'Laughing' black dog.

This is our lovely cockerpoo, Kipper, back in March 2014 when he was 2 years old.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/3.2, 1/100s, 90mm, hand held.

Horse portrait

This is one of a few photos I took recently of a friend's horse - the first time I've done a horse/owner photo shoot and I really enjoyed it.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f.5.6, 1/160s, 85mm, hand held.

Black and white cat stretching out on a garden wall.

This is my cat, Spook, stretching out in the sun on our garden wall. This is one of his favourite spots, right above the bird feeders!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/5, 1/200s, 35mm, hand held.

Walking the dog along a snowy walled path

This one's from January this year, on Roils Head Moor near my home in Halifax. This wall is the border between the moor and the golf course. I like how the snow sticks to bits of the wall and the tree trunks, emphasising their textures. I waited for the man with his dog to reach the end of the wall, just before the path turns away to the left, to give scale to the picture.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/8, 1/40s, 22mm, hand held.

Kizzy the Easter bunny!

This is Kizzy, our cockerpoo, in our garden today, doing a pretty good impression of a bouncing bunny. My husband was throwing a ball into the air for her to jump up and catch - she was having a great time. Happy Easter everyone!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/4.8, 1/250s, 32mm, hand held.

Contented cat lying on a garden wall

This is George, lying in one of his favourite places on our garden wall, in July last year. I love to remember him like this.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/3.5, 1/400s, 90mm, hand held.

Late afternoon snowy dog walk

This one's from a couple of weeks ago on the moor near our house. It's a really popular place for dog walkers - great for the dogs to run round off lead, meeting other dogs. Also great for their owners, who get to appreciate scenes like this one, taken as the sun was on its way down.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/11, 1/60s, 40mm, hand held.

Kizzy watching a butterfly

This is my cockerpoo, Kizzy, 'helping' me with my macro photography last summer! I'd sit quietly and patiently waiting for the butterfly to land, then Kizzy would decide to go in for a closer look. Sometimes she'd frighten it away, but every now and then I got a cute shot like this (and when I got really lucky, it'd be in focus!).

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/9, 1/400s, 90mm, hand held

White cockerpoo peeping through wooden gate

This is Kizzy, our 1 year old cockerpoo, watching me through a gap between the boards in a gate in our garden. We had this gate put in last year after renovating the garden - it separates the half the dogs are allowed in and the half they're not! When I go into the 'forbidden half' she sits at the gate and watches me, whining for me to come back when I take too long (more than about 30 seconds, that is!).

Goodbye to George...

Today we had to say goodbye to our beautiful 5-year-old cat, George, lost to cancer. So sad. He was found with his brothers and sisters at just a few weeks old in a box behind a pub and rescued by the RSPCA. We then adopted him and his brother, Fred. Horribly, Fred was run over and killed at 9 months old. George went on to have a great 5 years of climbing trees (real ones and Christmas ones!), catching birds and rodents, eating too much food, lolling around a lot and generally being loved to bits.

So glad we had those 5 years - lovely memories and photos remain.

Black and white cat yawning

This is Spook, our 5 year old black and white cat. I was watching him and taking photos, trying out my new macro lens, when he did a huge yawn and I managed to capture it. I often find that cats start yawning when I'm photographing them - maybe it's a nervous thing; or maybe they're just bored!

In Lightroom, I converted to monochrome, increased contrast, reduced exposure and added a slight dark vignette to darken the background.

Black cockerpoo dog

I decided to include my animal photos in my blog. This one is of Kipper, my 3-year-old black cockerpoo. It's really hard to get good photos of him (and black dogs in general, I think) - the detail of his fur often gets lost in the shadows. Outdoor lighting definitely gives better results than indoor.

I converted this to monochrome to take away the distracting green grass behind him, and cropped it slightly.