I began, Dography as I call it, working with dogs mid-2015, after looking deep into my soul for where I wanted my business to be at in 2016. So many photographers had saturated my area, and I wanted to stand out. Loving animals and dogs in particular, lent a hand in my decision to start photographing dogs.
(Photo was taken by me during my mentorship with Barbara Breitsameter, with Barbara’s editing skills.)
The above photo was taken across the street from my studio, there, in the unseasonably warm October sun, I tried to get our dog, Luna, to be less excited to be free of a collar and lead so I could practice what I had learned from a mentorship with Barbara Breitsameter of PoppyBlue Photography. I had my husband corral her so that the sun was on her right shoulder. My flash was off camera, and to the left of me and the camera. I went as wide as I could with the focal length in order to get the “big sky” I was looking to achieve in this particular image, ideally the dog should have been standing but it wasn’t possible to get her to stand still.
I had used OCF (off camera flash) before but was never comfortable with it and knew that I needed to get over my fear. I finally had my hubby use a show lead, as they are thinner than walking leads, and stand to the dogs right, I later got rid of the lead in Photoshop and cropped in Lightroom to eliminate the handler out of the image. I used the Adjust filter from Topaz because I wanted that HDR type look to my image.
Once it went thru the courses of Lightroom and CC, I was happy with this image, it encouraged me to try more off camera flash.
I was comfortable shooting with Luna as she is our dog, however, since I was used to shooting with small children and families, I was concerned about working with strange dogs. I learned that when first meeting a dog, contrary to popular belief, do not stick your hand out palm down to be sniffed, instead, ignore the dog and speak to the owner/handler about the session. This allows the dog to come to you when it is ready. Chat with the client with both of your hands hanging at your side, when the dog comes to smell your hands, then it is ok to offer them to be smelled! The dog has now chosen to accept you. Don’t make any sudden movements with the animal, as this will break his newly achieved trust in you. I make sure to have treats, in a bag that hangs on my belt, at the ready. Some dogs don’t respond to treats, offer them one first so they know that YOU have the treats. Ask the owner/handler if the dog has a word that he responds to with a head tilt, like “walk”, “ go for a walk” or perhaps the word “treat” gets a response? Knowing this will undoubtedly get a response you are looking for in your photos.
Sometimes, the dogs is small, or even tiny and the client wants a more formal or indoor setting. When I bring a dog into my studio, especially for the first time, I allow enough time in the session for the dog to first roam the rooms on his own, explore, smell and get accustom to the sounds and equipment in the studio. Once the dog has his curiosity satisfied, we begin putting the scene together, making the dog as comfortable as possible. Again, I just hold my hands at my sides until the dog is comfortable enough to approach me, I do not sit on the floor until he makes contact with me, as I don’t want to scare him.
This image was shot in my studio, using an AlienBee 800 at ¼ power, with an Octagon softbox facing the dog, and lowered to the dog’s head level. This is important as you don’t want shadows that aren’t flattering, even on a dog! In this image, I was concerned putting the boxer pup on a chair, he was but only 10 weeks old and I would hate for him to fall. To ensure safety here, Mom, is about 1 foot, or arms length to the left of the dog. He, Jango, did the posing himself, while he awaited my cue with a sound to perk his ears. This image was shot in RAW and edited in LR first for cropping and then tweaked for flaws on the fur in PS.
Although I love the “Big Sky” concept, and can’t wait for next summer to begin it again, I am loving the lighting I am getting in the studio with the dogs I am doing this winter.
Again these two images are in the studio, in the Boxer’s image, I had put him in the tin container and he moped, a great look for what I was going for. When we removed him from the container, I had mom throw treats all over the backdrop (white vinyl) and I photographed them separately and merged them in PS for the look we wanted. The image of the two dogs together, which are my pups also, was not a merged image, they actually cooperated together for this image, I tweaked it with a preset in LR, called Surreal Moment, for the vintage feeling of Christmas I was going for.
Normally when I client comes in with more than one dog, the chances of getting the animals to cooperate together isn’t going to work. That is where your skills in PS and merging images comes in handy. Here is a sample of two, uncooperative dogs, outside:
While these two images are great on their own, the client wanted the dogs in one image, and that just wasn’t happening. So here is the merging result, which she was very happy:
This actually worked out better than expected, I concentrated on capturing the dogs pictures individually as to not stress out the dogs, and the owner, making the session a much more pleasant experience. Because the images were taken in relatively the same spot, it was easy to use the lasso tool in PS to grab the dog on the right and insert her into the image of the Weim, I reduced the opacity as to get the image in the right spot, then tweaked the colors under the color balance menu to make sure they were the same, I feathered the edges of the labs insert to 20 px and merged the layers.
Here are other images I have taken since starting with dogs.
The key to great Dography is to relax, know your surroundings and be patient with the animal you are photographing. One key thing I have learned in a short time, is to talk to the client on the phone about possible triggers the dog has, so you do not inadvertently do something that makes the dog aggressive. Always respect the dog’s space, and when in the studio, I try and shoot with a longer range lens, like my 70-200mm so I can step back out of the dog’s personal space. I find this worked with children so why not dogs, so far so good…
My name is Caroline Sullivan, photographer/owner at Creative Photos by Caroline. I have been photographing professionally since 2002, specializing in children’s and families. As these children grew, I advanced into weddings and babies for them! I first picked up a camera in 1985 and began photographing landscapes on my honeymoon. I went digital in 2002, opening the actual studio space and never looking back. I am located in Michigan’s beautiful Upper Peninsula and travel all over the country shooting weddings and people, that’s my favorite part of my job. Never having had formal training other than the School of Hard Knocks, in October of 2015, I decided to go outside my box and signed up for a one on one mentorship with Barbara Breitsameter of PoppyBlue Photography, and it changed my life!
Visit me at www.creativephotosbycaroline.com or my Facebook Page, www.facebook.com/creativephotosbycaroline and give me a like!
Find me on Instagram @Caroline1380
