Top Five Tips in Photographing Your Dog

Not a professional photographer? No problem. You can still take grrreat pix of your pooch - as long as you've got patience (and a camera) you can easily capture Fido's good side every time you snap a shot. We've asked professional pet photographer Mark Rogers to share a few of his secrets with you...

Other than baby photos, pictures of pets are among the most popular in any household. Unfortunately, they also tend to suffer the most from poor quality or, as we term it in the trade, snapshot-itis. You may have this problem if friends start walking away fast when you mention the latest photos of your cat or if your dog’s loving brown eyes end up glowing green like some malevolent demon in every shot you take.

Well, here are 5 surefire tips to help avoid snapshot-itis

1) Change angles

Most pet photos are taken from the perspective of a human being looking down while the pet looks up. Bor-rinnnnnng! Try something different and get down at their level or, if they’re moving, pan with them as you take the shot.

2) Stick with natural light. Turn off or cover the on-camera flash

On-camera flashes are evil. They flatten everything out, cast harsh shadows and are the source of the infamous glowing green pet eyes. If you have to use a flash go with an off-camera one and bounce the light off a ceiling or wall.

3) Stay out of direct sun and shoot in the morning or late afternoon

Contrary to popular belief, bright sunlight is not a photographers friend. It wreaks havoc with your exposure and you typically end up with lots of nasty shadows in places you don’t want them. I avoid photographing subjects outside in direct light except first thing in the morning or in the late afternoon before sunset when the light is angled low.

4) Don’t wait for the perfect moment and don’t be afraid to take lots of shots but…

Most of us are shooting digital these days so you can essentially take as many pictures as you want. With pets, unpredictability is the rule of law. You never know how a shoot is going to go. All you can do is be there and hope you catch the moment. This requires taking a lot of shots in quick sequence and culling through them later for the best one.

5) …make sure you edit yourself

Some of the most important work happens after you shoot. It sounds cliche but less is more. It’s easy to become enamored of the 100 pictures you took of Spot playing with his new ball but chances are your friends won’t feel the same way. Limit what you show people to only the very best.

Mark Rogers is a San Francisco-based professionalpet photographer. His most recent work can be seen on his Smile Like a Dog blog and you can also follow him on twitter.

How to Care for A Miniature Dachshund

Dachshunds were originally bred in Germany to be courageous, tough and persistent in order to hunt badgers and also foxes and rabbits. Their small size and short legs enabled them to dig foxes, badgers, and rabbits out of their dens. Dachshund, means "Badger Dog". Dachshunds were originally larger than seen today but were bred to be smaller towards the end of the 19th century.

Things You’ll Need:

* Feed bowl
* water bowl
* collar
* dog bed
* Suitable toys

Step1
Grooming. Short haired Dachshunds will require only occasional grooming, long haired Dachshunds will require daily grooming.

A brush or grooming mitt will be needed to prevent the hair from becoming matted and to remove loose hairs. Long Haired dogs will require a stiff brush, whereas short haired dogs will require a soft brush.

Rubber Grooming Mitts fit over the hand allowing the dog to be groomed whilst firmly stroked.

Claws may require trimming from time to time with a pair of nail clippers.
Step2
The amount of food required will depend on its size and also on its age and daily exercise. Most commercially prepared dog foods will include a feed chart indicating the average food requirement by size of dog and this will act as a reasonable guide.

It is important when changing foods to do so gradually by feeding the old food with a small amount of the new food and then over a few days decreasing the amount of old food and increasing the amount of new. This should avoid any stomach upset due to change of diet and is particularly important with puppies and young dogs.
Step3
The Dachshund is very active and needs regular exercise. Early training is recommended. Long Haired Dachshunds require regular grooming and regular ear cleaning is needed for all varieties of Dachshunds.

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How to Clean a DVD Player

Source: www.ehow.com

This brief walk-through will teach you a quick and efficient way to clean your dvd player, as well as tips to keep it maintained.

Things You’ll Need:

* Air Duster
* Cleaning Disc
* Q-Tips
* Rubbing Alcohol
* Screw Driver
* 3 in 1 Oil

Step1
First you will want to start by, unplugging your DVD player from the wall and tv, and move it to a more suitable working environment, like a table or desk.

Step2
Examine the outside of the DVD player, around the vents for the cooling fans, and look for any excessive dust build up, if the vent area seems to have a small quilt of dust on it, it has been way to long since you cleaned! You dont want to blow this dust with the air duster, as it will spread back into the DVD player, however, if your dust build up is light, you can begin by blowing through the machine. If you open the drawer, on some models this will allow you to blow all the way through the DVD player.

Step3
Next, you can put your cleaning disc in and relax as it plays through, however, if you had the "Quilt 'O Dust" mentioned above, your dvd player is most likely still not playing correctly. If the cleaning disc played through, you can stop here, if you had the quilt of dust, you will need to do a bit more thorough of a cleaning, continue to the next step if this is your case, otherwise.. go watch a movie!

Step4
Ok, now for the fun part, and a crash course in electronics. We will now disassemble your dvd player for a good clean. First looks around the seams of the dvd player for the screw holes, and for security tape. (There should be a piece of tape on the dvd player that would break if the dvd player's case is opened, this will VOID YOUR WARRANTY, continue only if you could care less about your warranty or its expired) Now once you have made your decision to open it up anyways... remove the screws on the bottom side, so that you are removing only the outer casing of the DVD player. Now that you see all the insides of the dvd player, start removing the heavy dust collections around your vents by hand, after you have completed this, you can go over all of the insides with the air duster, just be sure not to tilt, shake, or hold the can upside down, the liquid nitrogen that comes out can damage your electronics and your skin!

Step5
Once you have the inside blown down, you can get your rubbing alcohol and a q-tip, dip your q-tip in the alcohol, and use this to wipe down the laser, you can also use the alcohol on the rails that the laser is guided on if there is dust here as well, do not use the alcohol on any of the circuits, or the boards they are on, just the laser, the rails it rides on, and if it has small belts on it, you can clean them and around them with the alcohol.

Step6
Once this is wiped down, and you have let it dry (wont take but a minute) get your 3-1 oil, and dip another qtip in it, and lightly brush some on the rails the laser rides on for a smoother move, this may even make your dvd player run a bit quieter, you can also use this on any gears you may see that are attached to belts. Make sure not to get any on or around the laser, or on any of the circuit boards, be very careful.

Step7
Once you have done all of this, you can begin to put your DVD player back together, once its together, you can run the cleaning disc, however, this probably isnt necessary, as you just cleaned the laser with alcohol. Your DVD player should now be restored to practically new!

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