Wenatchee pet photography: Ali from the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society

We adopted a new baby this week. Ali (who was called Sable) and her sister had been abandoned by their previous owners when they moved and left the animals to fend for themselves. Whenever I write something like this a part of me hopes the offenders will see this and feel guilty. Shame on you. These are living, breathing animals that were suffering because you couldn't, at the very least, drop them off at the humane society. OK, off my soapbox. They were discovered when Ali got into a tangle with a porcupine and neighbors found and brought them in. We were wanting another dog and found Ali at the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society through their Petfinder page. Such a sweet girl. A little timid still, but totally understandable, I think. Yesterday, the first time she was left alone for an hour, she busted out our front window and escaped. She didn't go far, just stayed on our front lawn with the neighbor kids. Definitely has abandonment issues from her previous owners/treatment, but we will get through them.

I know pet ownership isn't for everyone, but please remember your local animal shelter when considering adoption and especially when deciding which organizations to help or donate to. They totally appreciate, and really, really NEED, donations of just about anything: time, money, pet food, blankets, pet toys, animal walkers. Even photography and graphic design services, I hope, as that's what I'm going to offer. And kids can help walk pets at our local shelter with a parent's supervision. My 10 year old wants to help so we'll be headed that way soon.

As far as photo post-processing I really just did basic adjustments to contrast and color saturation. Shows that just a little helps a lot. Here's a tip when photographing your pets: get down low, on their level. Makes a huge difference over the typical "shot from above" look of most home pet snaps. I like all three shots below, but notice how much stronger the first one is over the other two. The camera at her eye level creates a much more intimate, personable feel.

Happy Wednesday! My daughter has another WVC volleyball home game tonight and I'm so excited to watch them play. Sad there are only 2 more after this one though and then we'll have to wait till next season.

New Before and After

Today I got to play with a MUCH awaited new filter/action from Totally Rad Actions (my very favorite action company!) I'm already a big fan of adding texture to photos in post-process and this ingenious little filter makes it so much quicker. As easger as I was to get it, what sold me was the ability to also use your own textures from within the filter, just like the ones that come with it. Very forward thinking of the Boutwells, (the creators), to not limit you to just the provided textures. It was perfect timing as I wanted to post another Before and After.
We got new next door neighbors and they have 2 new puppies! I asked if I could take a few photos in exchange for prints and was welcomed into their backyard on an amazingly golden summer evening. This is Rudy, the pug pup. In this image, I burned in his fur a bit to bring out the detail and added some selective focus to emphasize Rudy. Also added a little more vibrance to bring out the color variation in the grey stone. With this photo, I actually "ended" with the middle image as my final. Then, after buying the Dirty Pictures filter, I reopened it and added the fabulous texture you see here. I liked it before, I love it now. Oh and concerning the texture. I really like adding a couple (or more) of the textures and lowering their opacity so they can really interact and be unique. One of the "textures" I used here is actually a portion of a shot from Yosemite park. I thought it brought back that warm evening color I remember from the night.

The pickup

Love , love how this turned out. An almost silhouette with a bit of mystery and steamy hotness. I imagine he’s convincing her to come back to his place, and she, of course, is being coy.

Posted via email from Tonya Doughty Photography + Design

portrait: stephanie + eric

Posted via email from Tonya Doughty Photography + Design

Before and After

New Before and After post at TonyaDoughty.com.

portrait: stephanie

Isn't she beautiful? Love this portrait of my pal Steph. So lucky to have such a willing victim, er, I mean model.

Posted via email from Tonya Doughty Photography + Design

portrait: stephanie + eric

Sneak peek of a couples session I did tonight. Have to admit I was worried it would be too hot to enjoy (was supposed to still be over 100 at 8 pm) but it wasn’t as bad as I feared. So I had to settle for how HOT these two were. More sizzlin’ portraits of them to come.

Posted via email from Tonya Doughty Photography + Design

photo of Wenatchee

Overlooking Wenatchee from Skyline Dr. just before sunset. Such a cool view of our little valley.

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Summertime blues (ain't no cure for the...)

Lovin' the summer blues right now. Speaking about the color, of course. Those skies, fresh blueberries, cool mountain streams. So much blue -- there's practically no way you can get "the blues" this time of year.

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U-pick: fresh photography

I found the coolest nursery. Called the Sleepy Hollow nursery, between Wenatchee and Cashmere, WA, and they have amazingly beautiful plants, yes, but the entire grounds are set up with bright, colorful adirondack chairs, little tables, potting sheds, etc. It looks so peaceful I can't wait to go back and sit, and enjoy, the space. Today's visit was for a different purpose however. They have rows and rows of blueberry bushes and you can pick your own for $3/pint. Dusky, sweet blues, warm from the sun, bursting with flavor. The proprietors even said the way to know if you're in a good spot is to pop one in your mouth. Well, okay, if you insist. Suffice it to say, I found myself in the right spot many, many times. What a treat to find so close to home. I'm sure I'll go back once more while the berries are in season and am sure it will become a new summer tradition.

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Rural America

Back from a little road trip through eastern Washington, Montana and down into central Idaho. We make the drive often, to visit my parents, and I always look forward to the trip as much as the destination. Such a beautiful drive. Well, from here to Spokane, not as much, unless you hit it at the right time. The rolling fields of the Palouse are still pretty amazing in the golden light of dusk, but other than that, it's a whole lot of sameness for several hours. Once you leave Spokane though, and head torwards Couer d'Alene, Idaho, it's beautiful. We always stop somewhere in Montana for the night. We could go all in one day but it's a long haul with kids. Love those small town Montana truck-stop areas with nothing more than a hotel, a big giftshop full of everything huckleberry and a gas station. And seriously, Montana skies are amazing. I have never seen a boring sky in that state. On this trip we even had a front row seat to a thunder storm. My tripod was in the car and it wasn't a good idea to go out and get it so I hand-held my camera, braced against the window, used a long shutter speed and managed to capture a lightning strike that happened to catch the hill on fire across the street from us. Luckily the clouds let loose their rain right after and put it out a while later. A few pics from the drive below.

5 new posts

There are 5, count 'em five new posts on my photo blog. Just sayin' - seems like that's where the action is lately. Even a new "Before and After Wednesday" (my new favorite!)
www.tonyadoughty.com and click on blog. See ya' there.

Before and After Wednesday

It's "Before and After Wednesday" on my photo site. A new thing I'm doing where I show before and after and HOW I did it. Thanks to Bobby Earle for the inspiration.

Stephanie

Huge photo post on my photography site of one of my closest friends. She wanted a photo shoot, from which we would also make a time-lapse video, to give to her mom and kids on mother's day. Sort of a something to always have to look back on, to show her as a well-rounded person. Mother, yes, but also daughter, photographer, friend, woman. We had such a blast shooting and the video, with music, came out awesome!

Water, water everywhere

A few fun reflection shots after a hard Spring rain. More on my photo site.