Crop and Focus!

A photograph becomes much more meaningful when "extraneous" elements are removed. It can be nearly impossible to take a photograph and have extactly what you want in the photograph. Luckily, there is a cropping tool. You can cut out the "extra stuff". The next two photographs demonstrate what cropping can do for a picture.

This photo was taken at the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo. The first picture is the original. As you can see, there is a lot going on in the backgroun, when the hyena and tree should be the focus. There is brush in the background, along with the head of another hyena laying on the ground. Also, the photograph is centralized. It does not really use the "rule of thirds" well.

By using photoshop, I was able to transform this picture. The main purpose was to crop the photo so that there would be more focus. This was achieved by removing the extraneous background and keeping just the hyena and the log in the cropped image. However, a few other tools were used to make the photo more interesting. I used manual adjustments for contrast and brightness, because the color in the first photograph was somewhat dull. Also, I flipped the image. Most people read from left to right, so I thought flipping it made the eyes flow better over the photograph as you follow the back of the hyena to the front and down the inside of the log.

Clearly, using software programs can have a great impact on photographs. Also, it makes you wonder what can't be done and what is really real? How would anyone know that the hyena was never laying in the position shown in the second photograph? This has a severe impact on what the news and media can portray to the public, just by changing the meaning in a photograph.

The Power of Light

For the next couple of months, this blog is going to take a different approach. I will be focusing on photography and nature. What better way to cherish what we have, so enjoy the pics!

Original photograph.

Enhanced color and brightness photograph.

Autoadjustments for brightness, contrast, and color.

Contrast and brightness can make a huge difference in a picture. Recently, I paid a trip to the local Fort Wayne Children's Zoo. Inside of the indoor aquarium there were jellyfish. I thought they would make an excellent photo. I was worried that there could blur, and darkness was definitely an issue. There was no lighting inside the facility except for small light emitting from the aquariums. Luckily, photoshop can help capture and enhance photographs that we might not necessarily consider well done and give the photograph the essence we originally wanted.

The first photograph is the original. It is extremely dark, and it is difficult to see what is in the picture.The second photograph is one enhanced by photoshop. I simply adjusted the contrast and brightness manually. I selected the highest brightness possible. Finally, the last photograph is one in which I chose to use the Autoadjust features of contrast, brightness, and color. As you can see, it made a very different photograph. Personally, I like the second one best, because I like the bluish tint of the fish, while the last one has a yellow tint to it. Photoshop enables photographs to have completely different appeals than their originals.

Wolf Park

WOLF PARK

• WHO THEY ARE

In 1972, Dr. Erich Klinghammer created Wolf Park. It is a non-profit organization dedicated to the education and research of wolves. They are located in Battle Ground, Indiana and are incorporated under the North American Wildlife Park Foundation, Inc. They have 18 adult wolves, 3 foxes, 2 coyotes, and a small herd of bison. Their purpose is to help give displaced animals a home and in turn educate the public on these animals' behaviors so that we may better communicate with them.

• WHAT THEY DO

Wolf Park does a number of things in order to help promote wolf awareness to the public. First, they give several different kinds of seminars to the public. The fees they charge are then used to help care for the animals and keep their organization running. They offer 3 day and 5 day seminars in the summer, where those that sign-up receive great educational demonstrations as well as interactions with the wolves! Also, they offer people the chance to volunteer and intern at Wolf Park. As described on their site, its not just a chance to volunteer and learn about wolves, but "it is a means of helping the cause of wildlife preservation and promoting the welfare of wolves in the wild and in captivity." Interns and volunteers give Wolf Park the extra help they need to care for all of their animals. Another unique method of earning enough income to support their cause, they offer the opportunity to sponsor a particular animal. Unlike other sponsorships, this one earns you the chance to actually face-to-face engage with the wolves, as well as learn great educational information about wolves that will last a lifetime. You can also choose to pay to have yourself photographed with your sponsored animal. Wolf Park engages in several meaningful activities that help support their organization as well as educating the public on wolf behaviors.

• MATTER OF IMPORTANCE

Wolf Park offers a great benefit to the community through wildlife preservation and education for the community. Clearly, they have helped preserve wolves and the other animals through their organization and it has been thriving for over 30 years. The activities they provide for the community are what make it so successful. It is extremely hard for a non-profit to succeed. It can only do so with the support of the community. They have obviously found the key to success through their educational seminars to their sponsorship programs. All of them aid in the benefit of promoting wolf behavior education to the community, so that we may live in peace with one another. It also gives everlasting memories with the chance to interact with wolves. A true experience that will last a lifetime.

• For more information on Wolf Park, visit their website:http://www.wolfpark.org/overview.html

Rescue Farm

WHO THEY ARE

Rescue Farm is a non-profit, no-kill rescue center for companion animals. They help adopt out animals that would have otherwise been slated for euthanasia. From 2003 to 2005 they helped adopt out over 700 animals. In 2006, they increased this number to 780. So far, for 2007, they have adopted out 655 pets. They have formed a partnership with Brown County Humane and Indianapolis Care and Control in taking in animals. They are a fairly new organization and always working for improvement to help save animals lives through the donations they receive by the community.

WHAT THEY DO

Rescue Farm offers a few diverse activities that separate them from other shelters. A few of these are the CanINE Express, pictures with Santa, and International adoptions.

• CanINE Express- Dogs find homes on the East Coast in 3-5 days. With this information, they have been transporting around 10-20 dogs a month from Rescue Farm to the East Coast to improve their chances for adoption. It allows Rescue Farm to take in more dogs than they otherwise would be able to by transporting them to another shelter.
• Pictures with Santa- Rescue Farm has determined a unique way of getting donations. They have partnered up with Petsmart to offer people to have their pets pictures taken with Santa in December. $5 of each photo is donated to Rescue Farm.
• International Adoptions- Rescue Farm allows for international adoptions. By increasing where they adopt to, they increase the chances for animals to find homes. They adopted a terrier to a couple in Canada. They stated that it was very easy to get her across the border, taking less than a minute.

Rescue Farm is a prime example of a non-profit organization that strives to perform is main goal. By coming up with unique ideas, they maximize their potential in achieving their ultimate goal: saving pets lives.

MATTER OF IMPORTANCE

Rescue Farm plays an active role in the community. By forming partnerships with other animal shelters, they help decrease the number of animal euthanasia that take place. Their work helps people enjoy animals as companions that give benefits of even reducing stress. A study they site on their website shows that spending 15-20 minutes petting an animal reduces stress levels. Also, they partner with Petsmart on a number of things like the Santa photos, as well as adopting cats and dogs out through their store. They play an active role in community by giving back. They helped the Owen County Dog show purchase new agility training equipment. Rescue Farm is a great example of how to interact with the community to become more known and increase public awareness of the issues your organization supports.

WildCare Inc.

Who They Are

WildCare Inc. is a non-profit organization located in south central Indiana dedicated to, "Providing professional care to sick, injured, and orphaned wildlife in Indiana". Originally, they were part of the Monroe County Humane Association (MCHA). However, they refocused their mission to caring for companion pets, so WildCare Inc. became a separate entity in the spring of 2001 dedicated to wildlife preservation. They pride themselves in the fact that they accept all forms of wildlife, except for adult deer and raccoons. They have taken in over 7,000 animals since their opening. However, due to their licensing, they are not open to the public. Most centers use the availability of the openness to the public as a chance to educate the community. Since they do not have this opportunity, they offer other beneficial educational opportunities to the community.

What they do

WildCare Inc. provides an important role to wildlife and the community. Saving wildlife for them is the ability to care for injured, sick, or orphaned animals, but then having the ability to release them back to the wild, so that they may live their lives as they were meant to. However, there are always some that become unreleasable due to certain situations. WildCare Inc. uses this opportunity to use these unreleasable animals as "ambassadors" for their education outreach programs. They offer a number of educational opportunities from allowing local fourth grade classes attend for free, WildCamp in the summer, and other programs.

A couple of their ambassadors.

In order to maintain their organization, they rely on donations. They offer a unique method of donating by allowing people that use their Pay Pal credit cards at Marsh, Speedway, or Kroger to make part of their purchase contribute to their organization. Running a non-profit is not easy, and they rely on members of the community to help support their meaningful efforts in saving local wildlife.

Matter of Importance

WildCare Inc is important to the community because it helps maintain local wildlife that might otherwise perish. They enable continuing generations to enjoy wildlife native to the area by saving these injured animals and then releasing them back to the wild. They also aid in helping educate the community. By offering several different programs, they ensure that children throughout the area will have a chance to see these marvelous animals first-hand and retain knowledge that will last a lifetime in maintaining wildlife for all to enjoy.

For more information on WildCare Inc, visit: http://www.wildcareinc.org/index.html.

Pets ALIVE Spay / Neuter Clinic

• Who they are

Pets Alive is a low cost, non-profit spay and neuter clinic located in Bloomington, Indiana. They first began in 2002 with their Adopt-A-Pet program. Within 14 months, they found homes for 350 pets. However, the cost of running this was too costly. Also, they felt that they were not solving the root of the problem. Instead, they began focusing on spaying and neutering in 2004. After conducting research for nearly a year, they based their organization off of the successful spay and neuter clinic based in Asheville, North Carolina: http://www.humanealliance.org/. Since they have opened in 2005, Pets Alive has sterilized over 20,000 pets.

• What they do

Pets Alive offers a number of important treatments for the pets of Indiana. For one, they offer low cost spaying and neutering at $55 for all dogs, $50 for female cats, and $30 for male cats. In order to have this operation, pets must have proof of Indiana's state required vaccinations, being a rabies vaccination. If they have not had their rabies vaccination, an $8 rabies vaccination will be given. Another important treatment they offer is microchipping. At a low cost of $25 pet pet, it enables pet owners to keep track of their pets if they were to become lost and returned to a shelter because the chip contains the owner's contact information. Also, for pets being treated, their owners receive recommendations to local veterinarians to increase awareness of responsible pet ownership.

Pets Alive offers a unique way to help donate to their facility. They offer the recycling of old cell phones and ink cartridges which aids in turning "trash into cash". This is just one example of how a non-profit organization can utilize the community to aid in generating extra money for their organization. Also, they welcome volunteers from the area to help with everyday tasks and relies on the community's support to thrive. Donations are what enables Pets Alive to continue its work of spaying and neutering pets at low-costs. Without donations, it would not be possible.

• Matter of Importance

Pets Alive serves an important role in ending animal overpopulation. Overpopulation leads to cruel and usual punishment of animals that are unable to receive loving, good homes. It also leads to the euthanasia of many pets that turn up in animal shelters. By providing a low-cost spay and neuter clinic to the community, pet overpopulation will decrease. Also, they enable pets to receive vaccinations for a fraction of the cost for people who would otherwise not even take their pets in for veterinary care. In an indirect way, they are also protecting the community against sick and stray animals. As many people know, rabies can be given to humans. This is why it is so important that they offer this service at their clinic. At the same time, they encourage the education of responsible pet owners by offering visitors to their clinic recommendations on local veterinary care. Also, they help support the end of pollution by offering donations to their clinic in the form of recycling old cell phones and ink cartridges that would otherwise be thrown away. Pets Alive offers a number of important roles in the community and will be able to continue to do so with community support.

For information about Pets Alive and opportunities for donations, visit:

http://www.petsalivespayneuter.org/aboutus.htm

Fort Wayne Children's Zoo

• Overview

Although a zoo may not be exactly what people think of in terms of an animal shelter, some are in the fact that they help conserve animals and wildlife, in not just their parks, but the wild as well. The Fort Wayne Zoo in Indiana does just that. They began their zoo as a nature preserve in 1952. Since then, they have expanded rapidly into a well-developed zoo through dedication to wildlife and fostering the community in wildlife education. They are also a non-profit organization supported by no tax dollars. They were one of the nation's first zoos that was able to support itself through admissions, concessions, rides, and so forth. By creating a publicly interactive organization, they are able to raise funds to help support their dedications to wildlife, and thus continue to strive. With preservation being their dedication, it is no wonder that they have so many great educational opportunities to interact with the community.

• Their Specialties = Their Success

The Fort Wayne Children's Zoo is successful because of the number of special activities that help get the community involved. A couple of the most important ones are the Adopt-An-Animal program and educational opportunities. Their Adopt-An-Animal program allows people to choose what animal they would like to adopt by paying fees that directly benefit the zoo and its animals. In return, donors receive photographs, fact sheets, certificates of adoption, and other great benefits. Its one way for them to receive funds and also to get the community involved. Aside from this, they offer a range of educational opportunities. Obviously, they allow schools to visit them and in exchange educate the children that come and give them a great experience in animal interaction. Another option they offer is for the zoo to go to them. They go to schools and can bring live animals to share with the students, enabling them to experience wild animals first hand and knowledge that will last a lifetime. For further education, they also offer volunteer positions each year as well as internships. Clearly, the zoo has several educational opportunities that make it as successful as it is.

• Benefiting the Community

The Fort Wayne Children's Zoo benefits society in a number of ways. Its educational opportunities encourage youth to enjoy wildlife and to learn more about it. Increasing interest in wildlife helps promote responsible citizens in caring for their environment as well as the possibilities of them developing a desire for those areas as professions. Their internships and volunteer programs allow teens to get hands on experience to find out if wildlife is their "calling". They also offer a $2,000 scholarship for high school students that are going into an animal field. The Fort Wayne Children's Zoo represents how important an organization can be to a community. The community gives and the zoo gives back. Without the community, the zoo could not exist, because they rely on their funds to achieve their goals of animal preservation. On the other hand, they give right back by helping develop educated members of the community and encouraging the pursuit of knowledge and care for the environment.

For more information, visit the following sites:

Zoo Website: http://www.kidszoo.org/

Their history: http://www.kidszoo.org/pdfs/fwczhistory.pdf