Animal photography is quite challenging because the subject matter is always moving and animals don’t follow instructions! However, when you do get some good shots, it’s definitely worth the struggle. Continue reading to see what I managed to snap with my camera, these three are the most adorable dogs and cats I’ve met in Perth so far this year :)

The first pet I met was Bella who was a miniature jack russell with a keen ear for food. She came scrambling from the opposite corner of the house when she heard any movement in the kitchen. When she saw we had edible things, she gazed upward with those shiny puppy dog eyes and begged for a morsel of food. How can you say no to this tiny face?

Second I met Genie, who is a maltese x mini poodle. She was a peaceful dog that day, sitting quietly while people talked and ate around her, but she stayed watchful. Usually, I’ve found small dogs to be noisy and overexcitable but Genie was very well behaved. I wonder if she was tired out earlier in the day before I came around?

Lastly (and this one is my favourite because I absolutely ADORE cats) here is Sylvia. She rubbed up against my hand and legs with her head, marking me as hers. She had the softest fur and was fairly friendly; she sat still for a moment and let me take these photos before wandering off, a little intimidated by the huge lens.

Can’t wait to see if I meet any more cute pets during the rest of the year!

Do you think your cats or dogs are cuter? Send me a photo, I love seeing photos of cute pets, cats especially ;)

P.S: Photos of Genie and Sylvia were taken with a secondhand Canon 35 f/1.4L lens I have recently acquired. I love it so much, it has taken the place of my 24L living on my camera body.

This photoshop tutorial video will give you an idea of how I edit in general, using a recent photo of Aly as an example. I always edit slightly different depending on the photo, but many aspects of this edit work for especially well for bright outdoor photos.

Note: You need advanced knowledge of how to use photoshop in order to be able to follow this video – blending modes, masks, adjustment layers etc.

Stay tuned for the actual photos from the underwater / pool shoot , they should be going up in the next two weeks, I’m working on them now.

Will be doing all tutorials in video format from now on, video tutorials are a lot easier to make, you just have to put up with my voice! I need to work on my enunciation. The delightful things you don’t realise about your voice until you listen to it played back…

What else do you want me to make videos on? Twitter or comment me!
If I get a lot of requests for the same thing, I might make a video of it :)

On a bit of a hiatus, photos from China and some cosplay shoots are in the works :) Until then, have a look at these dorky treats:

Han Solo has never looked so delicious!

I found some delightful T-rex and Triceratops cookie cutters at Lady Kitchener in Claremont last week. They were so cute that I had to make gingerbread immediately with them. I was having a pretty average day until the invasion of these wonderful dinosaur cookie cutters, after which my day improved drastically.

For the gingerbread, I used the CSR Gingerbread mummies recipe which turned out delicious, I would definitely use this recipe again.

I wish I had a stegasaurus cookie cutter, stegasaurus is my favourite dinosaur with the plates along his spine and spiked tail. Still, I love all dinosaurs!

The triceratops cookies here remind me of beached whales, awaiting their time in the oven. Whale cookie cutters are what I need next.

*This was a scheduled update, I am not currently in Perth!

What have you been baking for Christmas? :)

In this gingerbread set from Coles, the gingerbread comes pre-baked and the icing comes in bags along with all the lollies needed to decorate it! It was 1am when I finished this little creation so you can see the standard of care one puts into piping at that time of evening ;)

There won’t be any more updates for a while, going on a little trip away over the break, so Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Here’s a showcase of three photographers I have been admiring who do fashion / editorial work in Perth. We may have a smaller market for this kind of work in Perth (as compared with Melbourne or Sydney), but there’s definitely talent here in WA!

Caitlin Worthington
Caitlin’s photographs take you to another world with her dreamy, film-like post-processing. The relaxed, candid style of her work makes me feel as if I am a silent observer, peeking into a secret moment in time. Caitlin is part of All of the Above Creative, which are a group of extremely talented stylists, photographers and makeup artists in Perth. Have a look at her beautiful work below:

Want to see more? Check out Caitlin‘s work here:

• Glittering Heads Dream: Blog with lots of Caitlin’s gorgeous work!
• Caitlin Worthington Website Portfolio
• Caitlin on All of the Above Creative
• Caitlin’s Facebook Page
• Caitlin’s Deviantart

Meiji Nguyen
Meiji crafts arresting images that force you to stop and stare. His work is impeccably clean, with beautifully smooth-skinned models and an other-worldly, detached feeling to them. On his website, he says that he has “interest in design, fine art and film” and you can really tell; Meiji’s images have a strong design and composition which resonates with the eye aesthetically. Check it out:

If you want to see behind-the-scenes footage and more photos from Meiji, have a look below:

• Meiji Nguyen Website Portfolio
• Mira Studios Facebook: Have a look at the “videos” tab!
• Tantalum Magazine feature: Photos and interview with Meiji
• Meiji’s Youtube: Video creations and behind-the-scenes footage.

Otilee
Otilee says on her MM profile: “I’m not so much interested in the ‘capturing’ of images so much as designing them”. Flipping through Otilee’s work, you can see how she has adapted her  edgy, unique and retro-alternative design signature to each project. The textures in Otilee’s work and creativity with props give her images an engaging complexity. The execution of her photographs is also fascinating; the use of shadows and coloured light stands out to me especially. Have a look:

Check out more of Otilee‘s work here:

• Otilee Website Portfolio
• Otilee on The Loop: Print work, store front displays and brand development.
• Otilee’s Facebook
• Otilee’s Blog
• Otilee’s Model Mayhem profile: Some of her older work that I love!

Shot underwater for the first time and it was extremely challenging but really fun! I’ll reserve my comments for the proper writeup. Here’s something to look at, in the meantime:

And then back to the beginning of the shoot…

Just to clear up any confusion, the orange hair in the photo above is from a different wig to the underwater red hair.

Hope you liked these, I enjoyed capturing what was going on around the more typical portrait shots :)

I wanted this series of photos of red velvet cupcake batter to look a little like a blood-letting sacrificial ceremony ;) I tried to capture the blood-like consistency and texture of the red food colouring. These shots were all taken candidly at the last baking day whilst Alina was making the red velvet cupcakes.

Something about red velvet cupcake batter in the second picture reminds me of the red alien gunk in the War of the Worlds movie. Tasty, huh?

From reference pictures to reality
Jill sent me through some video of her character as well as a couple of stills which was really helpful in getting a feel for the character and deciding what sort of lighting choices would be appropriate. Here’s one of the reference images Jill sent me, a still from one of the Macross Frontier movies.

Taking reference material into account, I decided to use natural lighting  to give a soft look with the aid of a reflector. I figured that the large hat would probably shade Jill’s face in an undesirable way so the reflector would be especially important in bouncing light onto her face from the side or from below.

Location
I don’t know of any location in perth that has a field of flowers like the reference photo, however, there are a few locations with expanses of grass. I came up with the idea of buying fake white flowers, destemming them and sprinkling them around on the grass, as if Ranka were sitting in a real field of flowers. I knew this was a risk as fake flowers don’t always look good and I’m not confident that the final result is terribly convincing, but it was worth trying :)

Weather
There must always be a degree of flexibility with outdoor shoots; as we drove out toward our location, we noticed that dark clouds were gathering over the area. It’s always a good idea to have a backup plan with outdoor locations – either an indoor option or simply postponing to another date. We were lucky that it did not rain during our shoot, only some light sprinkle toward the end.

A blue sky dotted with white clouds would have fit better with the shoot concept, but the clouds provided beautifully diffused soft light so I was grateful for that. I wasn’t too keen to include the sky in any of my pictures though, see below:

Tip for grass when your model is wearing light coloured clothing: you can use spare bags for the model to sit on, this helps to mitigate the risk of grass staining.

Assistance
Teresa kindly offered to assist me on the shoot (thank you!!) and it was fantastic having someone there to help me. She had the fun job of holding the reflector and helping me fake sprinkle flowers on the ground. She also helped scout out the final location (with white roses) while I took pictures of Jill that did not require the reflector and contended with parents who wanted a picture of Jill with their 2 girls.

By the way, Jill made her dress in the day before the shoot, which is insane. That’s the kind of crazy productivity people have on an episode of Project Runway!

Credits

• Jill as Ranka Lee, Macross Frontier
  See her deviations here: Blue Journey, Hope assured, Embrace happiness
• Photography assistant: Teresa
• Photography and postwork: Sabatomic

Shoot photos

• Macross Frontier Cosplay: Ranka Lee, Part 1
• Macross Frontier Cosplay: Ranka Lee, Part 2
• Behind the scenes: Ranka shoot with Jill (this post)

More from the Ranka photoshoot with Jill, Teresa and I. I wanted to try out some angles with Jill lying on the ground, I really like the results – they’re these ones are toward the end :)

And to finish, this one is my favourite:

Credits

• Jill as Ranka Lee, Macross Frontier
  See her deviations here: Blue Journey, Hope assured, Embrace happiness
• Photography assistant: Teresa
• Photography and postwork: Sabatomic