Dog Photography

I have been interested in doing Dog photography for a while now. I have practiced on my own dog previously to get the lighting how I wanted it and practiced different types of editing.



A fellow Photographer and I had been discussing having a play date to be able to build a portfolio of images to offer these sessions to clients. We spoke about this several times over approx 1 year. Finally we had a date both of us could do.



I put a post on a Facebook Group, called 8 out of 10 mum’s, which we were not expecting the response that we had. There were over 300 comments in total and around 100 images of peoples fur babies.



After a few days of discussions we had decided on the dogs we were going to use.

Firstly we had Neo & Indi:

Neo was a 12 year old Labrador Cross Sharpei, Neo was very calm and not bothered about his surroundings, he seemed very settled straight away. Neo’s Parents say he doesn’t get out much anymore due to his age and medical problems that he has, he was our first dog up.

we got Neo into position however he was slipping a bit on the backdrop and kept going and sitting on the mat by the front door. We realised he must have been uncomfortable so we moved the mat onto the shooting area and then he would sit but he really wasn’t interested i had bought some treats and toys from Pets at Home that morning to be able to buy friendship with the dogs.

When i retrieved the ball out of my bag that is when we saw a totally different Neo. He was totally happy with the ball and started bouncing all over the studio playing with the ball, this made his parents so happy as they hadn’t seen their joyful fur baby like this in a long time.

Next up was Neo’s little sister Indi who was a 2 year old Pug cross Jackrussell. She was a great model for us to work with, she would do anything for the treats i had in my pocket.

We then decided that they needed pictures together, We sat them next to each other and like any other siblings they were not so impressed Neo was totally into his ball and Indi was looking around saying “mum do i have to sit next to him” .

 

Second Shoot Nellie:

Next up was Nellie who was a 5 month old Great Dane. At first Nellie was a bit concerned in walking through the door however her mum got her in without a problem. This reminded me of a program I watched years ago where you have the trainers help you out with problems with your dog. There was one episode where there was a Great Dane that was scared to go through doorways and onto shiny tiled floors.

I had instantly remembered about this and knew the problems Neo had with standing on the shooting area, I got Nellie to stand on the backdrop and i could see her slipping a bit and knew that this may be a problem for her so rather than stressing her out we got the mat out again. this then became known as the magic mat.

Nellie did jump a few times but once her mum settled her we got some fantastic images from her. About 30 mins after they had left we received a message where Nellie was in her bed fast asleep as all the modelling had been a bit tiring for the 5 month old, she looked so cute.

The main part of this shoot is i just remember her being all legs and ears.

Third Shoot Amber:

Amber the 6 Year old Chow Chow was next to arrive. Amber came across as a dog who wants to do things on her terms. She wasn’t interested in coming into the studio. So she was carried.

Amber wasn’t interested in the shoot at all, she wanted just to see what was around, she had an amazing coat and it seemed like she had this wonderful mane like shape.

Fourth Shoot Milo:

Milo was the most unusual color dog I had seen. He was a French Bulldog cross Pomeranian. His features reminded my of a fox like dog. He was the cutest dog. The dog owners said they had taken him out that morning to Southend-On-Sea. They had told us everyone was stopping them asking questions about Milo.

 

I can see that Milo would be a dog that would end up on a TV program. Something like Britons Got Talent doing a dance or some sort of agility course. He was an intelligent dog.