Best Buds - WC #655

Hi again, fellow pet lovers! I wanted to share a picture with you of the other canine member of the Launstein family, and while McKinley certainly is deserving of his own portrait (and there were several I was thinking of posting), this image of my two Saints is the one I decided to go with.

My older Saint, Memphis (the dog nuzzling in from the right) and McKinley (the dog receiving all the attention on the left) are simply best buds. More accurately, McKinley, who at 2yrs of age is already tipping the scales somewhere north of 200lbs, is a little dependent on Memphis for his sense of confidence. He guards our home and acreage as if his life depended on it, hanging out on our wrap-around deck most of every day except for occasional romps in the yard or tours of duty around the homesite following the kids around.

Memphis is our resident "lover not a fighter," and despite being more the alpha than McKinley, heaps daily doses of nuzzling and licking on McKinley and Shadow (our Newfoundland of whom I've shared a couple images this week).

Despite looking great in colour, I decided to stick with my B&W theme for my dog pictures this week and converted this one with selective adjustments, with additional selective dodging and burning (incl. brightening McKinley's eye a bit).

The smooth background is the lake that surrounds three sides of our property.

Hope this one strikes a chord with you as well...I'm a sucker for the sweet behavior our gentle giants are known for. I do welcome any suggestions for improvement or any other comments you'd like to share.

LARGER VERSION definitely the better of the two IMO if you have time!

Nikon D600
Nikkor AF-S 300mm f/2.8G IF-ED VR
ISO 640
1/100sec @ f/3.2
Tripod Mounted
Cropped to app. 90% of original frame