~*Shell*~

Lol - he would look happy. He's doing something he's not normally allowed to do

Awwww - that's so cute! The look on Bella's face is priceless! I can't decide which photo to submit for this week. Zero shouldn't be in the garden but he loves going in there! If he was a person, he'd be a landscape architect! ETA: I think I like the second shot the best but I can't decide.

Here's mine for today: EEK! I'm not happy with it but considering I'm irrationally afraid of spiders, I'm not going out there to take another one!

I'm in tears after reading that Serena. All our love to you - I hope that in time your heart will mend. We're here for you if you need us. Run free Rocco. You always made me smile. More than once I looked at a photo of you and Serena and felt like I had to go and hug Zero - you'll be very sorely missed by a lot of people.

Yesterday's effort: Apple - taken on an apple iPhone of a mac pro editing keyboard. I haven't taken today's yet. I suppose I should get to it!

I had to resort to taking a photo with my iphone yesterday - now I need to work out how I get the photos off it lol! Photo from yesterday to come!

ha! Last week I did a self portrait of me as a twilight vampire - this week I was going to do Zero as a warewolf. I don't think i'd be able to make it as good as yours though kirislin!

As far as I've been able to see, there aren't as many genetic problems associated with cross breeding cats as there are in dogs (cat breeders correct me if I'm wrong) - you don't see cats with HD (I'm sure there are, but none that I've ever met) or the other common genetic "quirks". You also see a heck of a lot more moggies than purebreed cats too. Personally I'm a fan of purebred cats but that's mostly because I like knowing what I'm going to get personality and looks wise. With my cat, who i was given for my 21st by a uni "friend" who thought a pet was a great surprise birthday present, i didn't know how he would turn out. I did however find out which pet store he was from because a vet from the clinic the pet store uses called me to see if i was bringing him in for his shots (the pet store put my details on Mow's microchip and gave them to the vet even though I didn't purchase him - i wasn't even in the store at the time, nor did they have my permission!!) and got to see several of his brothers and sisters, all of which looked similar to him in build and colour. While I'm not an expert on cats, I just got thrown into having one, I can say this - i would never buy a cat from a pet store (Mow was in horrible shape when I got him - luckily the pet shop went out of business). I would always get a kitten from a rescue if I was to get more cats - there are so many of them in shelters and it breaks my heart because the little skinny black ones always remind me of my cat and how thin and scrawny he was when i got him. I think a lot of what it comes down to for me is money - there would be very very few people who get into cat breeding for the money. My brother owns cats that are 3/4 ragdoll (mum was pure, dad was 1/2 ragdoll and 1/2 moggie) and he was given them for free. How many people do you know who have bought a 2nd generation spoodle (3/4 poodle, 1/4 cocker spaniel) and paid $1000+? You just don't see the same level of mass breeding for profit with cats - there is very little incentive for people to cross breed to create a "designer" cat. ETA: I should add I also have 2 birds - both rescues from the same pet store (years apart - not the same pet store as the cat) when they were going to let both of them go because they weren't selling and had been shuffled from store to store (it was a big chain of pet shops - you can probably guess who) for months. Both of them were supposedly hand raised but both acted worse than my completely wild, straight out of the aviary 6 weeks old cockatiel (from a fantastic breeder - my cockatiel unfortunately died a couple of years ago) because they'd had a wing clipped and were forced to sit on a perch in the middle of the store everyday for months. Never ever will i spend money in a pet store that sells animals - they abused 3 out of my 4 animals and the 4th wasn't from a pet store.

That's fantastic! Fran looks like she loves it! They're definitely on my list of breeds to own one day but it'll be a while down the track and there will be a lot of research going in before then!

Love the shot of Nozzi!! And of Quix! Your tarot cards are great Leena! Another self-portrait from me. My word for today is subtle - but I think this photo is not-so-subtle

If you have a place that will let you test it in store, go for it! I have one for Zero but i find that I can get as much hair out of the coat with a comb and line brushing as I can with the furminator. It's second to nothing on my friend's labrador though - if I didn't have one I don't use that often, my friend definitely would have bought one by now! ETA: It's definitely not for all dogs. I found that the coat king made Zero's coat look very choppy since it cuts the hair rather than just removing the dead coat but I know people who swear by theirs. If i had a short haired dog (Zero has a long coat for a sibe) like a labrador or a pug, I would definitely use the furminator more.

Or you could have decided to do project 365 like some of us and don't have time to do multiple shots What did I get myself in for?

I totally forgot to add last week's photo to this thread! Zero on australia day:

Dont mind at all, I look forward to seeing what you come up with, I love your photos. Lol - I love your photos!! Today's word is "woman" - to me, nothing says woman more than wheels and doll baby. I love love love their clothes and after buying a few things from their Sydney store a few weeks ago, I kept the bag because I knew I wanted to do a shot of it at some point. Now I'd glad I did!

How do Frenchies do in different dog spots given that they are food motivated? For example, would you ever see one in the obedience ring? doing agility? flyball? Obviously they're a brachy breed so you have to take that into account but I've seen lots of different breeds competing and I'd be interested to know if anyone actually does it with their frenchies.

Since I'm doing project 365 I'm going to have to add a couple too - do you mind if i steal your other words Leena? I'm going to have to take my camera to training tonight to get the first shot - I won't have time otherwise!

It took me a while to realise just how much I didn't like the kit lenses - they're great for beginners but you do get to the point where you want to upgrade. I know people who aren't as into photography as I am and they're still going strong on their 350D or 400D and their kit lenses 2 years after they've bought their SLRs and haven't got into a situation where they would need better lenses yet. I would always recommend them to someone just starting out with an SLR. I want to upgrade to a couple of L series lenses but if I hadn't had the kit lenses to teach me why other lenses were so much better, I wouldn't have known.

27th - my soon-to-be-housemate's dog Jude. She's high energy and insanely fast - this is what most of my shots looked like when I tried to shoot her running. 28th - a quick shot of Mow. 29th - this was shot in the early hours of the morning when I had just got home from a big night out. It was either this or the drunken shots from the party... 30th - you'd think by now my friends would be sick of me playing paparazzi... apparently not. 31st - my niece Rachel. I was going to do a sequence of 3 shots for today to show 3 sides of Rachel's personality but in the end I decided on a single shot:

Whoooo! I just finished scrolling through 30 odd pages worth of shots - my internet has been down for nearly a week and has decided to kick back in tonight! I can't possibly comment on a week's worth of everyone's work except to say congratulations to everyone, you guys rock! So here are my shots from the last week or so: 23rd - raindrops on the window from the freak storm that blew in and then blew out just as quickly 24th - Remy tarting up to the camera (he's afraid of everything - that's what happens when you spend months in a pets paradise store with one wing clipped and sitting on a stand where kids keep touching you - except the camera, with the lens hood and the speedlite attached!!) 25th - a quick one of Zero. 26th - nothing says Australia Day quite like a kelpie. Woofenpup's gorgeous girl Abby:

Personally I prefer the PS tools (layering + gaussian blur + cloning tool + spot remover = happy me) but looks good for quick touchups.

Thanks - I meant it as a joke with my friends but I just had one of them send me a msg on facebook telling me they're only going to make more vampire jokes at me now Oh well, vampires are so hot right now. They wish they were as cool as me

Well since everyone was doing self portraits today, I decided to as well! A friend and I have a joke about me being a vampire after a kid at the movie theatre asked me if I was one when the first twilight movie came out. Admittedly I do have very pale skin and very dark hair (and strangely, eyes that appear yellow in the sun) but definitely not perfect skin! I've been wanting to do this for a while but didn't have the time till today so here it is. The photoshopping is terrible but I'm very very out of practice! And since the eyes aren't really showing up in the medium sized version, here's a close up: I'm too tired to comment right now but I'm loving everyone's shots at the moment - I wouldn't have been brave enough to post a photo of myself if everyone else hadn't today! Wolfsong - your OH is such a trooper! I hope he looooves his viking shots, I know I do!

You'll have to add it each week - do add my photo to the group as I'm putting it in my 52 weeks set.

I think in both photos, the after looks more like you've superimposed Cooper over the top. Can you bring the clarity on him down a little so he blends a little bit more? That being said, if he didn't have such a contrasting background behind him, I like the shots of him better with the editing, if that makes sense.

Where are you located Cougar? Personally I love d-d-photographics. They import into australia but have a shop in sydney where you can go and pick things up or have them delivered to you. You can get the twin lens kit from them for $1,139.00 - no hidden import duty and they've been in business a while. I had a lot of questions when I bought my 50mm 1.4 and they were always very helpful (and understood what I was asking - no broken english like I got from other places). I have the 450d twin lens kit and I love it. I shot at a conference yesterday and used my kit lenses for the majority of the day. That being said, I can't wait to upgrade my equipment! *drools over 5DII and L series lenses* http://d-d-photographics.com.au/canon500d.htm