Brooke The Maltese Puppy (Click to enlarge)

Nope, not Christmas, it’s a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan.  You met this little Maltese sweetie in Who’s Your Daddy with her Doberman house brother, Buc, but here she is all by herself.  This is another example of using a prop, in this case cheerleader pom poms, to confine your subject.  Obviously the paper can’t hold her when she wants to leave, but she’s not quite sure she can move around freely yet.  Take advantage of those few minutes as she figures it out.

You can also have your assistant slip a hand under the boa, cloth or paper and actually rest a hand on the subject.  It serves two purposes.  One, they feel more secure, and two it’s further proof to them that they cannot move.  It gives you a few more minutes to get the shot you’re looking for.

We are still recovering from our weekend of events.  Pet Fest 2009, on Sunday, was absolutely wonderful.  If you were there leave a comment.  From my vantage point I saw over 30 rescue groups passing information and spreading good will.  I saw many, many products and services useful for all pet owners  It seemed a good time was had by all.  Mark your calendars for next year.  I know I will.

Next weekend – Boxer Bash!

Lili & Sammie The Maltese (Click to enlarge)

Meet Lili & Sammie, the softest, fluffiest, sweetest looking house-siblings ever.  As I’ve said: you want cute?  We got cute!  When we shot this, Lili was only about 2 months old.  She’s the little peeker around her house-brother, Sammie.  Sammie was only a year old at the time, but he acted like the big brother already.  They both were puppies, really, and they were so inquisitive, you could just see the wheels turning as they tried to figure it out.

This is one of my all time favorite compositions, not because I did anything extraordinary, but because Lili brought it.  That’s why it is so important to make many captures.  If you’re in your home with your digital camera and your cat or dog is in the room with you, start clicking.  Are they doing something cute?  Keep clicking.  Check your histogram briefly to see if you’re exposing the images as you want, then keep clicking.

I think if you’re strictly a portrait photographer specializing in humans, you can afford to view each image in the LCD to see if you like it, but as a pet photographer, if you’re looking at your LCD when your subjects are in front of you, you’ll miss one of these.  Lili only did it for a second or two.  Then she got up.  Think of yourself as a tennis player.  Don’t admire your shot until the point is over — if you do, you won’t be ready for the next shot.

The story is told.  Nothing to hide.  Lili was shy and Sammie was bold.

Elsabella & Beignet The Kissing Maltese (Click to enlarge)

If the roles were reversed and our domestic animals were higher on the food chain and kept us as pets, the internal bickering would be relentless..  Hair would fly and blood would flow.  Once we get past the obvious hilarity of the premise, “No, Paula, you chase the ball first, then put it in your mouth and run around with it.  You don’t need a glove, dear”, or “That’s not nice, Paula, sniff his butt first, then you can play”, perhaps we could think about what we ask our companion animals to do.  In the wild they would choose each other.  Not that flying fur and blood wouldn’t happen during the selection process, but humans do that too.  When we ask domestic animals to live in our world, we remove their choices and impose ours.  If the role reversal happened in some Freaky Friday scenario, would they choose us for our beauty?  Our intelligence?  Perhaps the natural selection would be based upon our ability to get along with others.  Not since kindergarten have we been judged using that criteria.

Non Sequitur (Click to enlarge)

Have you ever thought, I just don’t trust that person, dogs don’t like him?  You know you have.  On some level most of us look to our dogs for some judgment about people, because…well, we may not be so good at it.  Witness today’s Non Sequitur cartoon.  I’m not the only one to be rolling this thought around.

In the studio, I am surprised by how many tender moments dogs share with us.  Elsabella and Beignet’s mom tells us these non-blood-related house mates adore one another.  I’m amazed by how well most of our animal families manage to find a balance, even though they did not pick each other.  It’s like arranged marriage, with no divorce option.  Oh yes, some of us live with the perpetual baby gates because someone in the household just can’t seem to get along, but it’s usually because of something we did or didn’t do.  They’re born with this ability to love the one they’re with.  Though Steven Stills had a more promiscuous situation in mind, doesn’t it really mean, just love?  Wouldn’t our world be a far better place if dogs ruled?

Bailey The Maltese (Click to enlarge)

Meet Bailey.  He’s another sweet, sweet Maltese.  We see a lot of Maltese in our studio, in fact we had Bailey’s dog mom or dad in the studio a couple of years ago.  Bailey’s been in several times and it’s always a joy to see his human mom and dad.  Sometimes they bring others in their family too.  They make me think we should have a party when they arrive because it always feels festive.

It’s true that I see thousands and thousands of proofs of pets every year and I have a clear picture in my mind about how a particular subject should look in print.  Most folks come to a professional photographer to purchase formal portraits of their pets and family.  My job is to fulfill their requests, even if their pets are wild and their children need naps.  That is how I step behind my lens in every instance.  I try to fulfill the plan of action to the best of my ability.  After shooting, I make a judgment about each proof as we go through them in the studio.  I try to get something you or my client cannot get at home. …cannot get at home are the operative words.  I may even try to talk my clients out of a proof because, I say, they “can get that at home”.  I say this with the hope that my pet people understand that I understand these are valued photos and they’d better be good, not a snapshot you could get for free at home with your own camera.

A couple of months ago I was a speaker at the Greater New Orleans Photographic Society’s Photo Gumbo convention.  The topic they wanted me to address was pet photography.  When they approached me I thought, wow, they must really be hard up for speakers if they found me!  I waffled and replied that I would have to think about it.  My friends were sure I could do it.  I was doubtful.  Of course you think I can do it, I say, someone else can always do it!  I finally relented.  They were smart.  They asked me months in advance.  It’s easier to relent when the due date is months away.  (You can tell what kind of student I was.)  But yikes!  Time passed.  Did I think I would be dead by April?  Sheesh!  We were into March and the event was only 3 weeks away.  Panic set in.  I had to put some plan in action.  (Remember what I say about planning as one of the four elements of good pet photography?  See Eye Contact for a review.  Well, planning is an integral element of a good life as well!)

I decided to let the photos tell the story, just as I always do.  I picked photos which illustrated points I thought were important about pet photography…and just blathered on about them…just as I always do.  Most of my images are formal portraits of pets.  Some with human folks in them as well.  But formal.  I grew up looking at books of dogs photographed pointing in the field, stacked and focused, standing and alert, or sitting tight with ears pricked (or dropped breed specific) and mouths closed.  I knew what the dominant breed should look like.  I would look at my subject and shoot accordingly.  Most of my subjects did not know how to pose, but allowances and work-arounds could be employed to get that formal look.  And all is well, right?  Well, I have been inspired by some of my clients and their dogs, and have allowed that a mouth open provides a sweet look and can make a lovely portrait as well.  Here’s my rule: if the tongue isn’t the first thing you notice about an image, then it probably is okay.  I still like to get that formal inquisitive look with a head tilt, but look at Bailey.  His mouth-open look makes me think he just said something.  Wait, I think I hear it.  “Hi, let’s play!”  A talking dog; now, that’s compelling!

Although I love to hear from you off-line, our conversations will benefit others if we have them in this forum.  So, don’t be shy.  Comment here about my posts or photos and post some of your photos as well.  We’d love to see them.

Three Maltese Puppies (Click to enlarge)

This was a gumby-dog shoot.  In past posts I’ve suggested that if a good composition has your subjects evenly spaced, a better one would be with them close enough to touch.  The closer the better for my taste.  If the subjects just sit there and let you place them anywhere and hold still just as you left them…gumby dogs.  These sweet babies had just turned 7 weeks.  Remember not to pop lights at any animal younger than 6 weeks as their tender retinas can be damaged.  One of our reputable breeders comes in occasionally to make portraits of a litter which will be available for adoption/sale.  Although this capture was made a few years ago, and two of these fellas have been in to our studio for their toddler and adolescent portraits as well, for me this shot remains compelling.  Their interest in the studio happenings was real and you can see their already emerging personalities.  Bold and shy before your eyes.

I post these little sweeties today to talk about white dogs with colored backdrops.  I love this color backdrop and like to shoot white dogs on it, but this situation can pose a problem due the the nature of light and color absorption and reflection.  In order to understand what is happening to the white dog with bright colors around her you will need to understand something about the nature of color.  You may get some argument here as color depends upon which category you are speaking about.  Either light generated color, as in computer screen renderings, or pigment generated as they may be created in nature: the red apple.  When generated as light black is not a color.  No light?  No color.  Black.  When white is generated as light, on the other hand, the blending of all colors makes it a color, right?.  Here’s proof:  sunlight is white light that includes all the colors in the spectrum.  You see this in rainbows, which is conditional bending of rays which produce these colors from white light.  Colors that exist in pigment have the reverse explanation.  Blending all three primary colors, red, yellow, blue, will result in black; therefore yes, black is a color here.

Okay, this was not meant to be a color theory tutorial.  Good thing too, as there is some further explanation needed to understand grey and a kind of muddy color, but for our purposes here let’s just accept the premises above.  So in the studio we are dealing with light generated color on pigment.  We will then begin to understand that white, a color in this case, is reflecting all color.  How does that impact the photographer?  Well, it’s a biggie when you’re photographing white subjects.  The predominant color in this image of the three Maltese is green.  A bright green.  Because the light is reflecting all colors, and green is the predominant color, that green appears everywhere…even on the puppies!

Although I still have problems avoiding color on a white dog, there is a simple post processing fix for this.  Use your desaturation tool.  These three had green all over their chins, bibs and feet.  I used the desaturation tool to make them white again.  I hope this is some information you can use in your endeavors to make that special capture of your pet.  As always, please comment on this or any photo or post.  How about posting one of yours?  We’d love to see it and try to assist you with your problems or perhaps you can help me with mine.

The Lovely Bianca (Click to enlarge)

On May 5, 1862 Mexicans won a great victory against the occupying French that kept Napoleon III from supplying Confederate rebels for another year.  This allowed the United States to build the greatest army the world had ever seen and this grand army smashed the Confederates at Gettysburg just 14 months after the battle of Puebla, essentially ending the Civil War.  Check out Cinco History for the complete story.

As if it’s not enough to celebrate this victory, it’s the one month birthday of Sisters Pet Pics Blog!  So find something to celebrate today because there is nothing so bleak that a walk in your yard with your best dog friend can’t heal.  Enjoy the moment.  Exif:  1/160, f13, ISO 200.

Cher (Click to enlarge)

Don’t you think?  Meet Cher.  Just as lovely as her her namesake.  Although we love the nekked dogs in our studio we also love to stage themed portraits.  Sometimes theme props provide a means to anchor or secure a bouncy subject without interfering in the shot.  And so it was with Cher, the Yorkie-Maltese mix.

I thought the first day of May would be an excellent time to talk about pink (or any color, really) boas.  These types of props allow an arm to be strategically placed under them to hold an insecure subject still for just a moment.  You can use the table cloth which is part of your set too.  Terry’s arm and hand are covered by the prop and cropped out of the shot.  One thing which is more difficult to plan, but works quite well is a sleeve the same color as the backdrop and table cover, which can be post processed easily to make the arm disappear.  I’ve found an assistant wearing a black long sleeve shirt or sweater  can hold a sitting dog on a black ground quite successfully.  This works well as long as the bare hand does not show or make an obvious dimple in the the subject’s body.  Try it and show us your results – we’d love to see them!

As always, your comments and feedback are welcomed.  Exif:  1/250, f16, ISO 200.

Buc 'n' Brooke (Click to enlarge)

Meet Buc, the Doberman, and Brooke, his Maltese baby.  It never ceases to amaze me that such different beings can get so close.  I’m a sucker for those stories where different species foster each other.  There’s an incredible one at Happy Dogs Play blog’s April 8th entry.  Dogs are phenomenal creatures with some unexplained characteristics.  Some have the ability to sense cancer or illness in a human.  Some have the ability to find their way home from across a country.  Some just love their house mates and mourn their loss as any human might.  They will never cease to surprise.

Buc is one of those guys who met and loved his little “sister” as he would any of his other pack-mates.  His role in the family is of protector, so he just assumed his role with this new member.  Oh yes, Brooke gets stepped on occasionally, but she bounces up and loves Buc some more.  So when we posed this little group we were sure to place Buc first in that flattering 45° angle, then we placed little bouncy Brooke in the obvious spot.  Buc’s dad was placed strategically on the corner of the table at camera left and Terry was at the side of the table at camera right.  This kept them “anchored’, at least momentarily.  A sit or a down keeps an animal in a position a millisecond longer than if they were standing.  I think of it as ‘anchoring’ because just out of the frame is an assistant whose hand was felt resting on a shoulder, hip or foot a moment before.  Amost before they know the hand was pulled away I make the capture and Voila!  You get something like this.  This procedure will take many times before all in the room get the hang of the timing…but it works consistently.

Try it with your pet family and post your results, or talk about my post/comment.  Exif:  1/250, f11, ISO 200