And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… the winners of the 2010 Pattern & Paw pet photo contest! We had so many wonderful entries, that just choosing a few winners was very hard. Guest judge R.J. Kern of kern-photo gave his input on each and every one, and ultimately selected the winning photos. Congratulations to our winners, and thank you to everyone who entered! Watch your email – we’ll be sending out the winner’s prizes shortly, and everyone who entered will also get a special treat from us.

From R.J.: This photo is scary, in a good way. After looking through all the entries, it was
one I remembered. Being memorable is one of the trademarks of a truly good photo.
Technically, the lighting is spot on, and the focus is right on the eyes.

From R.J.: This photo made my heart melt. It proves that even posed camera aware pictures
can really bring your heart into a warm place.

From R.J.: Taking a good photo is only half the battle. The subject of this photo is right on,
though I’d love to see more contrast and sharpening.

Thanks again to all who entered! We can’t wait to do it again next year!

Today we present a guest post by our favorite photographer, R.J. Kern of kern-photo.com. R.J. is our guest judge for this year’s Pattern & Paw pet photo contest (have you entered yet? because you totally should!) Today we welcome R.J. to the P&P blog, and hope you find his post full of useful information to help you capture gorgeous pictures of your pet. Take it away, R.J.!

Photographing pets doesn’t come easy. With patience, humor, some creativity & inspiration you could be on your way to winning the Pattern and Paw photo contest.

You don’t need professional-quality equipment to make good pet portraits, but a few professional tips certainly won’t hurt. Here’s our best tips on photographing your four-legged friends:

Find good light. Early morning or late evenings have a warm, pleasant color and can be gorgeous. If you know you want to photograph your pet, plan it. Scheduling around ‘good’ light is an easy way to increase chances for a great portrait.

No flash allowed. Rarely, and I mean rarely, do I use flash to shoot dogs or cats. They move too quickly, and they hate flashes anyways. Natural light makes for more natural looking photos. If you use a flash, make sure the main light source is off the camera axis, otherwise you’ll be photographing scary devil eyes.

Be the alpha. Your camera’s light meter can easily be fooled by a white or dark fur/hair. Take control of your camera by metering the light off your hand, and it you like what you see, use those manual settings instead of having the camera guess the exposure for you. We shoot in manual mode 95% of the time.

Teach “Sit” and “Stay.” Teaching your pet these basic commands will get you half way to a great shot… the rest is up to you. Your pet doesn’t like to stay still when you tell it… nothing new there. So don’t force anything. Move with them! Bribing with treats works sometimes, other times it might be a toy or ball. Our dogs love the light beam from a flash light.

Capture candids. Genuine photos come from genuine moments. Candids and even out of focus images can be just as revealing of your pet’s personality than camera aware, posed shots. Here’s a fool-proof way to start: Place them in an area that limits movement and allows you to get back far enough to photograph them. On a couch, on top of a picnic table, or in a corner with windows is a great start.

Get good glass. Point and shoot cameras work in good light next to a window or when the sun lingers low on the horizon over your shoulder. With that light, anything looks good. But in not-so-inspiring light, your job becomes harder. However, good camera lenses on a D-SLR will make your job much, much easier. For action shots, my favorite go-to lens is a telephoto zoom like the 70-200 f2.8. Second favorite: an wide angle like the Nikon 14-24, just as long as you don’t mind the occasion nose print on the front lens. For low light, the extra reach with an 85mm f/1.4 is awesome. I’ve tried exotic lenses like the 300 f2.8 and the 200 f/2 and the shot-to-keeper ratio went down. Better equipment does NOT equate to better photos necessarily, but the right tools for the job are important.

Focus on the eyes. Using shallow depth of field (with lenses > than f2.8) isolates the focus of your subject. If you focus on the eyes, then expect the nose and ears to be slightly out of focus, which is totally fine just as long as that’s what you want.

Use the shutter. At about 2-3 feet, clicking shutters on D-SLRs can grab attention and get your pet to look right into the lens. We shoot in burst mode at 4-5 frames per second which makes nailing the shot easier.

Make it positive. If every time you bust out the camera and your pet barks or runs under the bed… they didn’t like something you did along the way. I’m guilty. Our vizsla, Dash, isn’t an easy dog to photograph up close, but if I catch him with candids, he shines.

Get close. Lie on the floor with your pet and shoot low to illustrate their perspective. Use a wide angle lens, pre-focus, and have blades of grass in the foreground… chances are your pet might want to check out what’s there and you can get up close and personal with a snap.

Don’t forget the details. A curl of a tail, a twist of an ear, or a wet nose make up the character of your pet which can be easy to forget. Macro lenses or close-ups allow you to focus on these subtleties to create an interesting, if not abstract, portrait.

Anticipate movement. Using a fast shutter speed, pre-focus and freeze movement by anticipating the shot just before it is about to happen. This goes for standing on two legs, jumping, head tilting, etc.

Reduce clutter. Clean backgrounds make it easier to focus on the subject. Shoes, bags on the floor, toys distract.

Dress for success. Just as on the fashion runway, the tiniest pet accessory could make all the difference. You can never have too many Pattern and Paw collars. Call us biased, but we have more than a dozen.

Off with the leash. Taking your pet off his leash outside in a safe place makes them more alive. Dog parks or legal open space is a great place to play and explore their element.

Make it work. In the words of Tim Gunn, use pressure as your friend to create something special. Give yourself 5 minutes to see what you can do first thing in the morning or just before dinner. Having your camera out and ready at home makes the quick home-portrait session even easier.

Dash - 2007 Pet Photo Contest Winner

Yes, it’s that time again. The 3rd Annual Pattern & Paw pet photo contest is upon us. This is your time to show off your precious pooch or fashionable feline. Simply submit a photo of your pet in their Pattern & Paw collar and you could win a $50 gift certificate!

This year we are proud to announce a special guest judge, you may recognize him as the winner of our last photo contest (pictured above), Dash (and his owner, photographer R.J. Kern). Dash and R.J. will be sitting in and helping us make the tough decisions to choose the winners. Also stay tuned to the blog for a special article by R.J. with some fabulous tips and tricks for photographing your pet.

Enter now for your chance to win »

Entries are due by Sunday, August 15, 2010. Please be sure to read the full contest rules prior to entering.

It’s been a long few days for us here at the Pattern & Paw household. Probably feels even longer for little Sgt. Pepper. Poor little guy had to spend the last 48 hours caged up at the vet’s office, hooked up to IV fluids, and shuttled multiple times between the regular daytime vet and the emergency vet overnight.

Why? Little bugger decided it’d be fun to snack on a Lily.

For those who may not be aware, there are few things that are more toxic to cats than Lilies (dogs too – but because of the fast-paced metabolism of cats, toxicity can occur much more quickly). All parts of the plant, even down to the pollen, are extremely toxic to cats. So Sgt. Pepper’s little snack, had we waited and not taken him to the vet immediately, could have caused severe kidney or renal failure in a matter of hours.

The ridiculous thing is that we never have fresh flowers in our home. We have some vases of fake flowers, but rarely replace them with their real counterparts. But on Monday, while picking up our weekly CSA, they had a bucket of fresh flowers, free for the taking. So we grabbed one. ONE. And Sgt. Pepper decides to eat it. So much for a free flower.

We feel very fortunate to have, first of all, SEEN him eating the flower, and secondly, known enough about the dangers of lilies to call our vet immediately. As of last night, Sgt. Pepper has a clean bill of health and is happy to be home. Yes, he has a precious little shaved spot on his leg, and yes, our wallets are significantly lighter after the whole ordeal, but the outcome could have been much much worse. Needless to say, there will never be a lily in our home again. As beautiful as they are, lilies just aren’t worth the risk. Please keep your animals safe!

For more information and a list of other toxic plants, foods, and common household products, please visit the ASPCA poison control center. Also check out this great photo-database of toxic/non-toxic plants.

Sgt. Pepper found a new toy. I think he just might give Maru a run for his money…

First of all, we are ok. Our home and office is high enough that we didn’t have to deal with anything other than a leaky window or two. We appreciate all who have expressed concern. We are very fortunate to have come out of this in one piece with little damage to our property. We’re on restricted water usage as one of the two water treatment facilities in the metro area is under water. Downtown Nashville is flooded up to 2nd Avenue as the Cumberland river overflows it’s banks; Opryland resort hotel is under 6 feet of water and all 2000+ guests have been evacuated to local high schools; interstates are closed as mile-long stretches are impassable; over 600 water rescues have been performed to rescue people stranded in their homes; and as of now, 6 people have lost their lives in Davidson county alone.

So many have lost everything in this disaster, caused by the wettest 24-hour period in recorded history (Nashville alone received nearly 14″ of rain). You only have to take a look at some of the pictures or video posted to get a sense for the sheer amount of water flowing through the city.

If you are in or around Nashville, please volunteer to help in the cleanup efforts (we have). If you are not local and still want to help, please consider making a donation to the Metro Nashville Relief Fund or the Nashville Red Cross.

Please also note that our orders may be delayed by a few days, as the roads around us are still water logged and prevent us from shipping orders as usual. We will also be putting work aside in order to help in the volunteer effort to get this mess cleaned up. We appreciate your patience, help, and understanding.

I think it’s going to his head, don’t you?

Two weeks ago little Sgt. Pepper got fixed. And because the little bugger would not stop licking himself, he had to wear an e-collar for a few days. While I felt bad for him, I knew it was for his own good; and I couldn’t help but chuckle at his lack of coordination and depth perception with it on. Not to mention his inability to eat and drink by himself.

Only now that he is happily free of his “cone of shame” do I post this series of hilariously-hearbreaking videos I took during that time. Visit our YouTube channel to see all 5!

Amazing how fast kittens grow. We’ve only had Sgt. Pepper for six weeks and already he looks huge compared to the early pictures. I guess this is how people with kids must feel, too?

We’ve never raised a kitten before. Kitty (hereby now known as Big Kitty – not to be confused with Little Kitty), came to us when she was about a year and half old. Sure, she’s “filled out” quite a bit since then, but we never got to experience the true speed at which a kitten grows. Sometimes we’re curious what Kitty would have been like as a kitten, since she’s still so playful and kitten-like at times now.

I wish they could stay little forever…

Ahh, the life of a kitten…