Week 19

We had a challenge this week for the Flickr "52 weeks for dogs" group- Motion blur.  I didn't want a typical running blur photo, but everything I was trying for this wasn't working.  So I ended up setting up a jump and got a "motion blur" of Dazzle over the jump.

I found the camera set on a tripod didn't have any problem getting a blured shot.  I just had to time the shot to capture him in a position I liked.  :-)  But then I decided I wanted a non-blurred jumping shot and THAT was a challenge I just couldn't seem to meet (dog and background in focus).  I tried many different settings and this was the best I got:

 It's not bad at small size, but when viewed larger it's clear that it is really grainy.  I think I'll either have to change the angle (so he's coming toward the camera more, or pan the camera and have the background out of focus (I have lots of shots like that).

In my attempt to get a better motion blur shot, I decided to use the sunset as a backdrop and increase the shutter time to get more blur.  I didn't get what I was going for, but I did get a shot I really like!  I ended up using this one for the group even though it wasn't the best blur shot.   

It was NOT as dark as this photo makes it look.  Dazzle had no problem seeing this jump. The sun had just gone behind the trees on the horizon.

Training update- I have been doing a lot of work on Dazzle's agility, specifically getting him to learn the obstacles by name and to work at a significant distance from me.  Because I can't run, and because he's SO fast on the agility course, having him work at a distance is the only way I'll be able to be the handler for agility. 

It's going so well that I entered a trial in June to try to get the last FAST leg he needs for the NAJ title.  Haven't heard if we got selected to be in the trial or not.  It's a "random draw" because with the "first arrived" entry method, they are getting too many entries on the day the trial entry opened.  Usually about 700 entries for 300-400 slots in the trial.  So hopefully we are one of those lucky ones that get selected.  

I'll do my best to get some of our training runs on video.  Since I got my still camera at Christmas, I haven't been taking nearly as much video.  The still camera does really high quality video, but it fills up the memory card SO fast!