ALERT - as of 1/10/2008, I am suspending taking on new orders. I have limited time for the photo projects at hand and I am not being as successful as I would like in delivering all of them. It's a case too much work and being spread too thin. If you have already placed your order, it will be filled. If you'd like to cancel your order, please drop me a note; it will save me some unnecesary work. Once I have cleared my tasks and outstanding jobs, I'll start taking new orders on again. I apologize for having to do this, but I feel it is required at this time.
You can buy images of your dogs. You can either print them yourself or you can have me print them for you if you want to take advantage of my expertise.
These images are copyrighted. That means you can't copy them to your heart's content. However, when you buy an image, you have certain rights which are granted. In general, I approve of most personal uses for the images, i.e. things which your do for yourself and your personal needs. Specifically, I grant purchasers the following rights:
In general, we need to talk before any commercial use of the image is considered, especially if it involves reselling the image. This includes making calendars for resale, T-shirts for resale, derivative pieces of artwork, etc. This does fund-raisers for clubs (I'm very supportive of non-profit clubs).
Last updated: June 25, 2005
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| Photo note: This is CH Artic Sun's Hot Tamale Baby CD MH AX AXJ WCX, also known as Sardou, owned by Karen Peterson. This was the day she earned her MH title. |
The large images on this website are 800 pixels wide with jpeg compression of level 5 (12 is best). This is just good enough for online viewing and for checking most focus issues.
The images on the Event CDs vary but should be around 1200 pixels wide with jpeg compression of around level 8 or so. This should be good enough for 4x6 prints. Here's a sample:
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The original images also vary in size: for 2002 and later they are 2464x1648 pixels, and for October 2004 and later they are 3504x2336 pixels. All with jpeg compression of 11. These are the basis for 8x10 or larger prints. If you buy a CD, you will get these files. Again, here is a sample:
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A very few original images are 4064x2704 with jpeg compression of 11. These are usually found in the portrait sections of 2003 events and later. These images can be made into very large prints; up to 20x30.
In general we try to use at least two-thirds of the image area when printing. Cropping the image too much in order to zoom in generally starts to produce grainy, fuzzy prints. I can advise you if you have questions.
| Good focus: | Marginal focus: |
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As some of you know, even with the best gear, getting a good picture of a fast moving black dog can be hard. When you add shallow depth of field (the pictures where the background is all blurred out), it's even harder. Critically good focus happens less than 50% of the time for me. Even the best autofocus cameras will "hunt" and fail to lock onto the dog at times. This happens dramatically more often when taking pictures in low-light situations like indoor shows and dark days. You will see plenty of examples of poor focus on this website as I have only deleted only the most horrible of images.
Why do I bring this up? I want to make sure you get a technically good print. A really great picture has good technical characteristics (focus, exposure, lighting) and good aesthetics. But only you can decide on the aesthetics: Do you find the picture pleasing? Is the dog positioned well? Are the foot positions acceptable? And so on. Once you find a picture that is aesthetically pleasing to you, I can advise you on the technical merits. While there are plenty of technically poor pictures on this site, this is deliberate; my belief is that you might find the aesthetics or other aspects of the image overwhelm marginal technical merit.
Please keep this in mind when browsing.
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While I can not correct an image which has poor focus, I can do a surprising amount with an image that has incorrect exposure. There is often a great amount of hidden detail in some of the deep shadow areas for example.
Most of the images on the website and CD have been lightened from the original images. This was done in a batch fashion so as to reveal more detail in the dogs when being viewed, but to do so expeditiously. Since every image is different, it is to be expected that some of the web images were pushed too far or not enough.
Please keep this in mind when you see an image that might look too light or too dark. It may turn out just fine when handled individually.
When you order, all images are individually "tuned up" prior to printing. In most instances, dark areas in images (common with black dogs) can be digitally masked and lightened, producing a better final print. Slight sharpening is applied as well as general lightness, contrast and color saturation adjustments.
Upon request, I will do extra custom digital editing at a rate of $60/hour, minimum 1/2 hour. For example, I can remove distracting background elements, leashes, enhance eye sparkle, and so on. I will not fix toplines, tail sets, heads, ears, necks or anything else which could cause the dog to appear conformationally different from what it actually is.
Prints are for your wall or your photo album. If you intend to do advertising, it is strongly recommended you use digital files. If you submit a print to a commercial publisher, all publishers today will scan your print into a digital file prior to incorporating it into their publication. This will degrade the quality of the final printed image. Don't do it! Start with digital files and stay digital. You will get better results.
Printing is on a per 8x10 sheet basis. You can get the following on an 8x10 sheet:
Your first sheet of an image costs $24. Each additional sheet costs $6 additional.
11x14 images are $28, with each additional 11x14 costing $14 each. One image per sheet.
Washington State residents must add 8.6% sales tax.
Every separate mailing has a $4 shipping and handling charge.
For customers who have their own computers and photo editing, and where intended use includes web pages, advertising, and possible digital printing for other sizes and forms, you can order a CD with digital images of your dogs.
The minimum order is $30.
Every separate mailing has a $4 shipping and handling charge.
I will point our that there are some very good third party digital tune-up services. You can use them if you buy digital files. One I would recommend is Bellamax. This is an online service and they do a fantastic job for just a few dollars per image.
You can make physical prints of any size and quantity from the high resolution images purchased on CD, but again, only for personal use as outlined by the License of Use. You are responsible for your own printing. I recommend the online services found at Shutterfly and PhotoAccess, although there are other good services as well.
Everybody likes good deals. So here they are:
Special CD Offer: You can get all the unedited, original images of a given dog at an event for $100. You can add digital enhancement to selected images for an extra $8 per image.
The Special "I have a lot of dogs" Offer: Some of you show a lot of dogs, and if you were to get everything, it would break your piggy bank. I'm not keen on doing this. And at the same time, I would like you to have all the pictures you want of your dogs; After all, they are your dogs.
Mixed orders (prints and digital files) are combined for determining maximum discount. So an order consisting of $250 worth of prints and $250 worth of digital files would get 28% off the prints and 40% off the digital files, or would only cost $180 + $150, or $330.
There are something like 200,000 pictures on the website. The picture numbers are assigned by the camera and are not unique. Sometimes they even recycle within the same show. For each picture you want to order, please specify all of the following:
If you have questions, please check with me by e-mail with your selection(s). While the web proofs are good for most purposes, I can look at the original image file and make critical judgements on what quality of enlargement can be made. if you are not sure, please ask.
When you place your order, please provide contact information, ideally an e-mail address, that I can use if I have questions or if you forget something. Believe it or not, I get orders where people say "3 8x10's please", but forget to specify the show, class or picture number. It kind of makes things difficult.
Hey, I'm a low-budget operation. The photography you buy here pays for my gear, expenses and makes a small profit (I hope). I don't have a whizzy web ordering system (although that might be fun to write) or anything like that. It's really a basic deal. It also keeps prices down.
Washington State residents must add 8.6% sales tax.
I do take Canadian funds; please multiply by 1.25 (there are extra shipping costs).
Snail mail: Please send your order, with clear indication of what pictures and product you want, along with your check to:
PayPal: (Oh my. Space age.) You can use Paypal if you find that convenient and if you want to save a stamp. If you are in a rush please check with me before you get your expectations dashed. I do have a day job that takes top priority. Having said that, I do try and get images ready for press deadlines. Use this e-mail address for PayPal payments:
I don't check that address often (maybe twice per week), so don't send primary e-mail that way. It also gets a lot of spam so the risk I may delete your e-mail by accident is greater. So, for correspondence and a more quick reply, use my primary e-mail address here:
Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks!