Wilderness Hike ~ Montana Dog & Fine Art Photography

Since the spring thaw Sugar and I have been doing some hiking on local trails above Flathead Lake. You might be surprised to see photos of me in this post and oddly not only have I not posted any until this hike I had never photographed Sugar and I with my camera's timer. So here we are enjoying the great outdoors together. The large print in the snow next to Sugar's prints was on the trail without any human prints around and just might be mountain lion...???

Value of Professional Photography & Post-Production ~ Montana Dog & Fine Art Photography

Do you have a photo of your dog that you love but you think could be better?

Few people know that most of the work that goes into great photography is in the post-production editing. And it's not just about the technical skills and having the right software but about having a vision of where to take the image for the most emotional impact.

Starting today the first 10 people that send in their favorite photo of their dog (alone, no people) that they would like to see improved or would just like to see the photo rendered artistically like the one of Sugar below should email the full-size file to me at lauren.lgphoto @ gmail.com (remove spaces). I will post the results here and on my Facebook page and email back the completed file.

I look forward to your submissions and creating a beautiful version of your favorite photo. Please note that I can fix a lot of things but cannot put in focus anything that wasn't well focused when captured in camera.


Sugar with artistic rendering
Out of camera images are dark and lack the mood that I really felt that day

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Clancy photographed by his human Teresa
Edits by me include cropping for better composition, color balance, exposure adjustments, removal of grass in front of his gorgeous baby blues (yes, they are really that color!)

MOUSE OVER FOR BEFORE & AFTER

SUBMITTED IMAGES BELOW (thanks for sending them in!)

Scully photographed by her human Angie
Took the artistic route with this one as it was taken on a cell phone and there was no saving the highlights or color, but converting to black and white plus a little antiquing to it works!

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Maddy photographed by her human Matt
This one was almost perfect to start out with but a little deepening of the shadows, removal of some distracting elements plus some sharpening really helped.

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Logan photographed by his human Christy (see more of them together here)
Logan is a super fast dog and this shot Christy took of him lure coursing really only needed some fill light in the shadows. Unfortunately capturing speeds like that without blur are really hard to do without a pro-level camera (see my lure coursing photos here).

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Hey, how did a cat get in here!!!

Phoebe Rose photographed by her human Liz
A little removal of some cat hair from the pillow, some deepening of the shadow areas and a boost to the contrast, plus some sharpening in the eyes.

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Bijou photographed by her human Pam
A bit of cropping to place Bijou best in the frame, some lightening on and around her to make her pop out a bit, and a little vintage coloring.

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June photographed by her human Carl
This one was more technical to get rid of the flash eyes and add back a bit of glint to make it look real. To focus in on her a bit more I cleaned up the paint on the door, added selective blur around her then added sharpness to her face.

MOUSE OVER FOR BEFORE & AFTER

Amadeus photographed by his human Laurie
Getting a good shot under the covers is tough! But with lots of post-production including getting rid of flash eye, blurring the sheets, cleaning up the dog hairs, and some darkening of the edges, we have a cute pup photo.

MOUSE OVER FOR BEFORE & AFTER

Danielle & Jon's Wedding Album ~ Montana Wedding Photography

Danielle & Jon's Queensberry Duo-style album. It's huge! With 29 leaves not a moment is left out. They will have the perfect momento of their wedding day to cherish for generations. Black leather photo front with a mix of flush-mount and matted leaves inside. To see the blog post from their wedding click here and for more wedding albums click here.

Passover Seder ~ Montana Documentary & Fine Art Photography

On my drive to Montana from NJ last year I stopped to visit my sister in Boulder, Colorado. We had a delicious Passover Seder and an international guest list including family and friends from India and Ethiopia. Oh, and a dog named Sugar, that wondered why there was a place setting for Elijah but none for her. "Specieism!", Sugar cried.

Celebrating Montana ~ Montana Documentary, Dog, People, & Fine Art Photography

A year ago this week I arrived at my new home in Montana after a long journey across the country and after many years of the long journey in my mind to find the place where humanity and nature would come together at one place and embrace me. And I found it - all of it - right here in Montana. Below is a selection of my favorite images (taken over the last year and some from my other visits prior to moving) that celebrate all that I had been looking to see and capture and found right here in this beautiful place.

favorite dog moments

favorite dog with their people moments









favorite people moments








favorite people in the landscape moments






favorite moments alone with the land













favorite moments with animals and the land