A simple tip for better pet photography

Let’s say that you want to take a photograph of your pet or the animal you have in foster, what is one thing you should do to make better photos?

If you are familiar with T-Pain and have heard his song “Apple Bottom Jeans,” then you would have heard him sing “Shawty got low, low, low, low, low, low, low.”

Well that my friends is a simple tip to improve your pet photography. Get down on their level. Get as low as you can and let subject fill your frame as much as possible. This is particularly key when shooting smaller dogs. I recently had the opportunity to shoot a bonded pair for Speaking of Dogs Rescue. Kodi a Pomeranian and Bella a Schnauzer/Yorkie  mix.

I spent the majority of my time on my belly. It was about as low as I could get, without digging a trench. There was a rock and I did attempt to photograph both dogs up on the rock. While Kodi was happy enough on the rock, as the king of all he surveyed. Bella had little interest in being up there, to be honest she had little interest in the session at all, as there were far too many things to see and smell.

There are many other tips I can share but I will start with this one today. Grab your cell phone, your fur baby and get down on his or her level and take your shot. Then compare it to older photos on your camera roll and see how much better it looks. Share those ‘low, low’ photos on social media and feel free to tag me (@inlinedesignphoto) so I can see them too.

The last thing I will ask today is for you to help me get the word out about Kodi and Bella. The more eyes we can get on this bonded pair and all the dogs at Speaking of Dogs Rescue the sooner we can get them all adopted.

Happy shooting!

Good, Better, Best

I thought this week I might focus on the art of post-processing.

First of all what is post-processing? Our predecessors would enhance their images by working on them in the darkroom. They were capable of doing more beyond dipping photographic paper into developer and fixer baths. Photographer Ansel Adams was a master of black and white photography and the zone editing system. In the darkroom he would dodge and burn the film to bring to life details the camera could not capture on its own.

Digital photographers utilize software like Lightroom, Capture One or Photoshop to develop or finish their portraits. A lot of how we shoot and edit is a direct homage to film photography post-processing. We have even maintained some of the same teminology even though the process is very different.

Most clients are aware of Photoshop and some are familiar enough with it to ask if a certain number of years or pounds be removed from their photograph. With pet photography, we usually do more than remove dog-tags, leashes and collars. To date my most unusual ask was to make a male dog a tad more modest… if you catch my drift.

Below find three versions of the same image. Each image represents a different part in the ‘develop’ process. The image below illustrates a fully edited version of an image from Bernard’s adoption photo session. The second image represents the image with some Lightroom edits. The final shows the image as it was captured by my camera on the day.

The final edit

The halfway point

As photographed

Also I would be remiss if I did not mention that Bernhard is still looking for his furever home. He is a senior Beagle who has arthritis but he doesn’t let it hold him back. He is friendly, curious and cute as a button. Please head over to Speaking of Dogs Rescue to learn more about Bernard and the other dogs there, that are waiting to love you.

It doesn't always go according to plan

In an older blog, I wrote about a recent adoption photo session that went really well for me. I guess I spent far too much time dwelling on the experience. I had an adoption session this past weekend and this time I was drop-kicked by Murphy and his law.

I was scheduled to meet Bernard, a 10 year old Beagle, at the home of his foster family. To save set up time I prepare as much of my equipment ahead of time as I can. For example, I preload all the batteries into my speedlights. My intention is to be fully up in running within minutes as some dogs can have particularly short attention spans. So the idea is to get to snapping long before the dog in question ‘squirrels’.

To my shock and horror my flash refused to fire. My first thought was that something blocked the trigger signal but that was not the case. Was my speedlight broken? Nope. As per usual, the problem existed behind the camera. I had put one of the batteries in upside down. After I loaded it correctly the speedlight fired and we were in business. Or were we? Nope, Murphy was still not done with me.

The speedlight fired and immediately stopped working. At this point I break out into what I can only hope is an internal cold sweat. You see Bernard was already on set and I knew I had to get things going quickly before he stormed back to his trailer. It turns out that I had accidentally switched the main speedlight from Group 1 to Group 3, so basically the two lights weren’t ‘talking’.

Bernard was a consummate professional and he was not at all bothered by the late start. When it was time for him to turn it on, he did and he was a pleasure to work with. Bernard is arthritic and based on what I had read on bio, I was expecting him to be a lot less active and a lot less ambulatory than he ended up being. With  ‘dogged’ determination he refused to let his arthritis keep him down.

I am pleased to report that even after the false starts, I was able to come away with a number of images of Bernard that showed him in his best ‘light’. We were even able to shoot outdoors, I was not sure we would have been able to pull that off. The weather network called for snow that day but that did not materialize. Instead we had rain and milder temperatures. It made it difficult to find snow and even more difficult to avoid the less picturesque wet ground.

Once again I invite everyone over to the Speaking of Dogs Rescue website to get more information on Bernard and/or any of their other rescues. Spread the word, let’s get these dogs adopted!

The best little Chili dog in the GTA

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to meet Chili, who was one of the sweetest Yorkies I have ever met. After being in her company for a little while, I was surprised to learn that the veterinarian approximated her age at five years. I did not go to veterinary school so I am not challenging him/her, I am simply saying that is one lively five year old.

Somehow Chili found herself living on the streets in the GTA and lucky for her the fine folks at Speaking of Dogs Rescue came to her, well… rescue. I am confident that it will not take Chili long to find a furever home.

I will say that this was one of the quickest adoption photo sessions I’ve ever done. Chili was a little unsure when I first set out my equipment but she warmed quickly and before long she was throwing off some serious Canine Steel. She was posing like a seasoned vet from the very first frame, that is why it did not take me long at all to get what I needed but I was having such a good time with her that I found it hard to call an end to the session.

If there is any room in your home and in your heart for Chili or any other rescue, then head on over to Speaking of Dogs Rescue. They have several dogs who can’t wait to bathe you with love and affection.

They called him Pappy

Speaking of Dogs Rescue is an organization that I have worked with in that I have taken some of the adoption photos of their rescues. Photos that were put up on the website in the hope of helping each and every dog find their forever home. Not only did it allow me the opportunity to photograph dogs, which is something I think we all know I like doing. It also gave me the opportunity to spend some time with a dog that could use a little extra attention. Know that it wasn’t a one way street, I needed attention every bit as much as the dog did.

Over the years I have met quite a few canine characters and today I want to tell you a bit about this wonderful senior beagle named Pappy. I rarely get the backstory of the dogs when I meet them, so I can’t tell you how Pappy came to lose his eye, I can only tell you that it was gone. It was interesting to see that missing orb did not slow him down in the slightest. He was pulling this way and that because he wanted to see and experience everything.

I met Pappy on a December day a few years back. It was one of those winters where we actually had a significant accumulation of snow. We needed a suitable location to start shooting and the entry way of a nearby building strongly resembled a home. As we were making our way there, Pappy’s demeanor changed quite suddenly. One minute he was happily walking along the sidewalk and the next he was angrily stomping through some very deep snow. Pappy was struggling through snow that was easily chest high and regardless of how difficult it was to negotiate Pappy was a pup on a mission.

Pappy put his front paws on the window sill and began to bark and growl at the dog in the window. A one eyed dog who was barking and growling back at Pappy. As you can imagine my first reaction was to burst out laughing. I kid you not, Pappy shot me a dirty look and went back to giving that other dog what for. Not to be deterred, I tried to explain to Pappy that he was barking at himself. Pappy just turned around and shot me this look that said, ‘Quiet woman, I am busy here.’

When that pesky beagle had been suitably subdued a very proud Pappy climbed out of the snow. In fact the second image was taken just after he made his way out. I took it as he looked up at my friend as if to inform her that, ‘he had showed him.’

Pappy eventually found his forever home where he loved and was loved as he lived out the rest of his days.

Chica and Arnica - Photographing Rescues

I recently got a call to take some adoption photos of a bonded pair that hadn’t been garnering the interest they deserved. If you have been around here for a while you will know that I owe a lot to the photographer that I have become with my earlier work with rescues and adoption photos.

I met these two feisty but lovable Chihuahua-Pomeranian nuggets in a park near where they were staying in foster. It was immediately obvious that they were indeed bonded and their relationship was well established.

Chica, the lighter coat, was clearly the alpha in their relationship. By the time our shoot was complete I had managed to win her over and she happily accepted pets and scritches. Arnica never quite warmed up to me in that short time although her curiousity let her get close a time or two.

Watching those two wander through near chest deep levels of snow was about the cutest thing ever!

I sure hope these two are adopted soon. If you have room in your heart and your life for two little siblings please get in touch with the fine folks at Speaking of Dogs Rescue today.