max (it was late evening) knowing I'd get noisy images, but what do you do? The on-camera flash casts harsh shadows so that was a no-no, so I din't really have any choice. Even at ISO 1600, the colour one was f5.6 at 1/13th second and the bw one was f5.6 1/6th of a second.

I'm so glad the lens has in-built image stabalization!

Anyway, without more ado, here are the shots that made it...

Willow Exerting Mind Control "You will do as I say...!"

Willow is a real cutie and a bundle of fun. She has loads of energy and, in common with poms everywhere, seems to have an uncanny way of letting you know what she's thinking, just by looking at you in a certain way. Sometimes when I'm there I get the idea that it's us who are being house-trained by them.

You know, getting up and opening the door for them. Getting up and letting them back in again. Getting up and following them to the patio doors when they seem to be asking you to look at something. Getting up and opening the door for them, letting them back in again... and so it goes on!

I Do Look Pretty!

..but you can forgive these beautiful creatures almost anything. Just look at her pretending that there's something interesting taking her attention just out of shot. Something to add a little bit extra, a little bit of alertness and tension - like she could dash off at any moment. Like a pro model! Honestly, they're more intelligent than you'd credit!!

comments / critique / feedback / tweets / buzzes always welcome :)