What is your photography style and approach when working with dogs?

Are you considering having professional photos taken of your dog?

In this blog, I wanted to tell you a bit about my photography style and my approach to working with your beautiful pups. As you may have seen from my portfolio, I shoot a mixture of outdoor and studio portraits. Both are very different in style, and one may not appeal to you as much as the other, and that’s totally fine!

My outdoors dog photography Style

When I do an outdoors dog photography session, my style is very naturalistic. I strive for simple, yet effective, framing and editing. You could describe some of my work as “Fine Art” in style, as I tend to go for a shallow depth of field, minimalistic colours, and more posed (albeit in a very natural way). I tend to lean towards those deep, earthy tones in my outdoors dog photography portraiture, something that requires carefully considered retouching. My main goal is always to create a piece that YOU would proudly display in your home, so, if you’re looking to create something dramatic worthy of going up on your wall then you’ve come to the right dog photographer!

2. My studio dog photography style

My studio dog photography style is very different from my outdoors dog photography style! I tend to go for bright, light and powerful! These shoots are always really fun, and I love them because you can decide what colour background you want depending on your home decor! These kind of shots look great on canvases, and they can make for great Christmas presents! However, I do also like to throw in the dramatic black and white portrait too, as black and white tends to suit everyone’s home!

My approach when working with dogs

In both environments, my priority is to make sure that your dog is happy, comfortable, and NOT stressed at any point. One aspect of my job that I take very seriously, is being able to read dog behaviour. I never push a dog to do anything that they don’t want to do, or are showing signs of stress at doing. For me, the photography comes second to the well-being of your dog.

Although it may look like it from my photos, it’s actually not very often that I work with perfectly well-behaved and impeccably trained dog models. The majority of the time, I am working with the everyday dog! These are dogs with quirks, complex personality traits, fears, obsessions, prey drives and all the other eccentricities that make up your beautiful, one of a kind fur friends!

The more I know about the dog I am photographing, the more I will be able to get your dog to cooperate in front of my lens. During my pre-shoot consultation with my clients, I like to ask as many questions as I can before the shoot, such as;

• What motivates your dog? Is it food/balls/toys/sounds?

• What type of environment is your dog most comfortable in?

• Does your dog have any fears/behavioural issues we should know about?

• Please describe any dietary restrictions or allergies your pup may have

I know from the moment I enter into the dogs world, I am setting the tone for the energy of the entire session. As my past clients will tell you, I will normally speak and interact with the owner first and mostly ignore the dog. I will then usually hold out my hand and allow the dog to have a sniff of me. After a few minutes of excitement of being introduced to a new person, the dog should be fairly calm. Once this is the case, I will come down to their level and let them investigate me further and see what I’m all about! Every dog is different, and some may be a bit skeptical when meeting a new person. If I know before hand that I’m working with a fearful dog, I usually build extra time into the session to make the introduction stage as long as necessary to make the dog comfortable.

A lot of clients are hesitant to let their dogs get close to my expensive equipment, but I always assure them that it’s important for the dog to sniff everything they want, as it will be in their personal space. This is especially important during my portable studio sessions when there is lots of different equipment set up in their home. Positive reinforcement is always used at every single one of my shoots. I want the dog to associate every click of my camera shutter with their favorite things! This could be treats/favorite toy/ball/even the classic “Good job!” and head scratch!

Hopefully this blog has given you some insight into my style of dog photography in both studio and outdoors settings, and my approach when working with dogs.

If you would like to email me to chat about the privilege of being selected to be your dog photographer, or have any questions for me, I would love to hear from you! You can click the button below to contact me directly, or click here to view my portfolio!

Be sure to check back next week for more tips, behind the scenes magic and all things pet photography!

Chat soon!