Dogtography: A Knock-Your-Socks-Off Guide to Capturing the Best Dog Photos on Earth 1681986477, 9781681986470

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DOGTOGRAPHY A KNOCK-YOUR-SOCKS-OFF GUIDE TO CAPTURING THE BEST DOG PHOTOS ON EARTH Kaylee Greer www.dogbreathphoto.com Project editor: Maggie Yates Project manager: Lisa Brazieal Marketing manager: Mercedes Murray Copyeditor: Maggie Yates Interior design: Aren Straiger Layout: WolfsonDesign Cover design: Aren Straiger ISBN: 978-1-68198-647-0 1st Edition (1st printing, December 2020) © 2021 Kaylee Greer All images © Kaylee Greer Rocky Nook Inc. 1010 B Street, Suite 350 San Rafael, CA 94901 USA www.rockynook.com Distributed in the UK and Europe by Publishers Group UK Distributed in the U.S. and all other territories by Ingram Publisher Services Library of Congress Control Number: 2020932502 All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by this copyright notice

may be reproduced or utilized in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the publisher. Many of the designations in this book used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks of their respective companies. Where those designations appear in this book, and Rocky Nook was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in caps or initial caps. All product names and services identified throughout this book are used in editorial fashion only and for the benefit of such companies with no intention of infringement of the trademark. They are not intended to convey endorsement or other affiliation with this book. While reasonable care has been exercised in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein or from the use of the discs or programs that may accompany it. Printed in China

FOR JOSHUA The brightest light on four legs. Who knew that the very thing that people search their whole lives for, I would find in you? Like glittering plunder, I’ve unearthed the world’s single greatest treasure from the back of a shelter cage. Wiggling. Wagging. With an untold gift inside your heart. Flickering inside your eyes, I’ve discovered a oncein-a-lifetime tincture made of 1,000 shades of light that could heal every wound of human madness. It’s the kind of love that could move the earth and sky. The kind of love that reminds you exactly what a gift it is to be alive and breathing. The kind of love that serves to be the reason we’re all here, wandering the earth wide-eyed, adventuring through these grassy fields, tromping along through city streets in frenzied search of one thing. Our reason. All of humanity’s reason. And you and I, we smirk together, because we know we’ve found the secret. A secret made of courage, kindness and bravery. You are the living embodiment of the power of second chances. No physical limitations of earth, space, or sky could keep me away from you. You are the kind of soul that I will wait for in the stars one day. You are my forever. Joshua, my shining light, my very good boy, this one’s for you.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Writing a book is hard. (Understatement of the century.) And all the tiny steps it took to get where I stand today were somehow even harder. There are countless hearts behind the one I call my own. People who have come into my life and sprinkled their particular brand of light through the streak of my reality. They’ve molded me, supported me, loved me, and inspired me into existence. In some small way, they’ve all had a part in the making of this book. For all the parts of these pages that are me, there are a thousand tiny parts that are them. Here’s my moment to make sure they know it: Some people give you life and leave it at that. Others give you life and then teach you how to fly. How lucky I am that my parents came together to be two of the latter. To my dad, Charlie, the brightest light in any room, anywhere on earth—thank you. You taught me genuine kindness. You taught me honesty. With your hands, decorated in the battle wounds and scars of endless years of hard work, you taught me perseverance. I will never be prouder to have the kind of dad that shows up in dirty jeans, with calloused hands and motor oil-covered shirts, rather than having the kind of dad who wears snazzy business suits but never shows up at all. I will never stop trying everyday to be just like you.

To my mom, Lauri, whose astronomical ability for support could carry the entire sphere of earth on her tiny shoulders—thank you for always believing in me, especially at those times when even I didn’t believe in myself. The kind of love you’ve shown to me cannot be replicated anywhere, in any capacity, in any corner of the earth. You’ve guided me through all the hard parts and cheered me over every mountain. You light up my life with love. Together, Mom and Dad, you both taught me that I could do anything. And I believed you. To my soon-to-be second set of parents, Fran and Dave, who have accepted me into their family with the warmest open arms. Their support has never wavered. They lent the money for my first-ever camera, believing in me from the very first moment I began to dream this very big dream. Thank you. This is a gesture of love that I will never forget, and one that I will never be able to properly repay. Your love and support drive me every day. To Ted Waitt and Scott Cowlin at Rocky Nook—thank you for looking at me and seeing more than just a hyperactive, overexcited kid in red overalls. Thank you for believing in me and all my wacky dog hair-covered adventures, and for inviting me to be a part of the family of renowned and talented Rocky Nook authors. To Maggie Yates, my kind and brilliant editor. Thank you for your hard work and for dealing with my many dissertation-

length, emoji-laden, 1 a.m. emails. Thank you for knowing when to take out the extraneous stuff, but more than that, thank you for what you let me put back in. To Scott and Kalebra Kelby, Jean Kendra, and the whole team at KelbyOne. I will never forget the kindnesses you have shown me and how you lifted up an errant redheaded girl with nothing but a camera, some dogs, and a dream. You helped me share my story with the world. Your support and friendship is a gift that I cherish everyday. I am lucky enough to call some of the most talented colleagues in this industry my dearest friends. A handful of those legendary talents leant their patient eyes and ears to me as I navigated the challenges of the writing of this book. For everything from the cover design to proofreading the content: thank you to Craig Turner-Bullock, Terran Bayer, Charlotte Reeves, and Nicole Begley for your unending support. To Joy, Meghan, Alayna, Emily, Paul, Doug, and Dobby. You guys rooted for me the whole way through—thanks for checking in and lending your hearts when I needed the shoulder of a friend. And yes, the last name on that list is a dog. As it should be. To all the shelter dogs who have inspired me, to all the clients who have turned into lifelong friends, to all the fellow artists who have shared kind words, to all the perfect strangers who have followed my adventures and enthusiastically supported me over the years—thank you.

And last, specifically because he is the actual opposite of least: Sam. The one I’ve chosen to traverse the farthest stretches of the earth with for forever. (And who I’d keep choosing, over and over again.) Sam, you are the shoulders upon which I stand. You are the sparkling, unshakeable strength of stone upon which I’ve built my mountain. You hold me up, so that even in the deepest swaths of dark I still catch a lucky glimpse of a blinking blanket of stars. You tip the light away from you, ever so gently, so its photons change course and flicker in my direction. You think I haven’t seen you do it, but I have. Your support is indescribable. As I sit here staring at this blank page dreaming up words that might be big enough to describe you, I find myself knowing better. There is no combination of nouns, adjectives, and verbs, in any cadence or any order, that would be sufficient to share with the world the exact kind of magic that you’ve brought to me. For every mile across those stretches of highway that we’ve put beneath our tires, for every death grip on your hand at 30,000 feet as we bounce through turbulent air in search of another adventure, for every shoot that leaves us mud-caked and laughing, for every lick of a lonely shelter dog whose day you’ve changed with your quiet love, I thank you. For every grain of sand in our eyes in whipping windy salt flats, for every bead of sweat in Costa Rican jungles, for every wounded shin on Virgin Island coral, for every Roman raindrop in our sleepy midnight eyes—all in the name of telling the stories of dogs across the world—I thank you. You’ve stood by my side through every dark night,

and every brighter tomorrow. If it wasn’t for you serendipitously dancing through my life, I think I might still be wandering the earth, wide-eyed and searching for a reason. You were the compass that pointed me towards my biggest, scariest dream. The kind so insurmountable, you run away from it in fear, because deep in your heart, you tell yourself you weren’t built for it. But each and every time I muttered the words, “I can’t” you were by my side with one simple retort: “You can.” There will never be enough stars flickering in the galaxy upon which I could count the ways I thank you.

KAYLEE GREER

is an international multi-award-winning photographer and a creative leader in her industry. As one of the most sought after “dogtographers“ in the world, Kaylee’s instantly recognizable images grace books, magazines, products, packaging, calendars, greeting cards, and advertising campaigns for some of the biggest pet brands on earth. A passionate and energetic instructor, Kaylee has spoken at esteemed industry conferences, taught once-in-alifetime workshops in unforgettable locations, and mentored students from across the globe in the art of dog photography. She is the star of a National Geographic WILD television miniseries called “Pupparazzi” which chronicles the colorful photographer’s adventures across America. Kaylee is known for her love of vibrant colors and her imagery’s emphasis on the comedy and character that is so uniquely canine. Her vivid photographic style is drawn directly from the inspiration she finds inside the soul of a dog. Most importantly, Kaylee has dedicated her life to telling the stories of dogs who have been forgotten and left behind. She has traveled to animal shelters all over the world with the mission of giving a voice to the voiceless, and capturing the beauty of the canine spirit through the power of photography.

CONTENTS INTRODUCTION

HI, I’M KAYLEE HOW IT ALL BEGAN CHAPTER 1

SPEAK DOG LET’S TALK DOG BODY LANGUAGE Energy Do Your Homework IT’S ALL IN THE APPROACH Positive Reinforcement SPECIFIC DOG BODY LANGUAGE SITUATIONS Lip Licking Paw Up Panting Case Study: Junie the Serious Seawitch Whale Eye

Turning Away Yawning Ears Back Tail Position COMBINATION BODY LANGUAGE CUES WHY DOES POSITIVE BODY LANGUAGE MATTER? Case Study: Daisy RESPECT YOUR DOG AND WORK SAFELY Case Study: Ralph KNOW WHEN TO TAKE A BREAK LEARN YOUR DOG IN CONCLUSION CHAPTER 2

CAMERA SETTINGS CAMERA BODY Canon 1DX MkIII Canon 5D MkIII Sony A7III Fuji GFX 50S CAMERA SETTINGS

AUTO Versus MANUAL Shutter Speed BEHIND THE SHOT: THE ANTI-GRAVITY GOOD BOY ISO Aperture THE IMPORTANCE OF SHOOTING RAW FOCUSING MODES (FOR STILL DOGS, NOT-SO-STILL DOGS, AND ACTION DOGS) General Autofocus Settings Action Autofocus Settings WHITE BALANCE STICK WITH IT! CHAPTER 3

LENSES 50MM 35MM 70-200MM 16-35MM 11-24MM

24-70MM CHAPTER 4

DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS PREPARING FOR THE SHOOT USING SOUNDS HEAD TILTS TOYS BALLS TREATS WHAT’S IN THE TREAT BAG? Sounds Treats Toys Accessories Lickables LEVERAGE THE POWER OF THE OWNER HOW TO KEEP YOUR DOG IN PLACE Putting Dogs up on Things Tethering Stake ‘Em in!

Long Leashes TAKE A BREAK! (OR TWENTY.) HYDRATE, HYDRATE, HYDRATE! GET LOW! WORKING WITH AN ASSISTANT (OR NOT) HARNESSES COLLARS TAGS NAKED IS NICE SHOOTING BLIND CHAPTER 5

SUNSHINE WRANGLING GIVE HIGH NOON THE MIDDLE FINGER AVOIDING MIDDAY Why It’s Better to Shoot in Earlier or Later Hours The Color The Intensity The Angle/Direction RULES ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN

QUALITIES OF LIGHT Color Temperature Direction Quality (Soft vs. Hard) TYPES OF NATURAL LIGHT Indoor / Window Light Full Sun Cloudy Shade Backlight Twilight CHAPTER 6

CATCHLIGHTS CHAPTER 7

LOCATION RULES, REGULATIONS, AND PERMITS (BOOOO!!) LOCATION SCOUTING PERSONALIZE DOG-SIZED WORLD DISTRACTIONS

SAFETY FIRST CHAPTER 8

EXPRESSION CHAPTER 9

SHOOTING ACTION THE GEAR THE CAMERA SETTINGS LIGHT, CAMERA, ACTION! Backlight Front Light Sidelight EXPRESSION SAFETY GET LOW! MOTIVATION Scenario 1: Your Dog Model Is Safe to Be off Leash and Has a Great “Stay” and Recall Scenario 2: Your Dog Model is Safe to Be off Leash but Has a Poor “Stay” Command

Scenario 3: Your Dog Model Is Not Safe to Be off Leash PUSH YOUR LIMITS CHAPTER 10

GROUP PHOTO TECHNIQUES TAMING TWOSOMES WITH YOUR TRUSTY TETHER PUTTING PUPS ON PEDESTALS FABULOUS FOCUSING FIXES CAPTURING CANINE KISSES CHAPTER 11

THE CANINE VARIETY POWER HOUR 50MM OVERHEAD PUPPY-EYES PORTRAIT ACTION: RUNNING ACTION: JUMP! ANTI-GRAVITY DOGS PLAYING WITH A FAVORITE TOY OR BALL DOG WITH OWNERS SILHOUETTES PLAY!

COMICAL, WIDE ANGLE COMPRESSED PORTRAIT WITH BOKEH OR BACKGROUND BLUR DETAIL SHOTS CHAPTER 12

ILLUMINATION NATION REFLECTORS CONTINUOUS LIGHTING ON-CAMERA FLASH OFF-CAMERA FLASH DIAL IN THOSE SETTINGS MODIFIERS PLACEMENT GO SLOW SEEKING INSPIRATION CHAPTER 13

POST-PROCESSING

PHOTOSHOP LEASH REMOVAL SHOOTING FOR LEASH REMOVAL REMOVING PEOPLE Person Removal Method 1: Content Aware Person Removal Method 2: The Background Stretch Person Removal Method 3: Using Plates DIGITAL GROOMING Dirt, Dust, and Dander Tear Stains, Eye Boogies, and Shaved Spots Making Eyes Sparkle CHAPTER 14

GIVING BACK EXPERIENCE BEFORE AND AFTER MAKE THE BEST OF WHAT YOU’VE GOT MAKE A DIFFERENCE

’TIL NEXT TIME

INTRODUCTION

HI, I’M KAYLEE …AND I’M GOING TO TELL YOU SOMETHING THAT WILL BLAST YOUR SOCKS RIGHT OFF YOUR FEET AND INTO THE SKY.

Ready? I love dogs. And oh my gosh, I wish I could say this in a casual, nonchalant, “Yeah I think dogs are pretty cool, no big deal,” sort of way. But you guys…I mean it. I mean like, in a totally and completely bona fide “crazy-dog-lady” kind of way.

Ever since I was 5 years old, I would run squealing wildly with delight across the street toward any passing pup I’d see. I’d try with all my might to keep my head from popping off my body from all the joy. Fast-forward to today, and not much has changed. My friends actually try and deter me from the path of oncoming dogs as we walk down the sidewalk for fear that I might embarrass them while we get stuck in a 25-minute interaction that includes me excessively ogling, squishing, and kissing a strange dog with a sometimes slightly terrified owner looking on. The truth is, I find more beauty, purity, and joy inside the iris of a happy dog than I do anywhere else in the world. When all else seems to fail me, I find solace in the smile of a dog. Dogs have this perfect ability to live simply—to live in the moment. And that just fascinates me.

Looking back, I’ve always been a bit of a dreamer. I’ve always lived just a little bit on the edge of society, conjuring up fairytales and big adventures and ignoring the status quo. I prefer to fly by the seat of my pants, sleep late, and I hate to plan. I like to watch the way the world unfolds around me when I just let go. I’ve always figured that life is for living, right? We’re given these beautiful, bright red beating hearts and these vessels of bone and flesh, and it’s all like one big, gorgeous poem. Everything works together, ticking in perfect synchronization to keep us alive, to keep our synapses firing and our eyes wide open. I think it’s unbelievable. And I’ve always thought—I might as well go discover the world while I still have these two feet underneath my body that are capable of carrying me across any kind of terrain, right? This was the kind of outlandish thinking that brought me to where I am today. I am humbled and wildly grateful to say that I live my dream through a camera lens each and every day. Of all the jobs in this world that one could possibly have, I get to have the best one of all. But it wasn’t just a simple, seamless jump that got me here. Oh no, it’s been a very, very big adventure. I’ve had to carve my own way. Because, while I didn’t know much when I first started, the one thing I did know was that nobody was going to get out of their warm bed and carve it for me. Luckily for me, I was blessed enough to be able to turn my copious amounts of “dog crazy” into passion, and that passion into a profession.

Yup, you heard it here folks—I am a professional dog photographer. (If you hang on just a second, upon the announcement of the news, I think I can hear the five-year-old version of myself squealing with delight from all the way back in 1990.)

HOW IT ALL BEGAN Ten years ago, I was a terribly lost soul. After college, I held my head high and walked the world with big, big aspirations. I

applied to a gazillion (technical number) different companies on a gazillion different kinds of resume paper. As far as I knew, I had done everything right. I got excellent grades, I turned in all my papers on time, I interned at all the right places, and took all the right electives. I did everything that my parents and teachers and bosses and mentors had told me to do. So naturally, when I left school, I was riding high. Or so I thought. Shining bright and ready to conquer the world, I applied to my top company choices, sending my sparkling resume to places where I just knew I could go, join the ranks of the workforce and change the world. How lucky they would be to have me. Little did I realize that “doing everything right” didn’t necessarily translate to a golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s proverbial chocolate factory of business, life and obnoxious amounts of success. When no responses came back to me in the form of job offers straight out of a Hollywood picture, I found myself working a “make-ends-meet” job that squashed every fiber of creativity and soul that I had. Leaving my workplace at the ends of my shifts in tears started to become commonplace, and I fell into a state of deep sadness as I tried to avoid the daily lie I was telling myself about how I was doing everything I could, all along knowing full well that I was wasting valuable time while not using my gifts to their full potential. One afternoon, I was driving home from that particular job— tires splashing across wet pavement—and I made a decision. I

was going to take the next step toward finding my purpose. In that tiny moment of clarity, I took a step back and had a heartto-heart with Kaylee Greer. A meeting of sorts. Both the grownup version of me and the squeaky five-year-old version of me were in attendance. I asked myself some hard questions. “What is it that I was put on this planet to do?” “What do I have inside me that I should give the world?” “What is my purpose?” Those answers, the ones that have always been there in the back of my head, lighting a wildfire in my heart, came soaring to the forefront of my life and my mind: Dogs. So, I went to the shelter.

At the time, I had absolutely no idea how much that decision would change my life. In those long and winding shelter hallways, Dog Breath Photography was born. It is where I would step onto a rollercoaster cart that would start me on the greatest and most thrilling adventure of my life, taking me to places I could have never even begun to imagine. The cart began to climb up the very first hill, bringing me to higher heights than I ever thought possible. I peered, disbelieving and wide eyed over its brightly colored edge and just before I had a chance to take a deep breath and brace myself, the first gust of wind blasted my hair backwards, and I watched my future unfold in the name of dog. Since that moment 10 years ago, I have photographed thousands of dog photo sessions; traveled the world teaching photography workshops; worked on life-changing international animal rescue missions; shot national commercial ad campaigns for some of the biggest brands in the pet industry; seen my work in editorials, greeting cards, books, calendars, and galleries; have had a television series on Nat Geo WILD; and now, my fingers are clinking wildly on this keyboard as I get to write my first ever book.

So here I am, staring at this computer screen for so many hours a day that I think my eyes might pop out of my head. I’d like to thank the 2,000 Reese’s peanut butter cups and 4,500 pee breaks it took me to write this book. I also must extend an extra special bout of gratitude to my dogs, Joshua and Junie, for lying at my feet for at least 75% of this time-consuming process and letting out silent-but-deadlies that could put an entire pasture of cows to shame. A high five goes to my partner Sam for peeling my flattened body off the floor after another 8hour stint of writing threw me into a new and exciting bout of crippling self doubt, the kind in which I decided for the 33rd time that “I can’t do this. This is an impossible task.”

But holy banana sandwiches, we’ve arrived. Here we are. Welcome. Welcome to my book. I am so excited I think my heart might melt down into puddles in my shoes. The following pages are a collection of my thoughts. An amalgamation of experiences. A curation of philosophies. A treasure chest of sparkling tips and secret gems. After ten years of photographing dogs professionally, I’ve arrived here, to the pages of this book, with the promise to share all the information that I’ve hoarded away in the colorful corners of my brain. (Well, actually, lucky for you, not all the information, just the stuff pertaining to dogs and cameras.)

Behind the scenes filming our television show Pupparazzi for Nat Geo WILD.

If you love dogs, this book is for you. If you love photography, this book is for you. If you want to take better photos of your own dog, for no other reason than to capture his perfect legacy for posterity, this

book is for you. If you dream of becoming a professional dog photographer, this book is for you. If you already are a professional dog photographer, this book is for you. And if you just happen to want to gaze upon adorable dog photos for a few hundred pages to meet your monthly “cute overload” quota, well, you’re in luck—because this book is also for you. As you make your journey through the pages of this book, you might find out pretty quickly that I don’t take myself too seriously. I can only share my stories, experiences and store of knowledge in the best way I know how—by being me. But in between the adventurous anecdotes and parenthetical asides, I can assure you that the rigid bits of technical information and the very real facts do exist. I may have just shrouded them in the occasional unicorn and rainbow wrapping paper because, apparently, that’s how I cope with impossible challenges (or things that I believe to be impossible challenges, like you know, writing this book). But that’s enough rambling from me. I can assure you, there’s plenty of time for that later. Now, hop on in this rollercoaster cart with me, and I’ll take you to a place where you just might discover the magic, mayhem, and madness that goes into making the best dog photos on planet Earth.

— Kaylee

Here I am, among hundreds of free ranging dogs at the Territorio de Zaguates on a mountaintop in Costa Rica.

CHAPTER

SPEAK DOG BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, ETC.

Dogs do speak. And believe it or not, they have a lot to say. As dog photographers, it is our job to listen. To pay attention to what our canine subjects are trying to say to us and to the world around them. The kindest words that I could ever receive about my photos are, “Wow, I can really feel the personality of that dog in your photo. I feel connected to him. Even though I’ve never met him, I feel like I know him.”

There’s no higher compliment for someone who’s made it her life’s mission to help be a voice for dogs through still imagery. A common issue I see with photographers who are very new to working with dogs is that their final image makes no real connection between the viewer and the animal in the photo. No

oomph. No spirit. No personality. Just a dog. A photograph may be technically perfect: exposed correctly, no blown highlights, detail in the shadows, tack sharp with a strong rule of thirds applied compositionally. And guess what? That’s all well and good. But that photo means nothing—absolutely nothing—if there is no connection between subject and viewer. It means nothing if their voice doesn’t resonate through the image and into the viewer’s heart. What I’m saying is (and this is important, so read this sentence twice if you have to): The moment trumps the technical. Every time. “Oh, so Kaylee, you’re saying that it’s completely fine to ignore exposure, composition, lens choice, and focus modes, each time you take a photo?” Get the heck right outta town, of course I’m not! But I am saying that if your subject is speaking through the frame— reaching out across the plane to crawl into the viewer’s heart and leaving a tangible mark there—then zooming in to 1000% to check if every pixel is tack sharp is completely unimportant. Capiche? So why does that fine piece of advice come to you here, right at the beginning of this book, in chapter 1? That’s easy. It’s because this is the foundation of literally every single other thing we will be discussing throughout the course of this happy little book. You cannot build an empire in France without first

learning French. You cannot build a brand and do business in Hong Kong without first learning Mandarin. You need to know and respect the language, customs, and culture of the world you’re immersing yourself into. Similarly, you cannot live in the world of dogs and handcraft imagery featuring dogs and their stories, without first learning the language of dog. It’s only fair. It’s their world. We’re just making beautiful photos in it.

LET’S TALK DOG BODY LANGUAGE This is a book for photographers, not biologists. (Although if you happen to be a photographer-biologist, well then that’s rad and you are still very much welcome here.) To preface this chapter—If you’re looking for in-depth reading on the subject, I highly recommend renowned Animal Behaviorist Alexandra Horowitz’s book Inside of a Dog. I feel it should be required reading for anyone looking to work with dogs in any capacity. That said, this is less of a chapter in a science textbook and more of a quick rundown of the basics that we need to know in order to respect and communicate with dogs as subjects of our photography. It would be easy to write an entire Lord of the Rings-length epic on this subject alone, so I’ll tame it down to the absolute basics here.

While dogs are mostly known to us as our domesticated canine best friends, it’s easy to forget that dogs are still live animals of an entirely different species. It’s important to understand that we need to take precaution when working with live animals in order to keep everyone safe while on-location. Remember, in the history of the world, dogs were only very recently domesticated as human companions. They are direct descendants of the wolf. No matter how much we try to manipulate, change, and rearrange them through selective breeding, they will never fully lose the genetic and historical connection to their wild ancestors. Throughout the course of your dog photography adventures, you are going to meet and work with all kinds of dogs. Happy dogs. Calm dogs. Wild dogs. Fearful dogs. Big dogs. Little dogs. Proud dogs. Barking dogs. Spotted dogs. Curly dogs. Handicapped dogs. Agility dogs. Service dogs. Shelter dogs. Senior dogs. You get the picture. Some of them will be a breeze to photograph. Some of them won’t even notice you’re there. Some of them won’t let you within five feet of where they stand. Some of them will bowl you over and cover you with slobbery love anytime you’re within eyesight. Dogs and their varying, unique personalities go on and endlessly on. Like human beings, dogs are individuals, and we must respect them as such. They all come with their own stories and histories. Some will be so easy to photograph that we’ll dust our shoulders off at the end of a long shoot and smile smugly. Others will test our resilience and our expertise. They will be so

hard to work with that you’ll burst into tears and question every reason why you ever thought you could be a dog photographer. We must know how to work with them all. Every dog deserves to have their story told.

1.1

In this chapter we’re going to look at some very specific dog body language scenarios as they relate to photography. We’ll learn what signs to look for, what they could mean, and what we as photographers can do to ensure we’re respecting those signs. Not only will this help us to work safely, but the resulting images will show that we can really speak dog. Let’s start by addressing the obvious. Photographing dogs is hard. Like, really hard. The idea of capturing still images of a

constantly moving, fur-covered subject that doesn’t speak the same language as us is a tough nut to crack in and of itself. But more than that, there’s an even bigger challenge that we are presented with before we even leave the house. It has directly to do with a certain primal instinct that comes built into each and every dog we meet. In dog body language, staring directly toward or into another dog’s eyes is considered extremely aggressive. This is usually the last interaction that occurs before a fight breaks out between two (or more) dogs. What does this mean for us? You guessed it. As photographers, we’re at a disadvantage before we even step into the ring because what does our lens (smooshed directly into the face of an unassuming dog) resemble? That’s right. A big, giant eye. It may seem like innocent fun and games to us. “Just a nice new DSLR and a couple of lenses while I lean in to snag a quick shot—no pressure Fido!” But, here’s what it looks like from the perspective of a dog. Horrifying.

1.2

As you can see, photo shoots are inherently a strange experience for dogs. It’s a break from their daily routines (stressful), perhaps taking place in unfamiliar surroundings (stressful), heavily featuring a new human who puts a large clicking black box in front of their face while demanding endless sits and stays (super stressful). So, what can we do to take all of this strangeness and turn it into a wonderful experience? How can we master our images but also master managing the happiness and comfort of all the very good boys and girls that will find their way in front of our lenses? Good question! The first and absolute most important thing we’ll talk about in this section is energy.

Energy Energy is everything on a dog photo shoot. Dogs are as empathetic as they come (which of course, is one of their most winning qualities). This means that whatever human energy

you’re bringing to your shoot is going to be felt by your dog. Always focus on staying as calm, even, and positive as possible. That means: No flying off the handle with excitement. (I’m looking at you Kaylee Greer.) No audible or visual frustration over not getting a shot or the arrival of an unwelcome swath of party-pooping black clouds rolling in to fill up the sky. No celebrations with confetti or party-popping streamer thingamajigs to commemorate the joy of the occasion. You get the picture. Here’s something you may or may not already know about dog photography: It’s hard. And some days are harder than others. It’s on those days where perhaps you’ve got a particularly difficult dog, or your planned shoot location falls through, or your favorite lens stops functioning, that you simply have to go with the flow, be patient, and keep your energy upbeat and positive. Your dog model will absolutely pick up on and react to your energy at a shoot. If you have the perfect shot planned, but simply can’t get your dog model to sit where you need him to, stay patient. Take a breath, take a break, and try again. If it takes you 30 minutes to get the shot, then that’s what it takes. Under no circumstances should you let your frustration show. Be extra patient at your shoot knowing you can scream into a pillow as soon as you get home. Your calm, even, happy presence and energy are going to translate right into a comfortable, content, and relaxed dog

model, making your job 67.455 times easier (mathematically speaking). You can control your own energy, and that’s brilliant. But let’s talk wild cards. What about the dog’s owner? Or how about their entourage of three hundred thousand friends, family members, children, and the family gecko they insist on bringing along? Kidding about that last one. Kind of. Oh boy. This is where the real struggle comes in. There is one thing that has astounded me over the years of working with dogs professionally, and it’s something that I still marvel at even to this day. Simply put, while the vast majority of people in the world own, love, and share their homes with dogs, only a very tiny percentage of them actually know anything about dogs. I’m not saying this to be negative or condescending toward those people in any way, because they genuinely have good intentions and love their dogs as family. It’s just that the average dog owner rarely takes a step back to try and understand the world from their dog’s perspective. Most people have never read a book on dog behavior, taken a training class, or worked with multiple dogs in a meaningful capacity. While this lack of understanding is generally fine for the average owner’s day-to-day life, it can easily become a problem during your photo shoot. The fact is, a good percentage of the dog owners that show up on your shoot day are going to be feeling lots of emotions.

Excitement at such a fun and unique adventure with their dog. Nervousness or anxiety about their dog misbehaving or being able to perform for your lens (especially if they’ve invested a significant amount of money for the shoot). Frustration with their dog if they don’t immediately sit pretty and stay perfectly the first few times around. The task of managing stress and energy falls onto us, the psychiatrists photographers. Each tiny individual emotion that the owner is experiencing can be felt deeply by the dog (even more intensely if the dog-owner bond is exceptionally strong). It can be like a wild rollercoaster ride for your dog model (and frankly, for everyone involved). And boy oh boy, it cannot be overstated how much you do not need the extra challenge of dealing with bad energy while trying to make gorgeous and impactful images of a subject who is supposed to look relaxed and happy. Imagine the manic, wild ride of emotions the whole operation becomes when young children become involved in the day. Trust me when I say there’s a reason that all the information packets I send to my clients before we meet strongly and repeatedly suggest that maybe it’s not the greatest idea to bring children along for their photo-shoot day.

1.3 FIGURE 1.3 The candid, unscripted moments of “dogs being dogs” are the very best part of any photo shoot. Largely ignoring my presence and my camera, Petey was quite busy with a serious bout of playing and splashing in the cool ocean water when I managed to snag this shot. Petey carried on with his fun, none the wiser that he had just given me one of my single favorite photos of my entire career.

I’ve heard owners yell frantically at their dogs for not immediately obeying, or worse yet, physically push their dogs into sitting or laying positions in an effort to move the shoot along. I know that these people truly do mean well, and they think they’re doing it to help, but this is where I have to step in and make it clear that we will not be running the session in a force-based way. This type of behavior is considered negative reinforcement, and can quickly ruin any chances of your dog model behaving in front of the camera. In your dog’s brain, the camera will become associated with their owner’s negative

emotions of frustration and anger. If things go down this path, you’re going to spend the majority of your shoot trying to reset that association, making it extremely difficult for you to create any photos worth talking about. One of your top priorities will be making sure things never get to this point. All of this said, don’t always count owners out on the energy front. I’ve had some dog owners turn up to my shoots with incredible, zen-like energy that massages the entire day into perfection. In fact, I can remember with crystal clarity back to certain shoots simply because of the remarkable quality of energy of the dog owner. Even looking through past galleries and shoots as I unearth photos for this book, I can land on a single of a dog and tell you within milliseconds if their owner brought an ultra calm energy with them just based on the dog’s expression. While these types of owners are admittedly a bit more rare than their wilder, slightly more manically energetic counterparts, they do exist and the effect their presence can have on your shoot is quite tangible. In order to help you spend more time shooting, and less time as a doggy/human psychologist, here are some tried and true tips to alleviate any negative, pressing, or just plain bad onshoot energy: This one is the first bullet point because it is by far the most important. (Is that how bullet points work?) Before you even come close to officially starting your shoot, communicate clearly with your client. Snatch all the question marks right out of the air the moment you

meet them and confidently explain exactly how the whole process is going to work. Don’t forget, you are the expert in this situation. You need to kindly command control of the day from the very moment you meet your dog and client or you’re at risk of things spiraling out of control very quickly. Feel free to steal a line right out of my playbook by saying “There is zero pressure on your dog to “perform” for me today. He doesn’t have to do anything other than be a dog. That’s the absolute magic of it all anyway.” I find this statement immediately loosens my clients up. Any worries or anxieties about their dog’s potential inability to behave perfectly (let’s face it, that’s 99% of real dogs on planet Earth anyway) melt away. They almost all react the same—a nervous laugh and something along the lines of, “Oh my gosh, what a relief. I was so worried about that.” I can usually feel a tangible amount of tension dissipate into the air. Owners love to have a job and to “help.” If there is something that you can assign them to do, you may find that the shoot goes a lot more smoothly. You might ask them to hold a reflector, or hold the dog’s leash up and out of the frame “just so,” in a way where you can successfully Photoshop it out later. If you don’t have an actual task for them to perform without them being entirely in the way, express appreciation for their willingness to lend a hand, but be clear that it’s best that they step back and let you do what you do best. Sometimes, making up a job for them if it’s genuinely

not needed has the potential to turn into a case of too many cooks in the kitchen. So be clear and upfront about how they, the client, can best serve the shoot— whether that’s helping or just standing back and enjoying the ride. Be conversational and always keep your client updated and involved in the process. I find it’s immensely helpful to the flow of the day and overall success of the shoot if I clearly and conversationally communicate with my client throughout. I describe everything I’m doing and why I’m doing it. Most people are naturally curious and find the process of photographing a dog quite interesting. They feel excited to be a part of that process for the day. Invite them in with open arms. Give them cool behind-the-scenes info or stories about your job, or engage them by showing them the back of your camera after a particularly nice shot. This keeps the client interested and involved. If you make them understand everything you that you’re doing and why you’re doing it, they are going to be a lot more willing to allow you to keep up with the whole adventure and do whatever it takes to help you keep crushing it. I’ve been on shoots with other photographers who speak with their clients very little or not at all as they’re working, and I have to tell you, the overall awkwardness of the situation makes me cringe all the way down into my shoes. When there’s no communication, I can feel the tension of the shoot growing, and that tension directly

translates into bad energy. Without proper communication, it can make the whole experience feel more like a chore and less like an adventure they’ll never forget—which is exactly the opposite of the type of experience you want to provide. (Ahh, see. You didn’t get very far into this book before I dropped the inevitable on ya: While we are in this business because we love dogs, people skills are still very much necessary. Womp womp.) If you’ve done your very best job managing the energy of the day’s adventure with your pre-shoot conversation, but you feel like your client is still tense or nervous, start off your shoot with a long walk to the first photo spot. Even if that spot is close by, you can sneakily walk the outer perimeter of the park with the client and dog and then circle back to it. Just keep up the conversation and let them know you’re taking inventory of the best spots as you walk—this will buy extra bonding time before commencing the shoot. This extra time invariably helps to relax both owner and dog into the situation, not only with the new location, but also with you, as a person and a new friend. This simply gives you time to build rapport with the client, which goes an incredibly long way to relieve any lingering discomfort or tension. If you’ve done both of the above and there are still any shreds of anxiety or discomfort from either dog or

owner, reset the situation by starting the day off with a completely non-photo related activity. Take out a ball and have a fun and upbeat game of fetch to build confidence; go for a short, leashed jog with the dog to build a bond; or take out the amazing, stinky-delicious treats and inject a little fun and excitement into the atmosphere. These shoots (and the potential need to repair them if situations or energies go awry) are never a one-size-fits-all situation, since so much depends on the personalities of the dog and accompanying owner. Should your shoot’s energy get out of control, it will be up to you to find the best way to get everything back on track and make the day a positive experience.

Do Your Homework It’s not often that I work with perfectly well-behaved and impeccably trained dog models. More often than not, I’m working with the “every dog.” You know the type of dog I’m talking about. Let’s be real, you probably own the type of dog I’m talking about (I know I do). They’re dogs with quirks. Dog with complex personality traits, fears, phobias, obsessions, play drives, prey drives, and all the other eccentricities that go into forming each dog’s unique personality. The more I know about each dog I’m about to photograph, the

better my chances are of getting that dog to cooperate in front of my lens. One of the easiest ways to show up to your shoot prepared is to send a pre-session questionnaire to your upcoming dog model owner (because, for some reason, the email that you sent directly to the dog at [email protected] bounces back with the auto reply “Sorry, I cant type. I don’t have any opposable thumbs. This is an automated message”). Here’s a list of the exact questions in my questionnaire that I send out to each client before we meet up for our shoot. Dog’s Name(s) Dog’s Age(s) Dog’s Breed(s) What most motivates your dog? In what type of environment is your dog most comfortable? (Park, city, beach, hiking trail, etc.) Is your pup allowed off-leash? Does your dog have any fears or behavioral issues we should know about? (Don’t worry, we don’t judge!) Please describe any dietary restrictions or allergies your pup might have. Any other fun and exciting tidbits that you’d like to share?

It’s pretty simple and straightforward, but helps me cover all the basic behavioral bases that I need to know beforehand. Feel free to use the above list to help prepare, but also take some time to think of any other questions that you might want the answers to before your next photo shoot.

IT’S ALL IN THE APPROACH Picture this. You show up to your shoot at a park on a beautiful sunny afternoon. As soon as you’ve gathered your gear, you spot your client and their dog (to help fully form this scene in your imagination, let’s say the dog is a chocolate lab named Hank). Hank is, of course, beautiful, and your instinct is to sprint full speed toward him because you’ve secretly chosen to become a dog photographer simply to cuddle more dogs (it’s possible I’m projecting here). Well, as the saying goes, first impressions are everything. From the moment that you enter into that dog’s world, you are setting the tone for the energy of the rest of your day together. Approaching a new dog directly, flail your arms wildly with toofrantic energy and repeatedly screaming “I want to squish your head off your body!” is not a great idea if you want to kick things off on the right foot.

1.4 FIGURE 1.4 While documenting stray and street dogs in Costa Rica for a special project awareness series, my partner Sam and I encountered this timid, weatherworn pup in a lonely parking lot. In a situation like this, approach becomes incredibly important. Our human body language and energy may either draw the dog in, or reinforce pre-existing fears that he may have about human beings. Sam’s very soft, gentle, nonconfrontational body language in this photo I snapped of him meeting this sweet, stray soul is a very good visual example of a successful and respectful approach to a new dog. (As a note, if this photo bums you out, I highly recommend you get out there and volunteer at one of the thousands of shelters in the world who could desperately use your help to make a difference in the lives of forgotten dogs like this one.)

You may notice that two unacquainted dogs never approach each other in a straight line unless they’re looking for a fight. As a rule, dogs always politely circle or approach one another indirectly after they’ve taken a nice, wide berth. Keep this in mind and apply dog rules in order to make an approach in the most respectful way possible. Take a deep breath and calmly approach the owner, speaking

to only them while mostly ignoring the dog. Hold your hand out palm down and allow the dog to sniff you to his heart’s content. If the dog is approved to have a treat, calmly treat him without getting down on his level. After a minute or two, you’ll probably be able to sense the dog’s level of confidence. If the dog seems calm, get down on his level and allow him to investigate you. If the dog still seems hesitant, just give him time. Every dog is different, and while some will warm up right away, others are a bit more skeptical when it comes to new people. If I know I am going into a shoot with a fearful dog, I’ll build in extra time so that I can make this introduction stage as long as necessary. In past extreme cases, I’ve waited over an hour before ever attempting to bring out any camera gear in order to give the dog as much time as possible to be comfortable and reach a state of calm. The owner may be hesitant to let their dog too close to your expensive camera equipment, but assure them that it’s important for their dog to sniff all of the strange instruments that are about to be shoved into their personal space. (Oh, a prerequisite for being a dog photographer? You can’t be too dainty about your gear.) Put everything that you’ve brought with you down on the ground. While approaching dogs is likely not a concept that’s entirely new to you, here’s a quick list of important points to remember to make your next photo shoot go as smoothly and successfully as possible from the beginning:

Do not approach in a direct, straight line. Do not make immediate, direct eye contact. Do not lean or tower over the dog’s head. Scratch the rear end or underside of the dog’s chin; not the top of his head! No kissing or hugging (yes, this is very, very hard for me, thanks for asking). Get low, on the dog’s level (please note, if you sense aggression of any kind, give the dog space rather than getting on his level). Put all large objects (e.g., photography gear) on the ground before making your approach. Speak in a soft voice while controlling your energy— keep it calm and even. Respect their space, read their body language, and do not corner them. Always leave an escape route and let them take it if they choose to move away. Give plenty of opportunity to sniff! You, your bags, your gear, and the wagon you may have brought to cart it all around in! I’ve seen (and experienced firsthand) the wrong style of approach throw off an entire photo shoot from go. Successfully approaching your dog model will start your shoot off on the

right foot and set a positive precedent for the rest of the day. So, now that you’ve got that down, what’s next?

Positive Reinforcement Oh, positive reinforcement, what would I do without you? Without writing a full-length dissertation on the subject, let me sum up the concept of positive reinforcement in the simplest way possible: instead of punishing a dog for bad behavior, you reward him for good behavior. Sounds simple, right? In truth, it kind of is. Undoubtedly, I will use positive reinforcement at every single one of my shoots. For this example, let’s recruit our old pal Hank the chocolate lab, again. I’ve made my introduction to Hank, and I can tell he thinks I’m one of the good guys. We’re off to a great start, but the second I take out my camera, with it’s black, clicking body, and it’s long 70-200mm lens, I can tell that Hank doesn’t trust it. Perhaps he thinks my bizarre contraption is a relative to the dreaded vacuum cleaner he does battle with every week at home. Perhaps it reminds him of a snake that once bit him when he was a pup. Who knows? The bummer is, I can’t explain to Hank what the purpose of this odd clicking box is. I have to find another way to let him know that this new and strange item will not hurt him. Even better, how about letting him know that it will benefit him—maybe even bring him treasures! I want him to

associate this bizarre camera machine with his favorite stuff in the world (perhaps treats, a favorite toy, or even a good oldfashioned neck scratch). Here’s exactly how I make that association. Let’s say that Hank loves treats. (A Chocolate Lab who loves treats?? Blasphemy!) First, I’ll place my camera on the ground maybe five feet away from Hank. Hank gets a treat. Then, I’ll coax Hank a foot closer to the camera. Hank gets another treat. Closer, treat, closer, treat. So far, so good. Once Hank is confident enough to be close to the camera, I’ll actually put a treat directly on my camera body or lens and allow Hank to eat directly off of the strange device. Will your camera get covered in dog slobber? Yes. (And the guy that you take your camera to once every few months to have it cleaned will invariably say, “What did you do to this thing?!”) But that’s the name of the game. Next, I’ll pick up the camera. Hank gets a treat. Then I’ll click the shutter. Hank gets yet another treat. With enough repetition Hank will make the connection that every time my camera makes a clicking sound, a treat is coming. (And if you know anything about Chocolate Labs, you know they don’t want to live in any other reality than the one in which another treat is coming.) This method of positive reinforcement is simple, easy, incredibly effective, and should be used throughout the entire shoot. If you come across a dog who is not treat motivated, try a toss of a favorite ball or toy as a reward. If your dog is neither

treat nor toy motivated, use the owner to positively reinforce the behavior with a “good boy” and a scratch behind the ear. Use whatever motivator your particular dog model might value the most as a frequent reward, and you’ll be set up to capture him giving his best, happiest expressions while looking directly into your camera. Pure gold.

SPECIFIC DOG BODY LANGUAGE SITUATIONS When I dreamed up this particular chapter of the book, I thought, “Oh! I could show examples of bad body language and why it’s so crucial to know what it means!’ And then I smugly thought, “I’m sure I have no bad examples anywhere in my 800 bajillion-photo collection, because I’m a professional and of course I would never capture moments of discomfort in dogs!” Well get down off your high horse, Greer. It was very humbling to see how many examples of bad dog body language I had lurking in the deep, dark corners of my Lightroom catalog. (This is where I would insert that wincing emoji face if I were sending this information in an embarrassing text to a friend.) I’ll start this section off by saying everyone makes mistakes, even me! But, knowing how to decipher between good and bad body language in dogs will make all the difference in the world in your work and the way viewers perceive your level of expertise. The one thing that I can say about these following photos is that they are images that would never show up in a client’s

gallery or anywhere near my portfolio or social media accounts. Additionally, as a disclaimer, please be assured that as soon as I noticed this type of body language happening on-location, I never let it perpetuate past one or two frames. As soon as I caught wind of what the dog was trying to tell me, I immediately paused the sessions that you’ll see in these upcoming pages to fairly address the dogs’ levels of comfort. All that to say, please don’t call PETA on me. The truth is, these photos would never see the light of day if it wasn’t for this book, right here, where I’ve pulled them out of archived hard drive hell and printed them largely on this page for you to see in all their glory (and for me to cringe and live out here in the wild fields of embarrassment for a bit. Quite a humbling process this bookwriting thing is, eh?). For the greater good of our learning purposes, and so that these mistakes are repeated as infrequently as possible by dog photographers the world over, let’s get into this madness! Check this out, straight from the Dog Breath Photography firsthand challenges and experiences hard drive, a collection of dog body language cues that tend to signal discomfort or distress that you always want to look out for. Keep in mind, this is not an exhaustive list, but these are likely going to be the most common cues and behaviors that you’ll see in the context of a photo shoot. If you spot these behaviors pop up at your shoots, it is your responsibility to translate what your dog model is trying to tell you, and then work to correct the scenario before you indiscriminately continue shooting. Not only do these body language cues mean the dog is uncomfortable and

his needs are not being addressed fairly in that moment, but this kind of visual discomfort in your subject reflects directly and poorly in the impact of the final imagery you’re working so hard to create.

Lip Licking Lip licking is commonly seen as a submissive gesture that dogs will offer when feeling stressed, threatened, or frustrated. When there is no food around and a dog is licking his lips, studies have come to find that this is most likely a pacifying behavior. It is the dog’s attempt to calm himself and others around him during what he perceives as a threatening or uncomfortable situation. If you see this at anytime at your shoot, it is a clear visual signal that it’s time to stop, take a break, and re-focus the energy of the atmosphere you’re creating before attempting to try again.

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Paw Up Or, the “I am preparing my escape at any desperate moment” body language cue. If you happen to be the owner of a small dog yourself (cough cough, Chihuahua! Cough cough), you will probably immediately recognize this body language cue. That’s right, the “paw up.” This behavior most commonly represents a dog that is tentative or in a state of indecision or discomfort. The paw is typically held up in relation to the primal fight-or-flight reaction system that’s built into all animals. If you see this—even if your pup model doesn’t quite act on it—they are reacting to stress by preemptively preparing themselves for flight. This little paw

up is a good sign that should remind you as the photographer running the show to take it just a bit easier and slower with your dog model, and to pay attention to the overall energy of the shoot. I find that doing something as simple as taking a five-minute break for a little jog and a drink of water gives the dog a chance to relax and reset, and then the little paw up suddenly meets the ground and all is right in the world again. As a note, don’t confuse this behavior with the one that is done by certain hunting breeds like English Setters, when they deliberately lift a paw up as part of their point toward game birds they might discover in the wild.

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Panting

As people, we love to anthropomorphize animals. What I mean by that is that we love to assign human qualities to other, nonhuman creatures. If you want to do a quick exercise in the art of anthromorphization (guess how many times I had to type and re-type that to get the spelling right?) just go to your local zoo and stand in front of any enclosure of your choice. Now just sit back and wait because in mere moments you will hear lots of human-made narratives by various passersby and onlookers. Statements such as “Oh look! He loves to snuggle!”; “Oh wow, that hyena is such a nice guy!”; “He’s so happy! He loves to watch the sun set!” People assign human emotions and qualities to animals all the time. In fact, Disney’s been doing it since most of us were just tiny seeds of potential inside our parent’s loins. OK. Ew. Too far. This is a phenomenon we are all guilty of, and especially so when it comes to the dogs in our lives. So why did this particular diatribe come in the section on panting? Easy! When we see a dog panting who may be extremely anxious or stressed out, we often associate that open mouth, tongue out sort of look with the closest human expression we can associate it with: a smile. And what does a smile equal? Happiness, of course! “Oh look! He is so happy!” The truth is, panting can be a sign of extreme stress and anxiety in dogs. In brachycephalic dogs, it can be a sign that they’re struggling to breathe. Sometimes, I can pinpoint the

very moment I need to stop a shoot before the point of the dog’s over-exhaustion by the level of panting alone. It’s very easy to confuse a hot, exhausted, stressed out dog with a happy dog. This is where your keen eye for dog body language is going to come in to make your photo session go as smoothly as possible. On another note, panting is one of those canine body language cues that can be a bit challenging to interpret. Panting doesn’t always mean that a dog is stressed out. Panting can also happen in relation to a dog’s level of exercise, or, more commonly, simply the heat of the day. On a very hot day it can be very difficult to get any photographs at all with your dog model’s mouth closed, since his open mouth is his only real facility to expel heat. Oppositely, if you are trying to go after a “happier-looking” expression for your images with a dog who is not inclined to panting, you might try to pause the shoot and play ball for five minutes or even take the dog on a short leashed run to get him panting just slightly. That pant action creates an open mouth that can help boost the happiness factor to the overall feel of your image. Of course always do this responsibly and make sure you know when panting turns negative.

1.7 FIGURE 1.7 Besse Mae’s exaggerated pant, super curly tongue, and wideopen whale eye suggest that she’s gone from having a good time to having a way-over-the-top, totally overwhelming time. The excitement, crazy camera gear, and warm summer afternoon temperature all combined to create a challenging atmosphere for one sweet little dog to handle. If you can train yourself to notice the difference between a happy pant and one that moves into a place of anxiety, you’ll be a step ahead of the game at managing the energy for best results at your photo shoots. Seconds after I shot this image of Besse, we took a big break and enjoyed some cool water in the shade.

CASE STUDY: JUNIE THE SERIOUS SEAWITCH I adopted a gorgeous little monster of a dog from the shelter recently. As soon as I got her home, I found pretty

quickly that she is quite a unicorn of weirdness and wonder when it comes to her energy and personality. Junie is unshakeable. Junie is what we call “bomb proof.” Because of this, however, Junie has one expression on her face at all times. And because I swear she got squished or something when she was in the womb, her unchanging expression is a bit reminiscent of what we might call an RBF, or “Resting B*tch Face,” of course. Based on this, when I first started photographing her, I found that all her images made her look completely unapproachable. She looks like a sour skittle. Like an unamused, entitled little fur-covered rebel who would do a stealth poop in your garden and run without remorse. In other words, Junie is the perfect case of a dog who needs a little pixie dust in order to make her come across as charming and likable in photos as she is in person. The solution? Exercise the bajeeze louise out of her before attempting to take her photos. It doesn’t always work, (because remember, unshakeable!) but about 50% of the time, if its warm enough out, a lengthy frolic in the grass will get her panting lightly for a few minutes, which transforms the face on the left into the one on the right. Ah, yes. Nothing a little pre-photoshoot trickery couldn’t take care of.

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1.8b

Whale Eye This is not any reference to Moby Dick and his gorgeous little peepers. This is dog training slang for a body language signal that dogs give with their eyes. “Whale Eye” refers to when a dog is prominently showing the whites of his eyes. The biological, primal, instinctual reason for this phenomenon has more to do with making their eyes as big as possible to see as acutely as they can to scan for any stimuli than it is to do with crazy eyes. Here at my house, my dog Joshua gets these a lot—when the

crazy eyes come out, you know you’re really in for it. In Joshua’s case, these eyes almost always mean that he’s about to get a bout of the “zoomies” and really get wild—or that he’s about to get a new toy or a very high-value treat and his anticipation is reaching max levels of excited stress. While in Joshua’s overexcited whale-eye case, his overall feeling of excitement is a positive one, if a dog gets too stressed in either direction, you risk him heading into the red zone, which is a behavioral place that it’s hard to pull them back from. It’s super important to keep an eye out for whale eyes on your shoot, and try to calm and maintain an even energy if you’re seeing any signs of it.

1.9 FIGURE 1.9 Joshua is one of the most expressive dogs I know, and I can often look to him to discover some form of dog body language or another

presented to me with crystal clarity. When Joshua gets hyper focused on a top-notch favorite ball or toy, his crazy eyes, or “whale eyes,” come out in full force. It’s easy to infer from this image that Joshua has gone full bananas. Not necessarily a look I want to use to tell his timeless and heartfelt story, if you catch my drift.

Turning Away Dogs have virtually mastered the art of living in harmony with human beings, and it is an amazing and magical thing. Dogs have teeth, but rarely do they ever actually use them in defense against humans. For the millions and millions of dogs living in households across the world today, we only hear about the tiniest fraction of a percentage ever reacting poorly and with teeth toward human beings. It’s actually remarkable if you spend a few moments pondering on it. With that said, the vast majority of dogs will give you many non-violent signs that they are uncomfortable and in a stressful situation before ever resorting to harm. This particular body language signal is probably the one I’ve seen most often at my dog photo shoots over the years. Simply looking away from the source of stress is a common route that dogs will take when they find themselves in a difficult or anxious situation. I have a lot of experience with this one particularly because it’s the body language signal that my dog Joshua gives me most often. Joshua is doing the most polite thing that he can figure to do in an escalating situation of stress. He turns his body gently away from the camera and directs his head—the cute and squishy control center—away from the stressful stimulus. His choice is to

redirect his attention to something far more pleasant for him— say, watching that person walking across the street, or putting his nose to the ground to sniff for interesting smells, or even just finding interest in a swaying piece of grass. As a dog photographer, when you see this body language signal, it’s your job to read and interpret it appropriately, and then back off and give the dog the space that he is (very politely) asking for. Usually I find that just a five-minute break followed by a very high-value treat in front of the lens is more than enough to bring them back around into loaning you their attention for a few more minute so you can wrap up getting the last shots you might need in a given spot before moving on.

1.10 FIGURE 1.10 Ruby the tiny little Yorkie was clearly feeling quite overwhelmed when I snapped this photo of her with my big, intrusive camera on this riverside dock in Boston. This is a clear example of a dog

who is experiencing stress and anxiety and is attempting to deal with it in the most polite way she knows how: to simply turn and look away.

Yawning If we pop back into what we learned before, about anthropomorphization, we might see a dog yawn and say, “Aw, he’s so tired, he’s ready for his nap.” However, if your dog is doing this in the context of a lively photo shoot and not when just waking up in the morning, it is very safe to say that his yawn is a signal that he’s feeling anxious. We call my dog Joshua “The Rusty Hinge” because he loves to do a loud, crispy, delicious yawn each and every time we put his collar on him by the front door for his daily walk. His rusty-hinge yawn is quite endearing and adorable, but I know that the real reason behind it is less so. In those moments as we are suiting Joshua up for his walk, he’s feeling anxious. It’s an excited anxious, like can’thardly-wait anticipation of adventure, but it’s still anxiety. When a situation gets too overwhelming, good or bad, Joshua will do a nice, loud rusty-hinge sort of yawn, and that’s when I know to pay attention to his energy and take it easy. This same concept goes for dogs at your photo shoots. If they appear to be over stimulated and begin to yawn repeatedly, they are giving you a clear sign. If you see this body language cue, step back and give that dog time to just be a dog. Once you feel he has had ample time to cool off, you can then get back in the game and try again.

1.11 FIGURE 1.11 Here is the furry light of my life, Joshua, pictured in one of his favorite places on earth: The Car. As you can see, Joshua loves the car almost to a fault. He gets so overwhelmed by uncontrollable excitement that his energy peaks right into the red zone. He yawns loudly and often as a calming signal. It is a clear body language sign that he is a feeling stress and anxiety and his body is working hard to manage it.

Ears Back Believe it or not, this sweet girl does have ears. They’re just pinned so tightly back to her head that she’s made them fully invisible in this particular photo. This is a clear signal that she’s likely either anxious, uncomfortable, or afraid. It’s important to keep your attention on your furry subject’s ears throughout the course of your photo shoot, because their ears are one of the

most expressive features on their body. They use them to say so much. (Which is why there’s such a debate about cropping the natural ears off of dogs for the purposes of pleasing human aesthetic preferences, as it limits their communication abilities quite a bit throughout the course of their lives.) This is a body language cue that also exists in the realm of meaning one thing in one dog, but something else entirely in another, depending on breed type and natural ear shape. For example, a dog holding his ears back might not be as noticeable a cue on, say, a Cocker Spaniel, as it would be on a German Shepherd. A German Shepherd’s prominent, pointy, upright ears and their subsequent shifting positions are an obvious feature to take note of, whereas these same movements would be much more subtle on a droopy-eared Spaniel. This means that it’s super important to pair this body language cue with the additional clues that the rest of the dog’s physical body language might be giving you. Are the dog’s ears pinned back while he’s moving slowly and quite stiffly? That’s a clear sign he’s feeling threatened or uncomfortable. Are his ears pinned back while the rest of his body language is loose, wiggly and waggy in a play bow position? More than likely this means your dog is feeling frisky and is ready to play. After some time of paying attention to dog behaviors and spending time with dogs of all breeds, shapes, sizes, and personality types, reading these cues is going to become more and more natural to you until it becomes completely second nature on a subconscious level.

1.12 FIGURE 1.12 Through her clear and precise body language signals, Lilly the Pit Bull was communicating to me how stressed and overwhelmed she felt during this portion of her photo shoot. It was a very hot summer day in Boston and in addition to the inherent stress of the shoot, the heat was also working against us. It was clear to me to stop and take a nice, long break after snapping a couple of frames of Lilly on this dock once I noticed her ears pinned so dramatically back to her head that it almost appeared as if she didn’t have any!

Tail Position A dog’s tail is one of the loudest and clearest features about a dog. And since our dog’s tails are so exceptionally endearing to us human beings, it’s one of the easiest body language cues to read. A wagging tail is a symbol to so many people across the world that happiness and joy abound—and it is the signal we read most commonly and most clearly from the dogs we share

our lives with. A dog’s tail has become so synonymous with a compass for emotion in our culture that we commonly refer to emotions like shame by saying, “and he ran way with his tail tucked between his legs.” A dog’s tail can tell you a lot about how he’s feeling. Here are some different variations on tail positions and what they commonly mean: High Tail: Excitement, alertness Medium Tail/Tail Straight Back: Neutral, otherwise busy exploring Low Tail: Submission, concern, potential discomfort Wagging Tail: happiness, comfort, joy Stiff Tail, Tucked and Held Low Between Legs: Tentativeness, fear, discomfort, submission Rapid Wagging Tail with short strokes: Nervousness, anxiousness (exceptions for breeds like Jack Russell Terriers who display rapid, short wags when excited or experiencing positive anticipation) Keep in mind that not all rules are hard and fast, and not all tail positions mean the exact same thing in each dog. A dog’s shape, size, and general anatomy can vary greatly from breed to breed. Use this list as a general guidepost but let your research and experience guide you in the greater scheme of things. It’s important that you can translate the nuances of tail position and motion from dog to dog as you go through your

adventures in dog photography and always know what your dog is trying to say.

1.13a

1.13b FIGURES 1.13a and 1.13b Lola’s tail tucked between her legs indicates her tentativeness about this whole strange photo-shoot situation. Comparing her tail and ear position with Delilah’s—a very similarly shaped dog—you can see the difference the position of those features makes when it comes

to conveying confidence in your final image.

COMBINATION BODY LANGUAGE CUES More likely than seeing just one of these body language cues in a clear and isolated way, you’re ultimately almost always going to see a combination of all of the above. Body language is a very specific and thoughtful formula that the dog arranges to convey the emotions he’s experiencing. Once you’ve begun to notice each body language cue on an individual level, you’ll begin to see that often the cues are doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled up in a clear show of emotion. You’ll need to understand and interpret each clue on an individual level, and then have the ability to translate what they mean when presented together.

Lip licking, turning away.

Paw up, lip licking.

Yawning, ears back, stress pant.

Turning away, whale eyes, tail tuck.

1.14a FIGURE 1.14a Sweet Mochi started off her photo shoot just a little bit unsure. This photo is one of the first shots I took of the day. As indescribably aw-worthy as this tiny girl is, the photo is a perfect display of anxious body language cues. What indicates to you that she might be feeling uncomfortable? Her tentative paw up, ready for flight; her slightly anxious open mouth pant; and her ears held back. The photo below was taken about 30 minutes later, once Mochi had more time to get to know me,

be positively reinforced for sitting in front of my camera, and warm up to the process overall.

1.14b FIGURE 1.14b This photo displays great relaxed and confident body language. Her ears are now held high, her paw is down, and her mouth is closed. (You might be saying to yourself, “but good King Odin in Asgard, her little pink tongue and open mouth expression is so cute I could melt away.” I would have to completely agree with you. That said, it would be better to try and nail a shot with her mouth open in a soft pant, but be otherwise unaccompanied by those additional anxious body language signals.)

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WHY DOES POSITIVE BODY LANGUAGE MATTER? Case Study: Daisy So now that you know how to speak dog and translate the body language clues that your dog model is giving you throughout the course of your shoot, let’s talk about why it matters, and what it ultimately means for your photos.

Aside from setting up an environment and energy that’s kind and respectful to your dog model where he or she can really thrive, the body language aspect of things is so important because it shows in your images. Let me tell you about sweet Daisy here, to give you a really clear example of the difference that good body language makes in a successful photo. When my assistant, Sam, and I met Daisy and her owner onlocation, we were clearly instructed to take it very slow with her. (Thank you for the heads up, Pre-Session Questionnaire!) Daisy’s owner gave us the full scoop on Daisy before meeting her. Sweet Daisy had had a difficult life in the shelter before she was rescued. Leaving out all the hard details of her early and unstable life, what we knew of her history was that it had made her a more tentative, slightly fearful dog around new people. When we met on-location for Daisy’s shoot, we knew we had to start it all off on the right foot to make the whole day go as successfully as possible. With that in mind, Sam and I sat down to make ourselves as low, small, and non-intimidating as possible. We sat with our backs intentionally turned away from where we knew Daisy would approach, so as not to stare in her direction (remember, staring = aggression in dog language!). This allowed her to come up behind us on her terms and sniff us out while we gently spoke to her as nonthreateningly as possible. Once she got lots of good smells in and worked out that we might be on her side, we were able to slowly stand up and walk alongside her, giving her treats and positive reinforcement all the time. After about 20 minutes of these types of exercises (let’s call it “making friends with Daisy”

time), I felt we were ready to begin the shoot. I slowly brought out the camera gear to introduce to her. At that point, I felt pretty confident that we had built a nice, stable relationship with Daisy. “Ah yes, we’ve won her over and now she’ll trust us for the rest of the day!” was the tune of my internal monologue. I was about to be proven wrong. I made a poor decision by starting off the shoot using a 16mm lens, a focal length so wide that in order to fill the frame with Daisy’s gorgeous spotted face, I needed to be very close to her to make a compelling image. When I say close—let’s say maybe 8 or 10 inches from her face with my lens. While Daisy was certainly tolerating me and my very in your face, rude human behavior, it is clear to see how exceptionally uncomfortable she is in this photo.

1.16

When you look at this photo, do you marvel at the technical accomplishment and nice, balanced exposure? Do you notice how sharp it is? How nice the white balance looks? How about counting the number of pixels in the image? Of course not. None of that matters. What you see is an unhappy and uncomfortable dog. That’s it. Move on, nothing else matters. That day with Daisy reminded me that every single dog is an individual with a unique personality and different requirements to achieve a peak level of comfort. After this set of photos, we decided to take a step back. We couldn’t possibly keep forcing these photos upon Daisy for the rest of the shoot. We couldn’t deliver a gallery to our kind and wonderful client, who loves Daisy so much, of shots that look like her dog is having a horrible and scary time. No way. That’s not what I was hired to do. I was hired to capture this amazing little creature in exactly the way that her owner sees her every day. It’s my job to capture Daisy’s true light—the purity of that sweet and innocent little dog who lives behind the pain of her history. The real Daisy. And it is my job to have her images reflect the exact same kind of joy that she so selflessly brings into her owner’s life every day. So we took a step back. After this series of shots, we decided to take a break from photography for a bit. We pulled out Daisy’s favorite tennis ball, and my partner Sam, myself, and

Daisy’s owner decided we’d play a lively and exciting game of fetch with her to help loosen up the mood. We found a big, lush grassy area and had the time of our lives chucking the ball back and forth. Daisy proudly fetched her prized toy and wiggled with delight. A total 180 from the version of her we’d known only 20 minutes prior. Once I felt like I had given Daisy the proper space she deserved, we then marched across the street to this charming little garden, and there I chose to take her photos in a more respectful and comfortable way. I took out my 50mm lens and backed up quite a bit. I gave her space to find confidence and space to breathe. The resulting photo gives a wildly different feeling than the first one. This is the dog that Daisy’s mom sees every day when she wakes up to greet the sunny morning. This is the dog that brings endless joy and happiness into the life of the human she’s chosen. This is the dog that I was there to capture that day. She only needed me to respect her in the way she deserved to be respected, and captured in the way that she felt most comfortable to share her true self. Daisy and her unrelenting joy that could light up the very earth and sky is the exact reason why I feel so privileged and grateful to be able to do what I do. This photo may be the result of my lens, but that smile is 100% Daisy’s. And this smile is the very best reason I can give you as to why reading and interpreting dog body language at your shoots matters.

1.17a FIGURE 1.17a Before.

1.17b FIGURE 1.17b After.

RESPECT YOUR DOG AND WORK SAFELY Okay, so besides the visual and aesthetic reasons that poor body language should be avoided, there lurks above our heads an even bigger and more important reason that we need to be on the lookout for what dogs are trying to say to us. Safety. Safety for us. Safety for the dogs. Safety for everyone. Let all

involved walk away from this experience with rainbows and unicorns circling around our happy little heads and no weird, sad feelings or visits to the emergency room for a too-deep dog bite that can’t be stitched up because it could get infected because of super cool dog bacteria, so let’s have the nurse aggressively pop your wound open while pouring hydrogen peroxide directly into your bones. (Oh, what’s that? That sounds like a very detailed real-life, firsthand experience, you say? Ah. Good intuition, friend.) Have you ever heard someone say “The dog bit for absolutely no reason”? Of course you have. But here’s the thing—there’s almost always a reason. A dog will almost always tell you if they are uncomfortable and will often give out ample, clear warning signs before resorting to biting. It’s up to you to be able to read and interpret those signs during your shoot for the safety of both yourself and your dog model. The signs that a dog is uncomfortable can range from the obvious, such as growling or cowering, to the more subtle, such as lip licking and yawning. Learn as much as you can about these warning signs and remove the dog from the situation as soon as they begin to exhibit them.

Case Study: Ralph Okay, so that said, here’s another photo example I shouldn’t have and should be deeply embarrassed that it exists (hint: I am).

Please don’t judge this dog by this single photo you’re about to see. I have to tell you, this dog was awesome. Despite what you might believe based on this photo, we had an amazing shoot. It was wintery and snowy and fun and magical. A banner day to remember for many years. This dog was a joy to work with. But (don’t worry, there’s always a “but”). While this pup was absolutely lovely in so many ways, he had a very special affinity for sticks. You see, sticks were a very high value, very special prize to this guy. Think of a 3-year-old and their favorite teddy bear that they sleep with every night. This dog worked very hard among all that snow to unearth a brilliant, perfect, magical stick, and once he had it in his possession he was quite proud and very much looking forward to enjoying it all to himself. This is a completely normal behavior and it is something that, as a professional who works with dogs and who prides herself on knowing safe boundaries when working with animals, I should have anticipated. That said, when I saw the joy of this dog with this amazing new prize he found, I thought it would make a brilliant photo. So I got in close. Too close. I used a 16mm lens and filled the frame up entirely with his face. I was probably about 5 inches away from his mouth. I was so excited in the heat of the moment, that I forgot to consider how aggressive this action might be to this dog who has a very special resource, and who may not want to share that resource with the clicky camera girl whose been all up in his business for two hours thus far. I should have considered all this before moving right into this moment. I let the selfish need to capture

a photo override my better sense. When I got in close, this was the dog’s reaction. Pictured here in crystal clarity, is the very 1/200th of a second that I realized that I was inches away from potentially getting my face bitten right off of my body. Enjoy. Whoa. That was a reality check. Just like humans, dogs have thresholds and boundaries and I was really bold in crossing the line of this dog’s comfort zone. Thank goodness I realized my mistake in the nick of time and removed myself from this pup’s immediate bubble. (For the record, this dog never attempted to bite me, despite how rude I was being. He only gave me those warning signs to send the message that he wasn’t comfortable with my face in his face. Which is so, totally fair.) But looking back on this photo always reminds me that my job most definitely has its hazards, and that sometimes, when rolling around in puddles and covering my lens in peanut butter, I have to remember that I am not completely invincible.

1.18 FIGURE 1.18 Photo proof of the moment that I majorly overstepped my boundaries while Ralph was trying to enjoy his very exciting and very highvalue stick.

KNOW WHEN TO TAKE A BREAK Dogs are wonderful, but let’s face it: most have the attention spans of tiny gnats. Dogs want to explore. Sniff things. Pee on things. Eat cool stuff. Maybe throw it up and eat it again. Play and catch frisbees. Dogs typically don’t want to sit in the same spot for 45 minutes while you choose the right white balance setting and internally debate yourself regarding composition. You’re only going to have so much time with your dog model

before they are “over it,” and once your dog is “over it,” it is extremely difficult (and sometimes impossible) to get them back “into it.” This piece of advice is for every photographer, whether you’re photographing a dog or a person, whether you’re using the fanciest DSLR on the market or simply your phone’s camera: Get ‘em in, and get ‘em out. Choose your location and your gear, and dial in all the right camera settings before attempting to get your subject to sit in front of your lens. Some dogs will sit for as long as they’re told, while others will touch their butts to the ground for milliseconds before bounding off in search of the next adventure. Whatever your dog model gives you, be prepared to shoot quickly. If you’re shooting for more than a minute or two, and need to stop for a moment to think something over (be it your composition, lens choice, settings, whatever), take that minute to give your dog model a break. Constant breaks will help keep their stress level down and their attention level up. If you’re photographing two or more dogs at the same shoot, swap them out constantly (unless you’re going for a group shot). This may make for a longer shoot, but it will almost certainly make for a more successful shoot. (Plus, if you’re as obsessed with your job as I am, a longer shoot is not necessarily a bad thing.)

Dogs almost always tell you when they could use a break. Since they speak in body language instead of words, it’s up to us to successfully interpret for them so that the photo shoot experience remains as positive as possible. My own dog, Joshua, has a very specific sign for when he’s in need of a break. If pushed too hard for too long, he will simply stop looking at the camera. Joshua’s behavior is common amongst dogs who can become easily stressed. He simply avoids whatever it is that’s causing him stress, and no amount of treats or toys will pull him back from his “avoidance mode.” The only solution we’ve found is to take him out of the situation for a few minutes and simply let him “be a dog.” After a few minutes of sniffing delicious scents and then peeing on them to claim rightful possession, he’s typically ready for another round of photos. Keep a close eye out for signs like avoidance, heavy stress panting, and cowering. Listen to your dog model’s body language and take a break the second they tell you they need it. They’ll thank you for it.

LEARN YOUR DOG During the course of your photo shoot, pay attention to your dog model’s behaviors. Perhaps you’ve noticed his ears perk up every time someone says the word “treat.” Perhaps he immediately throws a paw in the air after sitting. Maybe he

absolutely hates anything that looks like a stick. Every dog is different, and the more you pay attention, the more you’ll be able to use your dog model’s quirks to your advantage. The more you learn about your specific dog model, the easier you’ll be able to make him do the things you need to get the best possible shot. You’re also more likely to be able to predict what they’re about to do next, which is absolutely key for action shots. And hey, if you’re lucky, you may even discover the special combination of words that will make your dog’s head look like it’s about to tilt right off of its body.

IN CONCLUSION At the end of the day, what matters most on your shoots is that you pay attention to your dog and put his comfort first before absolutely anything else. You do not want to spend your shoot in an air of frustration, stealing moments from a dog who’s suffering emotionally or feeling unfairly challenged. Instead, you want to be on the receiving end of gifted moments— moments that the dog is giving you from his heart. Moments that are built around trust, comfort, and happiness. I can guarantee you, no matter how blue the sky, how sparkling the sun, how sharp your focus, or how delightful your white balance, your photo means absolutely nothing if you have not captured the true spirit of canine. And now, after baring my soul and showing you so many shots in which I’ve personally failed to make my dog models as

comfortable as they deserve to be, let’s round this out. For a boost of my deflated little ego, let’s end this chapter with a pair of dogs who are emanating some absolutely brilliant dog body language in the midst of their happy moment. Thank you Meatloaf and Alfredo, for bringing it home!

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CHAPTER

CAMERA SETTINGS SHUTTER SPEEDS, ISOS, AND APERTURES, OH MY!

The great majority of concepts in this book are going to apply universally to anyone hoping to take beautiful photos of their dogs in any capacity. So much of the advice, tips, and techniques in the subsequent pages of this book will apply regardless of whether you’re shooting with your iPhone or with the fanciest new high-end DSLR camera on the market. This chapter, however, will be one of the few that will specifically apply to those of you who are photographing dogs with a DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) camera and have control over a various multitude of settings.

When it comes to modern day DSLRs, there are a number of manufacturers and many fantastic options on the market. You may shoot with Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji, Hasselblad, Phase One, Pentax, Leica, or any number of other camera

manufacturers’ gear. Most everything that we will discuss in this chapter will apply regardless of camera make and model. All modern DSLRs have either the same or exceptionally similar menu options and functions. I will be speaking and sharing from my personal point of reference, which happens to be through Canon gear, but all cameras from the last 10 years or so should have overlapping functionalities, settings, buttons, knobs, and menus. Don’t get too caught up in which manufacturer or camera model I’m speaking of, but do take the larger concepts and ideas to heart. Before I dive into things, let me let you in on a quick disclaimer. This chapter is meant to be an explanation and exploration into camera settings and exposure concepts through my eyes and experiences and as they relate directly to dog photography. It is not, however, meant to be an entire A-Z education on the nitty gritty of mastering photography and its concepts on a basic level. If it were, it would have to graduate from a single chapter to an entire epic-length book of it’s own. So, if photography is brand new to you, and you feel you need an in-depth, very detailed exploration into mastering exposure and thoroughly exploring the process of recording light to make a still image, I highly recommend the book Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. This is a book that I personally read when I very first started exploring photography, and it helped me immensely. Okay, that wraps up the disclaimer portion of this chapter, so thanks for listening, and let’s move on!

2.1 FIGURE 2.1 Here’s a lineup of my little soldiers. Uncensored and Unedited. All covered in residual bits of peanut butter and dog slobber. As any good camera should be.

CAMERA BODY As is the case in all types of photography, making astounding imagery is much less about the gear and much more about the person behind said gear, and the creative brain that comes with them. At the end of the day, the camera that you hold in your hand is simply a tool; a tool that you use to translate your unique, artistic vision to the world. The stories you tell and the way you choose to tell them matter more than a camera ever could. I say all of this, but I understand that many of you may still want to know what to look for in a camera that would be considered well suited for dog photography. Based on my experiences photographing countless different types of dogs in

many different locations and light conditions, I’ve found that there are a few factors that land quite high on the priority list in terms of a camera’s capabilities specifically for dog photography. Fast shutter speed capability Durability Great auto focus system Good to excellent high ISO performance Ergonomics and weight Naturally, the next question you’d ask me if we were hanging out talking photography over pizza is, “What do you shoot with, Kaylee?” The answer might surprise you. As I mentioned above, I primarily shoot with Canon gear. The first camera that I ever borrowed during my first semester in college to try my hand at photography was a Canon. As a broke young kid, I had no money to buy my own and therefore, certainly no say in exactly what make and model I wanted to use. I was just grateful to have access to a camera. So, since fate handed me a Canon, I learned Canon. Simple as that. That said, I’ve been on a long journey with the brand since I first started shooting, and have gone through many models over the years. To this day, I am grateful that it was a Canon that was popped into my hands all those years ago. It has

served me well and has helped shape and hone my specific style and viewpoint on the world. As a snapshot of what is in my bag these days: at the specific time of the writing of this book, my main camera body is a Canon 1DX MkIII and my backup body is a Canon 5D MkIII. However, here’s where the surprising part comes in. At the moment, I also regularly shoot with Sony and Fuji. I have a mirrorless Sony A7 III and a medium format Fuji GFX 50S. And holy moly, that means that I have four camera bodies in my camera bag at any given time. As a rundown, to give you an idea of how each camera functions in relation to dog photography (and some side thoughts on my personal experiences), here’s the world’s quickest and most off-the-cuff pros and cons list for each of my four bodies:

Canon 1DX MkIII Pros: Canon Colors—Magnifico (this is where I kiss my fingers and throw them to the sky)! ISO performance, Shutter Speed + Focusing, Dynamic Range, weather sealed (hello rain, snow, wind and hail)! Cons: Heavy. (I have this pretty cool and equally gnarly ganglion cyst on my wrist from lugging heavy camera equipment around. You want to see a photo? Naw, I didn’t think so.)

Canon 5D MkIII Pros: Those same bold and vibrant Canon colors, Shutter Speed + Focusing, Dual Memory Card Types. Cons: Limited Dynamic Range, “crunchy” when I pull up the shadows, medium-range ISO performance (I don’t like to push higher than 2500).

Sony A7III Pros: Sony colors rock too—they’re vibrant and delicious. Lightweight, silent shutter (no noise), bananas dynamic range, more affordable price range, articulating screen. Cons: Not weather sealed (bad news for Greer on most days).

Fuji GFX 50S Pros: Bonkers dynamic range due to huge medium format sensor, giant files for maximum quality when printed large— perfect for commercial work Cons: Huge image files that take up tons of space on my poor hard drive, Clunky and slow to focus (action shots are a massive challenge with a fast-moving dog). Heavy. Blues skew more toward Cyan, which makes color correcting skies a challenge for me.

Numerous different brands and many camera models have the ability to work well for you in your adventures in dog photography. Don’t worry too much about camera makes and models and fancy gizmos and gadgets. Shoot what works best for you and your style. And heck, you may not know what your style is yet, and that’s okay! Just as my obsession with color was enabled and nourished for me throughout the years as a by-product of shooting with Canon gear, you may use a camera that unknowingly leads you to a certain style choice or type of look. Don’t get too caught up in the details. The war on gear and brand is as useless as the Apple versus Android debates. Use what you love, what feels right, what will get the job done, and what works best for you—and don’t you ever apologize for it.

CAMERA SETTINGS With all that gear talk out of the way, let’s get into the good stuff! The kind of material that us photography geeks can really sit in a circle, holding hands while singing campfire songs and nerd out over: camera settings! (Give me a Kumbaya!) Most of the stuff I am going to talk about in this chapter is going to be applicable to all types of photography, not just dog photography. There are a number of general rules that all new photographers learn and keep in their back pockets, whether they’re pointing their cameras at mountains, supermodels, buildings, or, in our case, dogs.

When I first started out in my journey of learning photography, I was so overwhelmed that many times, I put the (borrowedbecause-I-couldn’t-afford-my-own) camera down and thought I’d never pick it up again, because, surely, I’d never be able to figure all these complicated shenanigans out. So holy mackerel, who knew that one day I’d be writing a photography book of my own to try and help others who are in the same situation I was in all those years ago. A lot of photography is like one giant math equation. Naturally, I ran screaming and kicking from that idea, since math has been my greatest nemesis since I sharpened my first pencil in elementary school. (Right brainers, UNITE!) But, be assured, once I figured it all out, I’ve found that nothing in the course of my life has ever come as naturally to me as photography now does. To the math hiding behind the exposure triangle, I throw up a giant middle finger and say, “I’ve conquered you, you insatiable monster!” My goal is to help you get to the point where you can say that too. (Or maybe you could say it in a nicer way, which would be fine too.) Alright, let’s get crackin’!

2.2 F/20, 1/200 sec., ISO 200, 12–24mm

AUTO Versus MANUAL You may have noticed that you’ve got this cool little wheel on your camera, and it’s got options for all different kinds of modes. So which one should you shoot in when it comes to dog photography? In order to answer this for you in the best way I know how, allow me to divert to a little side story.

When I first began to learn photography, I was lucky enough to have just met my then-boyfriend (current fiancé) Sam. Sam was a portrait photographer and I thought that was pretty cool. What I also thought was pretty cool was the fact that Sam was keen to share his knowledge of photography. It worked out that he was solely responsible for teaching me everything I needed to know regarding fumbling around the giant black camera body and making something that resembled a picture come out the other end. Here’s the important bit of this story though: When Sam began teaching me how to use my first real DSLR camera, he did not allow me to put it into anything other than Manual Mode. At the time, I was absolutely horrified by this idea. I would stare at the little green option on the camera’s clicky wheel and dream of the unicorns, cotton candy, and rainbows that lived right there within one little mode: Easy, Green, Automatic. Sam was a staunch teacher. He would catch me looking. He wouldn’t allow it. “You are going to learn how to use this camera in full Manual mode or you are not going to learn to use it at all.” I remember being frustrated. I remember that moment because that was the put it down and never pick it back up era of my learning. I couldn’t quite wrap my head around what he was expecting of me—did he really expect that I should manually adjust the ISO, shutter speed, and aperture myself? All while doing the lofty task of trying to chase other people’s dogs around the dog park and make photo subjects out of them with no one noticing? Ha. Impossible.

I remember the moment of frustration in which I went against Sam’s advice and spun my wheel to Auto behind his back, grinning gloriously like I’d won some secret game. I valiantly went to the dog park and set to work being the greatest dog photographer who ever shot in Auto of all time! I was gloriously frolicking with dogs up and down the beach, splashing with them at the water’s edge, snapping three or four hundred photos of them happily rolling in the grass, etc. My first day as a dog photographer and I was on fire. Or so I thought. When I got back home, I was so proud to unload my memory card and show Sam that I could, in fact, shoot in Auto mode and still make amazing pictures. Boy, was he going to be impressed with me and how I handled the camera that day. Yep. I was going to stick it to the man! As the photos loaded in, my eyes scanned the screen for all the day’s greatest moments. The rolls, the shakes, the splashing, swimming joy. “Oh! This one!” Blurry. “Hm. Okay. Oh this one!” Blurry. “Look at this one, it’s the best moment of the day, I’m gonna be

a famous pulitzer prize winn—Oh.” Blurry. Ha! Alright, alright, I know what you’re saying, get to the point, Greer! What’s the moral of my very long-winded story? Don’t shoot on Auto. The long and short of what happened that day at the dog park was that I allowed the camera to make exposure choices for me. I set it on Auto and in doing so, gave up all my rights to make creative decisions. I gave that camera every permission to do whatever it needed to do to arrive at a properly exposed photo. It was making artistic decisions (aperture) and technical decisions (shutter speed and ISO) that all had a direct effect on the ultimate quality and impact of my photographs. In that instance, in order to arrive at what the machine in my hand perceived to be the perfect level of exposure, it chose a slow shutter speed. A shutter speed that could not keep up with those dogs joyfully splashing through the water. Hence, all my would-be award-winning photos were blurry. That slow shutter speed was my nemesis and my ultimate downfall. And that was the day I learned the cold, hard truth—Auto mode is never going to cut it for dog photography. Here’s the thing—as a dog photographer, you’re going to have a bit more stuff happening on your shoots than say, a still life

photographer or a landscape photographer. Namely, you’re going to have a little rocket-powered dog streaking across your frame at 1,000 miles per hour. You’re going to want to capture all that action, whimsy, and those gorgeous bits of flying drool with crystal clarity. That means you need to be in control of the camera settings. Yes, all the settings. All the time.

2.3a F/1.4, 1/50 sec., ISO 1250, 50mm

2.3b F/1.4, 1/50 sec., ISO 1250, 50mm

2.3c F/1.4, 1/50 sec., ISO 1250, 50mm

2.3d F/1.4, 1/50 sec., ISO 1250, 50mm FIGURES 2.3a—d Here’s a great example of the kind of thing that can happen when you allow your camera to make decisions for you set in Auto mode. It’s a bummer to look back on this very cool series of the gorgeous Miss Roxy across from the sparkly skyline of downtown San Diego. As you can see, not even a single one of these shots are in focus, which ultimately means this creative idea and series of photos will never get to see the light of day. (Well, except for right here, right now, in this book where I bare my soul and share my embarrassing fails!) What went wrong? In retrospect, I see that in reaction to the extreme low light of this situation, I made the mistake of leaving the decisions to my camera, and it made some tough choices. My ultimate downfall here was the shutter speed—1/50th of a second. No way, Jose. The chances are slim to none that I was going to get a sharp, usable photo out of this. What would I do next time to succeed? Shoot in this very cool location slightly earlier in the evening, while there’s more ambient light in the atmosphere! (And never shoot in Auto!)

By trying to take the easy way out and shooting in Auto, you’re putting a lot at risk. Not only can your camera make poor technical decisions, resulting in out-of-focus photos, but it can also make questionable artistic choices when selecting your aperture. Understand that your camera has many other modes

other than Auto. Sports modes, portrait modes, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Program—these other modes can be great, in certain situations, and especially for hobbyists, but I would be remiss if I led you to believe that any of those other modes are going to help you knock it out of the park in terms of dog photography. I’m here to do some real talk about the camera settings and mode that I actually use on every single one of my shoots, and to make each and every photo that you see here in this book. That, my friends, is Manual mode. Manual mode is, of course, the most difficult mode to master, but don’t let that discourage you. It’s not rocket science! While balancing your shutter speed, aperture, and ISO can seem like a lot to think about at once, trust me when I say that it becomes second nature quicker than you could ever imagine, especially if you put your camera on that scary M setting and stick with it. Let’s first chat about each setting you’ll have to balance individually, and then we’ll circle back to some great tips and tricks to make dialing in your manual settings a breeze. One quick but important note for this chapter: we’ll be concentrating on natural light photography to get us started with manual settings. There will be some small changes that will have to be made when adding in additional, artificial light sources.

Shutter Speed Imagine a world where every dog had a perfect sit and stay. (Now imagine me there too because that’s where I want to live.)

Wouldn’t our job as dog photographers be infinitely easier? Portrait photographers have this unbelievable superpower to communicate with their human clients, mocking us dog photographers by saying things like “Hey, can you stand here where the light is perfect and turn your head this way? Great!” Having a subject that stands perfectly still can allow you to shoot at relatively slow shutter speeds if necessary, like 1/50th of a second, which can be a lifesaver in super low-light situations. Or how about landscape photographers? Standing smug with their tripods and their shutter releases and timers. They can shoot at literally any shutter speed, be it 1/10th of a second, 1 minute, or heck, even a one-hour exposure! Those guys are just showing off. As dog photographers, we exist in a world closer to that of sports photography than portrait photography. We need to be ready for anything, capturing crisp, sharp photos at the drop of a pin (or, the unexpected leap of a Border Collie). That means we need to keep our shutter speeds fast. I mean, really, really fast.

2.4 F/2.8, 1/2000 sec., ISO 640, 70–200mm

In a perfect scenario, we’d be shooting outdoors, working with plenty of available light. Having lots of light in the atmosphere allows us to keep our shutter speeds high, helping us take beautifully sharp photos. However, this ideal, perfect scenario is usually more the exception than the rule. If you’re shooting late in the afternoon, during golden hour, through sunset and into twilight, your light is going to be fading fast and you’re going to have to figure out ways to keep your shutter speed high. With that in mind, it’s extremely important to figure out how slow of a shutter speed you can use before the sharpness of your images starts to suffer. This number will change based on a number of variables, such as your camera’s ISO capabilities, your dog model’s ability to hold a sit or stay, the lens you have on your camera, and your human ability to hold

still while shooting. With that long preamble behind us, let’s get to some real numbers! There’s a general rule that’s been around seemingly since the dawn of photography. It is called “The Reciprocal Rule” and it goes something like this. Take your focal length and double it. Voila! That is the lowest shutter speed you should use for that particular lens. For example, you’re shooting with a 50mm lens. 50 multiplied by 2 is 100. That means you should never dial in a shutter speed slower than 1/100th of a second when using that 50mm lens. Make sense? Great. Now let’s leave that in the hands of those tripod wielding landscape photographer friends of ours and throw that rule right out the window. In the world of dog photography, even our slowest shutter speeds need to be faster even than the reciprocal rule accounts for. I recommend using a slightly different formula. Let’s take the focal length of our lens and multiply it by 10 instead. Not only does it make the math easier, but it’s going to give us shutter speeds that are much more suitable for capturing those ever-moving, wiggly creatures we call dogs. Now let’s take that same 50mm lens. 50 multiplied by 10 is 500, so we should never be shooting at a shutter speed slower than 1/500th of a second with that lens. Now, it’s important to note that these numbers should be considered your slowest shutter speed, and that you should do your best to stay above them. Regardless of what lens I’m shooting with, I feel much more comfortable if my shutter

speed is at 1/1000th of a second or above. And that’s for dogs that are sitting still! When photographing action shots of dogs running and jumping, I’ll often dial in shutter speeds of 1/5000th of a second or faster, if the quantity of available light allows me to make it happen. If shooting in Shutter Priority mode on your camera, then shutter speed will be the only setting you have to dial in. You camera’s brain will calculate the best ISO and aperture combination to use with the shutter speed you’ve chosen for what it believes to be the perfect exposure. However, there are some huge drawbacks to using this mode. Your camera may choose an aperture that gives you a very different artistic look than what you were hoping for, or it may give you an ISO so high that it renders the photo grainy beyond recognition and basically unusable. This is why I highly recommend against letting the camera make artistic choices for you. Its brain is robotic. Your human brain is always going to be a heck of a lot better. Let’s take the info we’ve covered in regards to shutter speeds, and put it in our back pocket. We’ll need it a little later in this chapter when we do our balancing act.

2.5a F/1.6, 1/1000 sec., ISO 400, 50mm

2.5b F/1.6, 1/1000 sec., ISO 400, 50mm FIGURES 2.5a and 2.5b Setting my shutter speed to my safe place of no slower than 1/1000th of a second allows me to be ready for anything. I set up this shot to photograph Lucky standing still behind the purple flowers in the Boston Common. He hung around where I asked him to for a frame or two, and then, with no warning whatsoever, he leapt like a Spring deer up and over the flowers to reunite himself with his owner, who was standing on the other side of the flowers, directly next to me. Thank goodness I had my shutter speed set fast enough to capture this little

mid-air moment of whimsy and candor. From missing hundreds of unscripted moments like this in the past, I’ve finally wised up to the fact that when photographing dogs, anything can happen at anytime, so I must always be ready!

BEHIND THE SHOT: THE ANTIGRAVITY GOOD BOY

2.6a F/2.8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 2500, 70–200mm

2.6b F/2.8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 2500, 70–200mm FIGURES 2.6a and 2.6b I met Romeo the Boston Terrier while I was teaching a dog photography workshop in Costa Rica. Not long after I made his acquaintance, I learned something about him. He liked to defy gravity. In fact, he spent at least 60% of his photo shoot there on the beach in Manuel Antonio in mid-air. He might as well have come to the beach that day with a superhero cape. Once I learned of this very endearing characteristic of his, I knew that meant that photos of him sitting still with all four paws on the ground would be quite rare, and that any moment, he could pop up off the ground and fling himself into the air with joy. I needed to keep my shutter speed as fast as possible. We found ourselves in this deep grove of trees at the extreme end of the beach to help filter out some of the harsh light coming in across the ocean. The challenge was, there in that sparkly little grove, the overall level of light was quite low. In order to get the shutter speed I needed for my bouncy little comedian, I had to hike my ISO up quite high to 2500. I dialed in my settings, sat Romeo and his sweet little dog friend together for a nice regal portrait, and BOOP! He lost his chill and flew wildly into the air, leaving a surprised and confused little friend behind on planet earth below. That high ISO compromise that I had to make ended up paying off. Without it, I wouldn’t have been able to nail my fast shutter speed and never would have been able to grab

an in-focus shot of this moment. Better to have a slightly grainy photo of an amazing, joyful moment than no photo at all.

2.7 F/2.8, 1/8000 sec., ISO 800, 70–200mm FIGURE 2.7 Shooting at shutter speeds as fast as 1/8000th of a second allows you to freeze a tiny slice of time. Fox the Rhodesian Ridgeback, pictured here, is one of the fastest and most athletic dogs I know, so I knew he would be the perfect subject for me to try some different shutter speeds out on. If the availability of light in the atmosphere allows you to get your shutter speed as high as 1/8000th of a second when photographing a highflying action dog, give it a try. Trying it in water only heightens the experience, as you get those little tiny droplets of water frozen in mid-air like a dream.

ISO Before iPhones and Spotify there was this thing called “FM Radio.” It used to be great for playing all the latest hits from the 1990s. There was just one major problem with FM radio. At low volumes, FM radio sounded excellent. However, when it came time to crank the latest hit from New Kids on the Block, the quality of FM radio deteriorated the louder it was turned up —scratching and buzzing through the speakers like a horde of angry, fuzzy bees. This is your ISO. Think about ISO as basically a “volume” control for your camera’s ability to see light. At its lowest setting, say ISO 100, your images will be super clean and free of noise or grain. However, sometimes you need to turn up the “volume” of your images. The higher you raise your ISO setting, the more sensitive your camera will become to light, and the more “noisy” or grainy your photos will be. Having a high ISO setting is often times completely necessary, especially when shooting quick-moving subjects in low light (which, let’s face it, we do all the time). The tricky part is, the quality of each ISO setting varies greatly depending on the make and model of your camera. For example, I started shooting with a Canon Rebel that was manufactured somewhere around 2008. With that particular camera, when I raised my ISO above 400, the image quality became like a tapestry of a thousand tiny spiders, buzzing across my sensor. In other words, unusable for all intents and

purposes. Contrast that with the camera I’m shooting with now —the Canon 1Dx MkIII—where I can shoot at ISO 2000 and produce images that are crystal clear. It’s going to be up to you to do some experimenting with your own camera to figure out the exact point where your images start becoming too noisy to use. Keep that marker in mind so you can set that mental limit on your settings at all of your shoots. There’s not much that’s particularly artistic in choice when it comes to your ISO, it’s merely a utility of your camera. Knowing the limits of that utility—how far you can push it without compromising your image quality—will be the most important thing to become familiar with. Again, let’s put our ISO information in our back pocket with our shutter speed knowledge (hey, it’s starting to become a party in there!) as we’ll need it real soon!

2.8 F/2.8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 2500, 70–200mm FIGURE 2.8 Sometimes it’s worth dialing up the ISO in order to capture the moment. Ollie started getting quite bouncy and active at his photo shoot, and I knew I needed to push my ISO higher in order to attain a nice, fast shutter speed so that I could keep all his movements in focus. Don’t be afraid to push it! This sunny, yellow photo is a great example of a high ISO that’s of no consequence to the quality of the final image.

2.9 F/1.6, 1/80 sec., ISO 5000, 50mm FIGURE 2.9 At the very end of a long shoot day, Roxy’s Dad told me that it was his birthday! I have all kinds of weird things in my bag of tricks, and I happened to have this birthday hat and thought it would be brilliant to make a special photo for him in honor of the day. There was virtually no light left whatsoever, as it was just past sunset and night was creeping in fast. We were shooting in Boston and hustled to this charming little alleyway that I know of as a location for the shot. I snapped a few photos of Roxy just as the streetlights flickered on and the natural light completely faded out. With no added artificial lighting from my end whatsoever, in order to achieve this shot, I had to shoot at a bananas-high ISO: ISO 5000! While this photo is most definitely grainy, it still served as a special little extra gift and works brilliantly as a small print or an iPhone wallpaper.

2.10 F/2.8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 1600, 70–200mm FIGURE 2.10 Here is an example of when ISO gets too high, and ruins the overall quality of the image, rendering it unusable. I knew when I arrived at this very dark forest road that I had a pretty dismal chance at capturing any fast-moving action shots. I went against my greater judgment and gave it a go anyway, pushing my ISO all the way to 8000 to make it happen. This, my friends, is some pretty deliciously bad digital noise obscuring what is otherwise one of the most beautiful dogs on planet Earth. 1/10, would not try again.

Aperture When it comes to camera settings, the aperture you choose is the one setting that will truly influence the artistic style of your photography. While shutter speed will help with sharpness, and ISO will help with the quality of your image, the aperture you choose will help dictate the overall look and feel of your photo. Now, there are two sides of the coin when it comes to your

chosen aperture. The artistic look is half the decision. The other half has to do with how wide your lens opens to allow light into your camera. What actually is aperture, you ask? It’s a fancy word that refers to space that opens up between the blades inside your camera’s lens.

2.11 F/22, 1/200 sec., ISO 3200, 11–24mm FIGURE 2.11 Photographing Enzo at f/22 on this New Zealand mountain at sunset allowed me to capture all the details of the scene in focus: from Enzo himself to the golden glowing grasses around him to the mountains far off in the distance behind him.

For you math nerds, there is a formula associated with aperture that determines how wide the blades in your lens open to let light in. I’ll explain it quickly, then let us never speak

of it again. Take the focal length of the lens you’re shooting with (for example 50mm) and divide it by the aperture setting you’ve dialed in (say f/1.4). This will give you 35.71mm. If you had chosen a larger aperture number, say f/11, you would get an opening of 5.54mm. Are these numbers important when it comes to taking photos of dogs? Absolutely not (collective sigh of relief goes here, phew)! What’s important to take away from that miserable math lesson is that as you raise the number associated with your aperture, the opening in the lens becomes smaller, and the smaller the opening, the less light your lens will allow to pass through to your camera’s sensor. With all of that math talk behind us, what I will say is this—I suggest seeking out lenses that have the ability to open extremely wide. This means finding lenses that have maximum apertures of f/1.2, f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2, or f/2.8. Typically, the smaller that number, the higher quality (and yes, more expensive) the lens. If you are shooting with a kit lens (called this because it’s often sold as part of the “kit,” as a package deal with your camera), you may be shooting with a lens that has a maximum aperture of f/3.5, f/5.6, or even f/6.3. Photographing dogs with these types of lenses is certainly possible, but you’ll find yourself extremely limited, especially when shooting indoors or outdoors in low-light situations. Now back to the good stuff—the artistic stuff! As Billy Joel once said, “Darlin’ I don’t know why I go to extremes.” You didn’t think there’d be a Billy Joel quote in this chapter, especially after the math lesson, did you? The reason I bring up this

quote by the Piano Man is that personally, I find myself shooting at two extreme ends of the spectrum when it comes to my aperture. I absolutely love shooting with my aperture wide open (small numbers like f/1.4, f/2.0, f/2.8), especially when shooting natural light. Shooting wide open allows for a beautiful, dreamy, shallow depth of field. Shooting with these types of apertures can be incredible for isolating your subject from the background, turning everything except for your dog model into a swirl of beautiful, blurry colors, and stunning circular bokeh. I call these the “ethereal fairytale” apertures. Oppositely, I’m equally as in love with using “stopped down” apertures (larger numbers like f/16, f/18, f/22). I’ll often shoot using these apertures when using additional lighting, as they are perfect for creating photos that are bursting with detail, color, and sharpness. I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with shooting at apertures that fall somewhere in the median range (numbers like f/5.6, f/6.3, or f/7.1), but I will tell you that those are not the types of apertures I seek out for my own work. For my personal taste, aperture numbers in the middle of the spectrum tend to give results that I find to be, well, very “middle-ey”—or to speak plain English, kind of mediocre. In fact, a very big part of the reason why some of these middle-of-the-road aperture values have a tendency to be perceived as mediocre to us is because a vast majority of the photos you’ve seen on a daily basis for

your entire life are shot using those general aperture values. You know the kinds of photos I’m talking about—your Uncle’s vacation photos, photos of your friend’s baby shower, and snapshots from your Dad’s remodeling project. Phone cameras, disposable cameras, point-and-shoot cameras, and even DSLRs set to Auto are typically outputting images created with a very middle-of-the-road aperture value. Over time, we’ve become so conditioned to seeing those aperture values that they have become regular, traditional—expected, even. And if you know anything about me, my colorful cup of tea is to sit squarely on the other end of “expected.” I personally go for extremes in apertures. The one exception would be for indoor studio photography, where I quite like the look of the mid-range aperture values—but studio work is not a specialty of mine.

2.12a F/1.4, 1/50 sec., ISO 200, 35mm

2.12b F/16, 1/160 sec., ISO 100, 16–35mm FIGURES 2.12a and 2.12b Aperture massively impacts the look of your photos. For dreamy, soft, and ethereal shots, try wider apertures like f/1.2, f/1.4, f/2.0, and f/2.8. For punchier, more hyperreal types of photos, go wild and try small apertures like f/16, f/18, f/22. Snape, in 2.12a, was photographed at f/1.4. Notice the tiny plane of focus—only his eyes are super sharp while his nose in front, and his ears behind, are soft. All the way behind him, the forest is thrown very out of focus, swirling those fall leaves into a symphony behind him like an autumn-colored dream. Ginger, on the other hand, was photographed at f/16. You may notice that the tip of her nose all the way to her velveteen bum is in focus. In fact, f/16 provides such a large plane of focus that even the buildings in the skyline of Boston miles away across the bay behind her are still relatively in focus. It’s up to you to practice using different aperture values in your own work to decide which look you like best!

If you’re shooting with your camera set to Aperture Priority Mode, then your aperture number will be the only setting you’ll have to dial in. That’s great, because you’ll get to make the ultimate artistic choice, and your camera will have no say in the matter whatsoever! Ah, not so fast. The gamble is that your camera may choose a shutter speed that is not suitable for a fast-moving dog, or an ISO that gives you an unusable

photograph. You may be starting to see why shooting in any mode other than manual is generally not recommended. So, now that we have a little background on shutter speed, ISO, and aperture, let’s talk about how to balance those three things when photographing a dog model! When you’re on location photographing a dog model, you’ve got a lot on your plate. You’re working with the dog, talking to the owner, managing the energy, picking out spots to shoot, and handling treats and toys. The absolute last thing you want to have to think about are your camera settings.

2.13a F/7.1, 1/80 sec., ISO 2000, 11–24mm

2.13b F/1.6, 1/125 sec., ISO 250, 35mm FIGURES 2.13a and 2.13b Here’s a great example of that “middle-of-theroad” look that I feel mid-range aperture numbers give you. I had to dig deep into my extensive Lightroom library to find this since it’s quite a rarity that you’ll find me shooting at an aperture like f/7.1. I clearly recall this shoot in the rainforest in Costa Rica. I specifically wanted to be sure to capture that waterfall in the background behind Pickles. I knew in order to keep it in focus as best I could while balancing the darker, overcast light of the day I had to shoot at a middle range f-number. If I shot it wide open, at say, f/2.0, that waterfall would have blurred into a tiny, unrecognizable little blip. So I set myself at f/7.1 and went to work. After a few frames however, I abandoned ship because I just wasn’t keen on the overall look and I felt all that greenery in the background was too busy to be somewhat in focus. Instead, I moved onto that suspension bridge (that you see in the background of the first photo) and photographed Pickles very wide open, at f/1.6, and I personally much prefer the result in this busy jungle setting.

2.14a F/8.0, 1/125 sec., ISO 250, 32–64mm

2.14b F/2.5, 1/800 sec., ISO 800, 50mm FIGURES 2.14a and 2.14b The photo opportunities when shooting on the shores of Canada’s gorgeous Moraine Lake were absolutely endless. Here is another great and rare example of an instance where I chose to shoot with a middle range aperture. In the case of Carmen the Pit Bull sitting on this rock in front of the Valley of the Ten Peaks, in order to try and balance the challenging light, I tried my hand at shooting this scene at f/8.0. I was

only able to find three frames that I shot at this aperture before I decided I didn’t love so much of the background being in focus and chose to switch it up. After photographing Carmen on that specific rock, we took her down to give her a break and had her sister, Sadie, step up onto that same rock for her photos. At that time I changed my aperture to f/2.5 and made an exceptionally different looking picture in the same exact spot.

Trying to juggle your shutter speed, ISO, and aperture can seem like an overwhelming task, but I can promise you that with a little practice it will become completely second nature. The secret is, when shooting in manual mode, I’ll typically lock down two of the three settings so I only have one variable at any given time. Let’s take a look at a few examples and the thought processes behind them. Example 1: I’m shooting outside in the late afternoon, and there is a ton of available light to work with. If the amount of available light is not a problem, my ISO can probably be set at its lowest setting, ISO 100 (or ISO 50 or L on some models). Chances are I won’t have to touch that setting until the sun starts to set and I have less light to work with. Until then, I’ll set it and forget it. With my ISO locked, I’m going to make my artistic choice, which means setting my aperture. Being a lover of extreme, wide-open apertures for my natural light work, I’ll dial in the lowest number I can for my f-stop, say f/1.4, f/2.0, or f/2.8. With my aperture chosen, I’m again going to set it and forget it. That means I’m only left with one setting to worry about, my

shutter speed. If there is a ton of light in the sky, there should be no problem keeping my shutter speed high. As the shoot goes on, the shutter speed should be the only setting I’ll have to worry about changing until the light starts to fade. Example 2: I’m shooting indoors, in the evening, or on a darker, overcast day. If the amount of available light is an issue at a shoot, I’ll have to rearrange my thinking. I’m still working toward the same goal of locking down two out of my three settings, but my thought process is slightly re-ordered. First, I’ll want to figure out the slowest shutter speed I can use without my photos becoming blurry. Remember, shutter speed refers to the amount of time the shutter is open, which directly determines how much light can get in to hit the sensor within that timeframe. If I’m shooting with my 50mm, I’ll dial in 1/500th, set it, and forget it. Next, I’ll make my artistic choice and set my aperture. Luckily for me, my artistic preference of shooting wide open also allows the most amount of light into my camera. I’ll set my aperture as it’s lowest number, say f/1.2, and forget it. Now I’m only left with one variable, my ISO. I know that for my particular camera, I’m perfectly happy shooting at any ISO below 2000. That means, as long as I don’t find myself needing an ISO higher than 2000, I should be able to get through my entire shoot keeping my aperture and shutter speed set where

they are, only having to tweak my ISO when necessary. Using that kind of thought process allows me to spend more time concentrating on what truly matters: working with my dog model.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SHOOTING RAW I’m going to say something that you might not want to hear. Your camera is dumb. There, I said it. Even the most expensive, high-end camera has absolutely nothing on the power of the human brain. Your camera is capable of looking at a scene and determining settings that it believes will give you a proper exposure, that’s true, but your camera is incapable of any sort of long-term thought process or emotional, sentient thought. (At least for now, thank goodness, but let’s see what the robotic uprising of the next 20 years brings and then check back in.) Your camera can average out the light and dark values of a given scene to give you what it calculates to be a proper exposure, but it can’t look at that same scene and say “Hey, those trees on the right look really dark, but don’t worry, I know that I can selectively lift those shadows in post.” It’s up to you as a thinking, artistic, creative human being to understand that your job as a photographer is not done the second you click your shutter. If you walk into a shoot with the knowledge of what your camera’s files are capable of during

post-processing, you’ll approach your photography in an entirely different way.

2.15a F/4.0, 1/500 sec., ISO 800, 63mm

2.15b F/4.0, 1/500 sec., ISO 800, 63mm FIGURES 2.15a and 2.15b Sometimes you just have to see it to believe it. The power of RAW and the amount of data that can live in these files when shot with care, waiting to be freed by your artist’s eye, can be completely mind-blowing. When photographing Benson on location in the historical mining town of Cromwell in New Zealand, I was wildly inspired by this old street and all the tiny, rustic details on the surrounding buildings. Add in a

gorgeous sunset that was filling up the sky and you have the stuff that dog photographer’s dreams are made of. That said, when checking out the freshly shot photo on the back of my camera, I was feeling a little underwhelmed. I wasn’t seeing all that detail and magic that was there inperson reflected as boldly in my still image. Never fear, though! When I got this baby into Lightroom, I was able to bring out the magic of the moment, lurking deep in the data of the RAW file. This, my friends, is the power of RAW!

2.16a F/4.0, 1/1000 sec., ISO 100, 16–35mm

2.16b F/4.0, 1/1000 sec., ISO 100, 16–35mm FIGURES 2.16a and 2.16b Don’t let me convince you about the power of RAW. I’ll just drop the straight-out-of-camera RAW file here along with its Lightroom-edited counterpart.

If you’re serious about your photography (and your camera is capable), you absolutely must shoot in RAW. The potential that a raw file possesses is absolutely incredible, and the more you know about that potential, the more it will influence every shot you take. Let’s take a look at a few before-and-after edits to show just what I can see on the back of my camera with my naked eye, and then contrast that with all the detail and information that actually lives in the RAW files that I can extract later in the post-processing stage. Amazing, right?! The colors and details you see in the “after” images are all there in your RAW file, waiting to be unlocked by you, the artist. All of this information, color, and detail lives right there in the pixel data, its only up to you as the creative human behind the image to extract what you see fit and massage your image into the vision it was originally birthed from. Your camera is only capable of capturing a relatively small area of dynamic range (that is, capturing the range in detail from the brightest to the darkest areas of your image). The best cameras out there (yep, we’re talking all the way up to $25,000 Hasselblads) can capture approximately 15 stops of dynamic range, while the human eye is capable of seeing detail in 20 stops at any given time. So, if you’re shooting in a location that has both very bright areas and very dark areas, nine times out

of ten, you’re going to have to make a choice. Either expose for the dark areas (making the rest of your photo extremely bright) or expose for the bright areas (making the rest of your photo extremely dark). This is a compromise you’ll be faced with frequently, most likely on multiple occasions throughout a single shoot. With all that exposition out of the way, my advice to you is: don’t be afraid to err on the side of shooting dark. If you have to shoot one, two, or maybe even three stops underexposed in order to capture some detail in the brightest parts of your scene (typically, this is the sky), do it. Your dog model may look incredibly dark in the back of the camera, but trust me when I say that there is a ton of detail living in your camera’s RAW file just waiting to be unlocked. This is especially true when it comes to bringing out detail in the dark areas of your image. When you bring your RAW file into a program like Lightroom, Adobe Camera Raw, or Capture One, simply give your Shadows slider a crank to the right and a whole new world of detail will be waiting for you. The reason I suggest that you err on the side of shooting dark, rather than shooting bright, is because RAW files tend to lose information (or become “clipped”) in the brighter areas of the image first. The ability to extract pixel data is markedly more limited when it comes to attempting to bring back detail in the brighter parts of your image. Be careful on your shoots to not shoot too bright, even though it might look great on the back of your camera. If you’ve “blown out” the highlights, it will be impossible to bring that information back, leaving you with an overexposed, unrecoverable file. Overall, remember that

attempting to bring back detail in parts of your image that are overexposed is tricky, and often impossible. To reiterate, do not be afraid to shoot dark!

2.17a F/7.1, 1/200 sec., ISO 200, 11–24mm

2.17b F/7.1, 1/200 sec., ISO 200, 11–24mm FIGURES 2.17a and 2.17b When photographing Daisy at sunset in Boston, I placed the most importance on getting the exposure for Daisy and the

colorful sky correct. I knew the buildings would be a few stops darker than anything else in the frame, since the largest source of light was coming from behind them, throwing them into deep shade. I didn’t let their darkness deter me on location, though, because I knew I would likely be able to lift those shadows out of the buildings and get some detail back when I processed the RAW in post. This one is admittedly pushing it a bit as the colors in the lifted shadows are starting to get a little bit crunchy, but in the end, I’m happy with the overall result!

FOCUSING MODES (FOR STILL DOGS, NOT-SO-STILL DOGS, AND ACTION DOGS) In addition to having the correct exposure settings on your camera, you’ll also have to master different types of focusing modes for different scenarios. Lucky for us, long gone are the days where we have to manually twist our lenses by hand to find that perfect spot of focus. And holy moly, thank goodness for that! The idea of manually finding focus on a constantly moving dog could make even the strongest of dog photography warriors weep. No, friends, these days, our multi-thousand dollar camera bodies come with little artificial brains built in. They have technology inside of them that can track your subject automatically. Cameras now have sophisticated autofocus systems that have been programmed for tracking many different types of movement. These autofocus capabilities are constantly being improved upon with the release of every new camera model (and by firmware updates for existing models). We’ve advanced in technology so much that the methods of

tracking movement have been refined into different options. As a result, some camera models (especially sports-focused models) offer many focusing options, and it’s easy to let those options overwhelm you. If you delve deep into your camera’s menu system or manual, you’ll likely discover that your camera has different focus “cases” that account for a number of potential subject movement scenarios.

2.18 F/2.0, 1/800 sec., ISO 500, 50mm

As an example, the AI Servo Autofocus cases that are offered as options on my Canon 1Dx MkIII are as follows: Case 1: Versatile, Multi-purpose setting (like a dog doing, well, anything).

Case 2: Continue to track subjects, ignoring possible obstacles (like a dog running through tall grass). Case 3: Instantly focus on subjects suddenly entering AF points (like capturing a dog while panning, as he runs sideways through your frame). Case 4: For subjects that accelerate or decelerate quickly (like a dog that’s running directly, head-on toward you). Case A (or Auto): Tracking automatically adapts to subject movement (like Case 1, but allowing the camera’s artificial intelligence to try and “learn” and adapt to your subject’s movement. Your camera’s options may vary a bit from those listed above, so don’t get too caught up on those specific ones, just use them as a snapshot of some different possible scenarios. I suggest taking time to explore them as you practice your photography with your own dogs, but I also want to take a massive weight off your shoulders and say this: Personally, I have never once, in the last ten years of photographing dogs professionally, changed my focus case off of Case 1 (which is the general multipurpose setting that typically comes set as default right out of the box). Sigh of relief.

General Autofocus Settings When it comes to photographing dogs, I’ve found myself using just two different focusing options time and time again. For the vast majority of my photos, I’m shooting with my Canon camera’s autofocus set to AI-Servo (AI-Continuous for you Nikon shooters). Simply put, this is the type of autofocus meant for moving subjects. Even if my dog model has a great sit and stay, it’s still more-than-likely that they won’t be perfectly still. They’re going to be wiggling around, vibrating with excitement, so shooting with AI-Servo helps me track those wiggles, making for nice sharp photos. Now, that setting is an easy one. It’s another of those set-it-and-forget-it things that I have on throughout the entirety of pretty much every shoot I do. The second part of the equation requires a bit more work, but believe me, the results are worth it! Now, we’re all shooting with different cameras, so I won’t go too deep into specifics for each camera model or else we’d be here for months, but essentially you’ll have to set your camera’s autofocus point selection to a manually selected, single autofocus point. This allows you to tell your camera specifically where you’d like to focus (as opposed to your camera guessing for you). Depending on your camera, you could have 9 points to choose from or 900. So the question is, which one do you choose? Well, ask yourself this. When you’re looking at a portrait, be it of a dog or a person, which part of that portrait do you look at first, and which do you connect with the most? If you answered something other than “the eyes,”

you may be slightly sociopathic (but hey, none of us are perfect).

2.19a F/2.0, 1/800 sec., ISO 400, 35mm

2.19b F/2.0, 1/800 sec., ISO 400, 35mm FIGURES 2.19a and 2.19b I have a plug-in for Lightroom that allows me to check which focus point (or set of focus points) was engaged when I clicked the shutter on any given RAW file in my library. Here’s a peek at the single focus point that was used specifically on Joshua’s eye in this garden in Pennsylvania, and then the final result.

EYES VERSUS NOSE: THE GREAT DEBATE Ah, the age old debate. Do both the eyes and nose need to be in focus in order for a portrait to be considered successful? Many old-school photographers with a rigid outlook on technique will tell you that a photo of a portrait subject doesn’t count or play by the rules if both the eyes and nose are not both in equally sharp focus. That said, photographing the entire depth of a subject’s face in focus is a relatively easy feat when it comes to subjects of the two-legged variety. However, when considering the shape of a dog’s face as opposed to a human’s face, we can be talking about quite a physical distance from the tip of the snout all the way back to the eyes. Think of a human face, and of the distance from nose to eyes—an inch or two at the most? Now, compare that to say, a Greyhound’s face. See the conundrum? On an average Greyhound, the tip of the snout may be a distance as far as 7 inches or more forward from the eyes.

In order to have both in focus for a shot of the more closeup variety, you have to stop your aperture down to increase your plane of focus. That could mean taking your shot from f/1.4 down to something like f/10 in order to achieve this all-around focus look that some photographers consider necessary. That’s all well and good if you have enough light in the atmosphere to make this happen. But! Just take a moment to consider what this does to your gorgeous, sparkly bokeh, out-of-focus background that you’ve worked so hard to strategically place behind your subject. That’s right. You’ve just obliterated all your ethereal magnificence in order to please some Jurassic-era “rule.”

2.20a F/1.6, 1/500 sec., ISO 100, 50mm FIGURE 2.20A Junie was quite happy to step in and model for me so that we could visually explore this particular dilemma. Really, she’s happy to be a part of anything at any time, so long as treats are involved. To create this photo, I took her outside onto the grounds of the 200-year-old industrial mill building that I live in, and we found a

special little spot along the river with some iron and stone in the background. I intentionally chose a nice swath of it that would frame her little head nicely. In this shot, only Junie’s eyes are in focus, with no fuss made over also getting the tip of her snout in focus, too. This is how I would naturally gravitate towards shooting this particular scene. I love the soft, out-of-focus background that gently tells the story of this moment, while being blurred enough so as not to distract from the real star of the show here: Junie’s striking golden eyes.

2.20b F/11, 1/200 sec., ISO 2000, 50mm FIGURE 2.20B Here is an example of the same exact composition, in the same exact spot (with the single same exact Voldemort-ey expression that Junie so lovingly gives in 99% of her photos) taken only moments later than its softer counterpart. When creating this shot, instead of capturing the moment as I felt it in my heart, I cognitively went out of my way to follow the “rules.” I paid very special attention to increasing my aperture number so that I could keep all of the focal planes of Junie’s face in focus—from the tip of her nose to the back of her ears. The side effect of this change in aperture to account for the full depth of Junie’s face is—you guessed it—what it does to the rest of the photo. As you can see, my background has now come into much sharper focus, creating lots of distracting visual elements that are competing against Junie’s delightful little wrinkled

face. Of course this is all personal preference, but I’m much more drawn to the first image. In conclusion, I say know the rules, but also find joy in breaking them. (Keep in mind that this will matter less in a studio setting where you’re shooting on a solid-colored backdrop, since that backdrop won’t change as drastically as the various elements and light sources of a natural setting will.)

If you were to ask me, Kaylee Greer, what I think about this age-old question, you know what I would say? (Of course you do! But I’m gonna say it anyway!) I say, no thanks. I say those guys can keep their rules and stuff ‘em right in their fancy pockets! I say—and hear me out on this —you create whatever it is that your artist’s heart desires that will serve to tell your unique story. Eyes in focus? Great! Nose in focus too? Also great! Whatever suits your thoughtful and intentional artistic preference. You do you. And while you’re at it, you make art with no one else’s expectation weighing on your back. How about that?!

2.20c FIGURE 2.20C As evidenced by this wrinkly little boop-arino face viewed from the side, there’s typically quite a sizable distance between a dog’s snout and eyes. Junie is quite proud to show you that the distance from the tip of her nose to her sparkly golden eyes is a heroic 4.5 inches.

The eyes are 100% absolutely, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the most important part of your photo to have in focus! Did I put enough emphasis behind that? When selecting your focus point, do yourself a favor and select the point directly over your dog model’s beautiful shiny eyeball. If the dog is not facing you straight on, be sure to select whichever eye is closer. But Kaylee, my dog is going to be moving, my scenes will be changing—surely you can’t mean I have to change the individual focus point to correspond with the dog’s eye as he’s moving? The short answer? Yes. Yes you do. Don’t freak out! When you’re first learning, the actual act of selecting the correct auto-focus point can feel frustrating and like it’s taking up valuable time, but I promise you, this is another action that will become second nature to you after you put in the hard hours of practice. Moving the single focus point to follow the dog’s eye will be incredibly important to have nailed, as this is your ticket to getting sharp, impactful, heartmeltingly beautiful photos. Depending on your camera, there is

a good possibility you can customize a dial or joystick to make selecting autofocus points faster. Do yourself a favor and dive into your camera’s manual to see if this is possible for your specific camera model. If your camera happens to be equipped specifically with Animal Eye Autofocus tracking (I’m looking at you, Sony shooters!), give it a shot! As of the writing of this book, it’s a relatively new software feature on my Sony, so I don’t have a ton of personal experience with it quite yet, but I encourage you to give it a go, and if it reliably gets you the same end result with one less step, go for it! To sum this section up: AI-Servo mode with a Single focus point on the eye. That’s your set-up 90% of the time. So what about the other 10% of the time? What do you do then?

Action Autofocus Settings There’s really only one scenario in which I’ll make a change to my general autofocus settings, and that’s when I’m shooting intentional, high-flying, gravity-defying, action. Now, there’s a whole wonderful, delicious chapter on shooting action coming up later in this book, but for now I’ll tell you the one autofocus setting I’ll tweak when I know I’m ready to shoot action. While the single-autofocus-point-on-the-eye technique is great most of the time, it’s a little too risky when it comes to shooting action. For this scenario, I’ll change my camera’s autofocus

point selection to a zone-style selection. This means that I’ll be able to select a group of autofocus points, as opposed to a single one. The group gives me a wider margin of error in terms of where in the frame my dog model’s eyes are going to fall. This is a good thing because at this point, my dog model is going to be running the Tuckie Bum 500, bouncing left and right in a happy fit of madness and joy. That makes it quite difficult to predict exactly where his tiny eye is going to fall within the frame. The zone or group of focus points let me choose a larger area that I feel the dog model’s head should fall within. Generally, I’ll choose a group toward the top-center of my frame, because I know that’s most likely where my subject’s fast-moving head is going to appear. This works for me because I know that historically, in the heat of the moment, I tend to center my action shots, putting the dog right in the zone I need him to be in. Whatever zone you choose, just keep your subject’s head within that particular group of autofocus points. If the camera’s autofocus system is doing its job correctly, you’ll see those little auto focus point suckers blinking and twinkling around within the zone as it actively tracks your dog’s bobbling head while he’s running toward you.

2.21a F/2.8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 1600, 70–200mm

2.21b F/2.8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 1600, 70–200mm FIGURES 2.21a and 2.21b When shooting a dog running toward me, I change my single focus point to a zone focus setting or group of focus points. I choose the top center group of 9, as that’s the place in the frame where I can best anticipate that the dog’s head will fall.

WHITE BALANCE

White Balance is a setting on your camera that gives you control over the color temperature of your image. On the vast majority of camera models, you’ll find that your menu of white balance choices is made up of the following: Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, Flourescent, Flash, or K (which is a completely custom Kelvin setting that can be dialed in to taste).

Tungsten

Auto

Cloudy

Fluorescent

2.22 F/2.2, 1/1000 sec., ISO 250, 35mm

FIGURE 2.22 Here are some of the preset white balance settings that you’re likely to find as options in your camera. As you can see, Cloudy gets me the closest I want to be to the warm and gooey final image. I personally stay quite far away from the indoor and artificial light presents like Tungsten and Fluorescent since I am shooting outdoors 99% of the time. However, you may gravitate toward a different white balance setting based on your overall style. I encourage you to play around with the different white balance options to discover which setting works best for you!

2.23 F/2.8, 1/8000sec., ISO 800, 70–200mm FIGURE 2.23 Ooey gooey delicious golden light, made extra sparkly and magical due to an often unsung hero of the photographic process—the Cloudy white balance setting!

I’ll let you in on my white balance secret. I set my camera’s

white balance to Cloudy and leave it there. Forever. I’ve found that the cloudy white balance setting gives my images a beautiful warmth that is perfect when shooting outdoors. Does this mean that Cloudy always gives me the perfect white balance? Absolutely not—but keep in mind that, assuming you’re shooting in RAW (which you absolutely should be), your white balance setting is a completely non-destructive choice. The color temperature of your image as it appears on the back of your camera can be changed easily with a single click during the editing process in either Lightroom or Photoshop. With that said, if you don’t like the look of Cloudy, I suggest trying Auto, always keeping in mind that if you don’t love what you end up with, you can always change it later. As you explore the different white balance setting options, keep in mind that the color temperature will affect the overall look, feel, and mood of your photograph, so take some time to give them all a try, and set it to what you feel best suits your artistic preferences.

STICK WITH IT! I know this chapter might be a bit of a doozy for those of you who live more fearlessly in the creative sides of your brain than in the technical. I find that the real technical stuff is sometimes a bit hard to slog through if you’re not massively numbersminded. Try not to let this stuff overwhelm you. If you feel you struggle with settings, formulas, and numbers, please rest assured that I am very much with you, and stood exactly where you stand not so long ago. I am a right-brained person through

and through and all of this stuff was once very challenging for me to wrap my head around. I hope it can bring you a little faith, however, to know that these days, this technical stuff is completely second nature to me. It’s like speaking English or breathing air. I don’t have to think very hard about it, it just comes to me. It’s a language of light and vision, and I have managed to become fluent. You can get there, too. Like anything, it requires lots of practice. Make sure to get out and work at it every day. Try it with your own dog. Your neighbor’s dog. Your friend’s dog. Eventually, every single one of these important settings will become familiar. As soon as that happens (which is sooner than you think) you can concentrate on getting out there and making once-in-a-lifetime dog photos.

2.24 F/2.0, 1/160 sec., ISO 320, 50mm FIGURE 2.24 Hello my little f/2.0 sparkly eyed dream!

CHAPTER

LENSES AN ADVENTURE INTO LENSES. (YOU KNOW, THE FUN CHAPTER.)

If the clouds were to part, and the most-asked question regarding my dog photography adventures were to fall from the heavens and into my lap, that question would be: “Kaylee, what lens is the best for dog photography?” Ah. That would be the all-in-one 1-1000mm f/1.2, manufactured by sky unicorns of course. Just kidding (seeing as there is no 1-1000mm lens that exists in the galaxy as we know it today—at least not according to the sky unicorns I’ve consulted).

What I’m getting at here is that there is no best lens for dog photography. There’s only the right lens for the specific situation you might be in at any given time. As any overwhelmed photographer knows, we are inundated with all

kinds of different lens choices for photography. Wide lenses, telephoto lenses, prime lenses, variable aperture lenses, vintage lenses, and so on. The lens you attach to your camera, without a doubt, is just as important an artistic choice as the lighting, location, and dog model themselves. The focal length you select will render the scene you see before your eyes in exactly the way that you choose as the artist controlling the situation. An image of an object will look completely different taken with a 50mm lens as opposed to with a 14mm lens. Like a painter with a blank canvas, it is your artistic choice to select the brush best suited to bring your work to life. Think of your lens in this very same way. In this chapter, I am going to go over the lenses I’ve had the opportunity to use as a tool to create my imagery over the course of my dog-photography career. Keep in mind, the lenses that I am about to share with you are most certainly not the only lenses available on the market today, and they are just as certainly not the only ones that can be used to make showstopping images of dogs. They are simply a sampling of exactly what I’ve kept in my camera bagged and lugged back and forth to hundreds of dog photo shoots over the years. And in that vein, while I happen to shoot Canon and use Canon branded lenses, each camera manufacturer—whether you’re shooting Sony, Nikon, Fuji, Leica, Hasselblad—has their own equivalent or extremely similar version of the upcoming list of lenses. You may use my thoughts, opinions, and experiences as a guideline, but of course, always march to the beat of your own creative drum.

3.1 F/1.4, 1/500 sec., ISO 100, 50mm FIGURE 3.1 With nothing to work with aside from a little swath of green grass growing on a median in a parking lot, using the 50mm to render a clean, simple shot looking down on this sweet girl’s big puppy eyes was a saving grace. The simplicity of the 50mm, it’s sharpness, and it’s ability to open very wide (i.e., f/1.2) all make it an absolute must-have in my camera bag on any shoot.

50MM The 50mm lens has become known across the photography industry as “the nifty fifty.” The reputation this lens has as being a staple in any photographer’s bag is well-earned. As you may know, 50mm is the focal length that is the most similar to the natural focal length that we see with our human eyes. This translates to the 50mm rendering a scene in a way that is most familiar to us. When it comes to photographing dogs, I love the 50mm most for it’s beautiful depth of field and overall sharpness. I happen to own the version of the 50mm that opens

all the way to f/1.2. I used to have the slightly less expensive, f/1.4 version of the 50mm, but I ruined it in a torrential rainstorm on a shoot with a gorgeous, curly, brown poodle who didn’t seem to terribly mind being wet. I was obsessed with the way that city lights were being reflected across the wet pavement and was determined to do anything I could to make sure I captured that moment into forever. Including letting my lens drown in the downpour, I suppose. The 50mm is a must-have at any dog photo shoot for me. I rely on it to create traditionally beautiful images and render scenes in a familiar and elegant way. While I’ve come to be known most for my comical, ultra-wide angle shots, I always pull the 50mm out at every shoot in order to give my client some variety in the resulting gallery of images. The one drawback that I’ve experienced throughout my adventures of pointing the 50mm lens at dogs of all shapes and sizes is that I find it to be a little slow on the auto-focus. This is even more true of the f/1.2 version; I recall my rainruined 1.4 version to be a bit peppier on the uptake. This means that there are times during shoots where I’m trying to capture a dog doing something totally candid and unscripted where I find that I’ve missed the moment because the lens was taking it’s time to focus on the subject.

3.2 F/1.4, 1/100 sec., ISO 500, 50mm FIGURE 3.2 I blame Dobby for ruining my lens due to him being just too beautiful for me to resist in the middle of that downpour on that perfect summer evening in Boston.

35MM I taught a workshop about five years back in Australia with a small team of brilliantly talented pet photographers. As you do when you’re with other shooters who have new and undiscovered camera goodies so close you can touch ‘em, we pillaged each other’s camera bags, excitedly trying all the lenses

we had never been able to get our hands on before. This is where I first discovered the 35mm lens, and I will be forever grateful for the introduction to it. At first consideration, you might think “I already have a 2470mm or a 16-35mm, why do I need the 35mm when I already have that focal length covered?” If you are strictly sticking to a budget (and as a fellow photographer, I can understand that so deeply) then you may be right to think that way. But, if your utmost priority is absolute and unequaled quality in a lens and a resulting photograph, then I couldn’t sing my praises for the 35mm any louder. This lens is magic. The sharpness I have experienced in images that come from this lens is like nothing else I’ve ever seen with any of the glass in my collection. We’ll discuss this in detail in another chapter, but employing a single focus point directly on your canine subject’s eye with this lens is like a master class in sharpness and quality. What I love most about this lens and focal length is that the 35mm gives you the deep, beautiful depth of field of a prime lens, but it allows you to include more of the scene surrounding your subject than the sometimes slightly-too-tight 50mm can. The 35mm would not be a lens you might choose for a closeup portrait of a human face, due to it being a relatively wide focal length—but the slight distortion that this lens supplies is absolutely perfect for canine portraiture that’s full of spunk and personality. A medium-to-close-up portrait of a pup with this

lens really immerses the viewer in the dog’s world, and clearly and effectively connects the viewer to the subject in a way I feel is difficult to do with most other prime lenses in this range. My absolute favorite application of the 35mm is to use it for the classic giant-puppy-eyes-looking-up-at-you-tearing-out-yourheartstrings kind of shot. This is a perspective in which I simply stand above a dog who is sitting directly at my feet, and point my lens down toward him as he smiles up at me, making sure to capture his eyes in sharp focus. My go-to lens for this simple shot idea used to be the 50mm, but I would often find myself in situations where a sitting dog would still be too tall for me to look down upon from my valiant 5 feet 3 inches. The 50mm focal length works well from average human standing height looking down on say, a Dachshund or a King Charles Cavalier, but it’s far too tight to pull off with a Great Dane or Bernese Mountain Dog, for example. The 35mm solves the problem of dogs being too tall for this puppy-eyes shot that I love so much (a shot that historically sells so well to clients, by the way). It gives the extra breathing room I need to be able to look down upon larger breed dogs and still be able to capture the soul and essence in their eyes.

3.3 F/1.6, 1/320 sec., ISO 100, 35mm FIGURE 3.3 Sharp, sharp, sharp is the name of the game with the Canon 35mm f/1.4. This lens is perfect for capturing “puppy-eyes” shots of taller dogs like Lilly.

F/1.6, 1/320 sec., ISO 100, 35mm

70-200MM This lens may as well be called the magical unicorn bokeh sparkle lens, or the MUBS lens for short. Has a ring to it, doesn’t it? Somebody call up the manufacturers and let them know we demand a name change. I rarely ever use this lens at any focal length other than 200mm. Photographing a subject at 200mm typically means you have to be pretty darn far away. I’m not necessarily talking

like, football field far, but certainly 20 feet or so. Why is the ability to get so far away good when it comes to dog photography? Or, maybe that question should be: “Why is the ability to get so far away sometimes an absolute live saver when it comes to dog photography?” I’ll tell you why. Because dogs are animals—individual animals with different personalities, histories, traits, and sometimes, fears. When working with a dog, your very first priority is to make your subject feel comfortable and cared for. Respect their boundaries and be as kind as possible when telling their unique and beautiful stories through your lens. Sometimes, that means respecting the space of an especially timid or fearful dog, and this is where having the ability to be 20+ feet away is an absolute godsend. The 200mm end of the 70-200mm allows you to put space between your scary, clicky, black-box face and your sensitive, furry subject. Not only does it allow your subject the breathing room it may desperately desire, but when you’re zoomed into 200mm from 15 or 20 feet away, you compress the background of your shot into a magical wonderland of creamy, dreamy bokeh (especially if you’re shooting at the coveted f/2.8 aperture). This means that you are accomplishing two things with one lens: successfully photographing a fearful animal in a respectful way, and hopefully balancing out your camera settings in harmony with the 200mm focal length to create a unique and beautiful image that will preserve that dog’s legacy in their owners’ lives for so many years to come.

Make no mistake though—the 70-200mm lens is not only a tool for timid or space-sensitive dogs. It’s also an absolutely brilliant lens for separating your subject from the background in a show-stopping portrait. I recently nabbed the cover of Nat Geo Wild Magazine with a simple, natural light shot that I snagged of four pups sitting together at 200mm. I am convinced that the specialness of this shot comes from the dreamy focal length and gorgeous background compression, thanks to the 70200mm lens I shot it with. Keep in mind, this is also the go-to lens that I use for action shots, because it allows me to get a closer view of the dog as he’s at his peak point of action.

3.4 F/2.8, 1/800 sec., ISO 640, 70–200mm FIGURE 3.4 I photographed Luca the Samoyed in Spain on a small forest trail. I wanted to render the scene in a way that was as soft as Luca’s puppy fluff. Zooming in all the way to 200mm, and opening up as wide as the lens would go to capture a shallow depth of field, helped me put more emphasis on my sweet subject while throwing the background out of focus and into a dreamy, wonderful, ethereal, soft bokeh.

3.5 F/2.8, 1/200 sec., ISO 100, 70–200mm FIGURE 3.5 At Hershey’s early fall shoot, the warm afternoon light came swooping in sideways and lit up these trees like liquid gold, The still water of the small pond behind Hershey reflected the trees, and when I photographed this scene at f/2.8 zoomed into 200mm, the entire background blurred into an ooey-gooey fairytale. The sharpness of Hershey juxtaposed against the softness of the background is the stand-out characteristic that makes this photo so special.

3.6 F/2.8, 1/160 sec., ISO 500, 70–200mm

16-35MM The 16-35mm is the lens that changed it all for me. A few years into my career as a dog photographer, my fiancé ran into a situation where a headshot client of his offered to pay a portion of his photo shoot fee in trade value of a lens. The lens that was being offered up was an old, slightly banged up 16-35mm f/2.8.

After struggling for years to try to create comical whimsical images with the 24-70 and finding no inspiration there, my eyes got wide with excitement at this proposal. I saw new opportunity in 16mm—a focal length wider than I had ever been able to get my hands on before. I flashed Sam my best, brightest smile and said, “This sounds like a good idea to me. Pretty please?” The rest is history. The first moment I pointed this lens toward my dog was the moment that the true heart and style of Dog Breath Photography was born. All I ever wanted was to photograph dogs at 16mm, and I never even knew it. For me, the immediate magic that I found in the 16-35mm lay in the whimsy, silliness, and distortion that the wide angle lent to my images. As a note, lenses on the extreme wide end of the spectrum like this one mean that for ultimate impact, you’re going to need to get very close to your canine subject. Typically, when shooting at 16mm, I have my lens at an absolute maximum of 5 inches away from the dog’s face. This means that this lens works best with very confident dogs and even then may have to be slowly introduced over time and with positive reinforcement. Keep in mind that the edges of a portrait shot at 16mm tend to be very soft.

3.7 F/5.6, 1/200 Sec., ISO 100, 16–35mm FIGURE 3.7 Using the 16-35 really allowed me to play with perspective and exaggerate the features of dogs to make them seem larger than life. This image was taken at 16mm. Little Chico, a tiny pup in the real, physical world, got to be portrayed as the superhero he believes himself to be.

3.8 F/6.3, 1/200 sec., ISO 400, 16–35mm FIGURE 3.8 The 16-35mm lens gave me my first proper taste of epic. All I’ve ever wanted was movie-poster skies, insanely dramatic light, and superhero dog stars. I think Luna and Rogue carry the whole thing quite nicely here, don’t you?

11-24MM Talking about the 16-35mm lens is the perfect segue into raving about the 11-24mm lens: the widest rectilinear lens on the market as of the writing of this book. If I thought photographing dogs at 16mm was fun, boy was I in

for a ride at 11mm and 12mm. When describing the adventures I’ve had with this lens, the words “side-splitting laughter” and “pee-your-pants comedy” come to mind. This is, without a sliver of a doubt, the single lens in my kit you’d have to pry from my cold, dead hands (or heck, even my warm, very-muchalive hands!). Toward its wider focal length values, this lens is epic. It’s certainly a landscape photographer’s dream, and, as a dog photographer who puts a heavy emphasis on the locations my dogs appear in, this lens is also my dream. A word of warning though: this lens is heavy. It makes me feel a little like I’m carrying the weight of a newborn baby on a single wrist joint (and at the price it retails for, I’d say “newborn baby” is a good descriptor of how I feel about it!). Based on its weight, it’s difficult to work with on one hand, while the other hand is inevitably busy feeding treats, throwing toys, squishing into a jar of peanut butter, or any of the various other magical things us dog photographers get to do for a living. I believe quite intensely in the mantra “you get out what you put in.” While at times working with this lens is a physical struggle, the resulting photographs are always worth their weight in gold.

3.9 F/8.0, 1/200 sec., ISO 400, 11–24mm FIGURE 3.9 Extreme wide. Extreme personality. Lucy, Oscar and Valentino stood on this rock on the shore of Lake Tahoe for me as twilight began to fill the sky. It was toward the end of our shoot, so I wasn’t quite sure if these guys were interested in posing for me anymore or if they were over it. As I questioned whether to call it for the night, Oscar leaned in super close to my lens as if to say “You talkin’ to me?” He gifted me with one of my absolute favorite images of the entire shoot!

3.10 F/20, 1/200 Sec., ISO 100, 11–24mm

3.11 F/7.1, 1/125 sec., ISO 200, 11–24mm FIGURE 3.11 Extremes and comedy is the name of the game here. Just ask Oliver, this sweet young Corgi boy who happily let me test out what a slight bit of lens distortion might due to a delicious set of already oversized ears.

24-70MM The 24-70mm is a pretty commonly used lens in dog photography. The perk of a zoom lens such as this one is that you really have the ability to cover a lot of ground without having the worry of constantly having to swap out your lens to

fit the moment. I think of this lens as a decent all-around workhorse—but sometimes, a jack-of-all-trades truly is the master of none. Say what?! Okay, so you may really want to throw a punch through the pages of this book and land a solid one on my cheek for saying this (good thing for me that the laws of physics prevent you from doing so), but I am personally not a big fan of the 2470mm lens. My partner in crime, brilliant portrait photographer Sam Haddix, uses to the 24-70mm like it’s his job. (Oh wait, it is!) I observed Sam adoring that lens so much and pulling it out enthusiastically on every shoot, so I really tried to use it and like it at my own photo shoots with pups. But, my friends, as they say in Las Vegas: no dice. To me, this lens looks very expected and dare I say unexceptional. Okay, but wait, before you sound the alarm and seek me out for that punch we talked about, my personal opinion on this lens, is just that: a personal opinion. I couldn’t find the magic in this lens, at least in my own style and my own work. For me, I truly believe my heart was set on a wider lens and each time I used it at 24mm, I just felt disappointed that it wasn’t more like a 14mm. But don’t go crazy just yet, fans of the 24-70mm. Some of the best dog photographers in the world swear up and down that this lens was brought down by cherubs from a golden sunlit sky and birthed upon them as photography’s greatest gift. I’m just not one of them.

So that question above, you know, “which lens is best for dog photography?” It’s frustrating not to just get a straightforward answer, right? Since it is me, Kaylee Greer, writing this book, I am happy to give you a concrete answer for me and my personal style choice. After reading this section, it’s no surprise that that answer is this: the Canon 12-24mm f/4.0. But here’s the kicker: I know scores of outrageously talented, worldrenowned, and award-winning pet photographers who would passionately disagree with me. That’s the beauty of art. We can only make what’s in our heart, and to bring all that color and light bouncing all around inside of us to life, we have the opportunity to pick any lens we desire for the job. Take my opinions and experiences for what they’re worth, test out every lens you can get your hands on, find the best one, and march forth—cover it in dog hair and peanut butter, and make dog images so magical you never even knew they could be real.

3.12 F/2.8, 1/200 sec., ISO 50, 24–70mm FIGURE 3.13 I had to search pretty deep into my Lightroom library to find any shots at all that I had taken with the 24-70mm. I did unearth one super magical gem, however, of my own little heartthrob Joshua splashing in the tub with his rubber duckies.

3.13 F/2.8, 1/125 sec., ISO 800, 24–70mm

CHAPTER

DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS ALL THE DOG PHOTO SHOOT TRICKS YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW. PROBABLY. ALSO KNOWN AS… THE LONGEST CHAPTER IN THE BOOK. WATCH OUT TOLKIEN, HERE I COME.

Oh, boy. This chapter is probably my favorite one. I say that because it contains the tiny little sparkly treasures of tips that I’ve kept neatly packed away in the filing system in my brain all these years. This is the first time I get to put it all out there, and share the glittering plunder with you.

These are the tricks I have discovered, used, and honed over the past ten years of photographing dogs professionally on sets big and small, for large commercial brands, for private clients, for shelter shoots, and for editorial. They are the dirty little secrets behind the questions I get, such as my personal favorite: “How are all these dogs you photograph so perfectly

behaved? Are they magical dogs from a magical land?” Oh, or comments like “My dog could never do that!” Here is where I spill it all, my friends.

PREPARING FOR THE SHOOT In order to leverage these tricks I’m about to go over with you, there is some pre-session preparation work I want to talk about that is going to be really important. The truth is, 99% of the dogs that you see here in this book (and all throughout my portfolio of work) I had never met in person before turning up to the day of the shoot. The good news is that I really don’t think it’s necessary for you to have to run around all over town to have in-person meetings with your dog model before shoot days. That said, what I have found to be invaluable to the success of my shoots is to gather knowledge about the dog beforehand. The best way to do this is to send your client a presession questionnaire so you have some really good information before you arrive on location on your shoot day. Make sure you make it mandatory for them to fill this out and send back to you, because in my experience people can be a little flaky when it comes to paperwork. What should the pre-session questionnaire look like? Great question! Beyond the basic stuff like name, breed type, and age, here’s the information that I’ve come to find is really important to know about the dog model:

What is your dog most motivated by? (Toys, treats, physical interaction and reinforcement from the owner, or none of the above.) Is your dog slow to warm up? Does he harbor any specific fears based on past experiences? (This way, I’ll know not to bring a vacuum cleaner along to the shoot with me.) Are there any disabilities or physical restrictions your dog has (e.g., a bad knee, bum hips, in a wheelchair)? This information will help you choose the best, easiest and most accessible location to maximize the shoot’s potential for success. Is your dog friendly towards other dogs? (This is another location-related question that will steer you toward or away from a potential location based on its popularity and level of busy-ness.) Does your dog have any allergies? (Make sure you ask this question in relation to both food allergies and environmental allergies.) In addition to the pre-session questionnaire, you can also ask your client to send along a few photos of the dog beforehand, simply so you can get an idea of size and color. All of this information is going to be super helpful in putting together a loose plan for how your day will go and what tactics you might try and use to get the dog’s attention. I use the word loose here very loosely. This is a both fun and confusing way

of saying: don’t over-plan. Dogs will be dogs and that’s the very magic of what we do. We capture those unscripted moments, and as I’ve mentioned before, we don’t want to miss the very best, once-in-a-lifetime sort of photo opportunities because we’re way too distracted by sticking to our stringent plan for the day. I am, by nature, a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants-er. This approach happens to translate exceptionally well to running a dog photography session. If you’re someone who can gently be described as “a tad more type A,” try and shake it out and let loose. Allow the day to unfold organically to put yourself in the best possible position to capture dogs doing what they do best: being dogs.

USING SOUNDS As you work with your dog at your shoot, you’ll learn exactly what they are motivated by. Certain dogs will easily sit, stay, and look directly at your camera for a treat. Others will give you an excited look for the reward of a toy. But then there are other dogs who seem…less motivated. These are the dogs that may need a little extra something to get them looking in your direction. And that, my friend, is where sounds come in. Much like treats and toys, do your best keep the sounds coming from yourself and yourself only. Not only does this keep the shoot manageable, but constant repetition of the same noise will most likely only result in stressing your dog model out, so do everything you can to keep the sounds varied and

infrequent. A lot of the times you’ll only have one opportunity to capture magic in your dog model with a new sound. It’s important to nail your location, your camera settings, and get your dog model in place before using a sound. Otherwise, you risk it becoming ineffective by the time you’re ready to take your shot! Ever wonder why the great majority of dog toys on the market today have a little plastic squeaker inside that put out a short, high-pitched tone? Remember, everything about our modern day dogs relates back to their biology and ancestry as wolves. In that vein of thinking, I’ve come to realize that the sound of my dog’s squeaky plush porcupine, currently beheaded on the living room floor, reminds me an awful lot of the sound George Lucas makes. Oh. Wait. Sorry. Not that George Lucas. I mean my guinea pig George Lucas. For clarity’s sake, let’s call him “Georgie L. Master of the Carrot Munch” or “GL” for short. So, what I’m saying here is that GL sounds remarkably like a dog’s squeaky toy when he chuffs and squeals. In fact, the first time Joshua heard GL squeaking from his cage, he went absolutely nuts. That is Joshua’s natural prey drive at work, and is precisely the same reason why his toys make him bonkers with excitement as well. By intentional design, dog’s toys relate back to those tiny little squeaking vermin in distress, which instinctually initiates a primal snap to attention. Dogs’ ears are remarkable in their ability to locate and isolate the direction of sound. Have you ever seen your dog’s ears move independently of one another in order to infer the

direction or source of a sound? Dogs pay intense attention to sounds when we may not even realize they’re doing it. It’s also important to note that dog’s attention to sounds begins as quite keen and sharp and slowly fades off as the sound continues in duration and becomes familiar. Ever wonder why your dog might bark at an unexpected knock on the door but he can sleep right through an eight-hour epic viewing marathon of the Lord of the Rings trilogy on your living room TV? Dogs adjust to sounds. (In fact, the reason that dogs are such brilliant human companions is this remarkable trait of adaptation they possess in order to live harmoniously within our busy, stimuliloaded worlds.) All of this biological information that lives within the very DNA of our dogs and their behaviors is incredibly important to know so that you can leverage their senses successfully and use them to your advantage in order to capture a rockin’ portrait. All of that said? Sounds. Use ‘em! Here are a few ideas for some different sounds or audio cues you can use at your shoots: Squeakers from toys Crumpling plastic bags iPhone apps with farm or other animal sounds Owner talking and trigger words High-pitched vocal sounds

Rabbit and duck (or other bird) calls Kazoos Now, check this out. If there’s one single thing from this section about sounds that you store in your brain and never forget, it’s this one: DO NOT OVERUSE SOUNDS! (Oh, sorry. Did it seem like I was yelling there? Typing in all caps like my mom on Facebook? IT’S BECAUSE I WAS.) And for the love of god, do not under any circumstances give your human clients a squeaker. It is in moments like these (you know, the one where the client has a death grip on a squeaker) where it strikes me that so many people own and love dogs, but an astoundingly large percentage of them actually know very little about dogs. And gosh, I don’t intend to put anybody down. Really, they’re just trying to help, and they’re excited to be a part of the process. But, almost every single time, without fail, the owner will call their dog’s name in increasingly higher and more frantic pitches, all while squeaking the squeaker at 1,000 miles an hour and polluting the air with pure, liquid stress. Let’s call it squeaker fatigue. Worst-case scenario: you do an incredible job of keeping all squeakers tucked securely in your shoot pouch, and WHABAM! Like a villain in the night, your client pulls out a surprise SQUEAKER OF THEIR OWN!! DUN DUN DUN!!! Well, at that point you might as well pack up and call it a day my friends. (Just kidding. You just have to politely tell your

client that you need to be solely in charge of all sounds and you’re back on track! No harm, no foul!) Squeaks and sudden high-pitched sounds of similar origin must be used infrequently and timed appropriately. They must be calculated squeaks. Don’t use your squeaker until you’re absolutely ready—with every hair in place, every rock sticking in to your poor buttcheek as you wiggle into the perfect place on the ground, and every camera setting dialed in to perfection. Once you’re ready for a flawless shutter click then let ‘er rip—a really courageous one that would make guinea pig George Lucas proud. (My main man has since passed, bless his tiny little peanut-shaped soul. RIP, little GL. Remember, he’s watching over every squeak you make from his tiny cloud in heaven, judging you harshly.)

HEAD TILTS

Let’s start by saying that head tilts are a recipe for a cute explosion like you’ve never experienced before. Just one of these subtle tilts of the fuzzy head and you’ll melt down into a puddle in your shoes and leak out the side of your socks. Easily one of the most endearing behaviors a dog can offer, head tilts are delicious down to their core. You should start this section by knowing that not all dogs will tilt their heads in relation to sounds; be forgiving to that fact. Some will. Some won’t. Head tilting is a behavior that’s completely unique to each individual dog. There are, however, some breeds that I’ve historically found are more naturally prone to it, such as German Shepherds and Pit Bulls. Dogs will especially tilt their heads if they are concentrating on a sound that they relate to something positive happening for them. This is why dogs who live with humans and work hard to decipher our daily babble develop head tilt reactions to audible trigger words that they hear time and time again. This is a word that signifies something good is about to happen for them. Some pretty universal examples of trigger words or phrases that can induce a little head tilting action are things like: “Do you want to go for a walk?” “Do you want to go for a ride in the car?” “Let’s get a treat!” Those are some good, universal standards, but I’ve also had some really hilarious ones over the course of my career too,

that owners have instructed me to say, including (but not limited to): “Do you want to go to Grandma Jackie’s House?” “Where are the potato chips?” “Do you wanna go back to the shelter?” No matter what the word or phrase, however, be sure to use it sparingly! And if there is a reward attached to that question (e.g.—“do you want a treat?”), make sure to deliver on that promise or else you’ll frustrate your dog model and lose his commitment and attention pretty quickly. I call it “paying” for the shot. Always make sure you pay up. Otherwise, the dog will tell all his dog friends far and wide that you’ve broken the holy code and cannot be trusted.

4.1 FIGURE 4.1 A head tilt for the ages. This is the kind of stuff us dog photographers dream about. Lucky for me, Roxy earned her master’s degree in melting hearts by means of head tilt and she was kind enough to share her powers with me.

In addition to head tilting for trigger words, you may also be able to elicit the elusive tilt by using odd or strange sounds— audible markers that the dog has never heard before. If you simply use a traditional squeaker as your sound, you might end up with a lot of unimpressed dogs who give you the ol’ nonchalant, “yeah I’ve heard that one before lady, what else ya got?” Try new and unique sounds. If you can master your best dolphin mating call with your own vocal chords, well, you’re a

step ahead of the game. This is the part of the book where I tell you the thing that maybe I should have started off this whole adventure with: As a dog photographer, you’re going to spend the majority of your time looking like an idiot. That’s right. As the nice, proper, cultured, well-dressed locals pass by you on their afternoon hike, you’re going to have to be cool with the stares, smirks, and wildly curious and intrusive eyes. Naturally, people are going to wonder why you’re laying on your stomach in a puddle of mud and making mouth-fart sounds while waving your hands with a purple mouse toy balanced on your head. So just abandon all dignity now and get it over with. Another tool for sounds that I’ve used with quite a bit of success over the years is a farm animal sounds iPhone app. I’m pretty sure this app is made for babies. Or maybe toddlers. (But certainly not for an adult woman trying to make sweet pictures of dogs.) You might find when you try to use electronic sounds that some dogs won’t respond to them at all. There is a window of error for any non-analog sounds that might be springing forward from our tiny, electronic speakers. Dogs are pretty smart, and they can usually tell if a sound is coming from a source in the real world or not. Some dogs will immediately dismiss anything coming from your iPhone, but these electronic pre-recorded

sounds will work on a number of dogs. Let’s endearingly call them the dumb-dumbs. This includes my dog Joshua. An app like this can be great because it saves your vocal chords from having to pull all the weight over the course of two or three hours. It also gives you a pretty cool variety of sounds. I suggest trying all the different sounds in the app and pinpoint two or three that seem to really be the most effective. When you go to use sounds, start with the one you know to be most effective so you don’t overwhelm the dog right off the bat. Otherwise, there’s a major risk of exhausting the dog and his attention span with too much auditory stress before you even get off the ground. There’s a place that I don’t love to go, but on rare occasions, you’ll find me there. That location would be in the hunting section of your friendly neighborhood sporting goods store. While I’m not personally into hunting wild animals, from time to time, I have to pop in to pick myself up a few wild animal calls. That’s right! You heard it here! Duck calls, rabbit calls, deer calls—they’re all really brilliant noisemaker tools to have in your bag of tricks to get dogs to look at you during their photo shoots. Luckily, these days there’s a little ol’ place in internetland called amazon.com where I can finally do all my duck-call shopping without having to weave my way through the gun aisle first.

4.2a

4.2b FIGURE 4.2 While some dogs may not give you a full head tilt upon the trumpeting of a new and exciting sound, sounds can elicit other very positive behaviors. As you see here: Ears up, mouth closed. That’s right. If you have a dog whose slightly overwhelmed and excited on the day of his shoot, you’re likely going to get lots of expressions that look like the one on the top. Ears back, long, waggling tongue—generally overstimulated. With one quick squeak of a new sound, Flip gave me a moment of focused

intrigue that reads more gracefully in the final image.

Wild animal calls work exceptionally well for getting a dog’s attention, due to the completely unique and strange, primal, animal-like sounds they produce. Just be aware that there are a few calls out there on the market that are so loud I swear they break the sound barrier. Do everyone a favor and don’t use these ones. Not only will you be sending out a distress signal to every dolphin in the world’s oceans, you’ll also be adding some broth to that liquid stress soup for the poor dog. When using sounds as a tool, it’s about subtlety and timing, so I recommend you practice mastering the art of using them.

TOYS You are going to come across a number of dogs who will seem like they’re completely immune to sounds. Some dogs are so chilled out I call them “bomb proof.” A lot of the time these dogs are therapy dogs and service dogs in their daily lives. Dogs like this have been trained to withstand all kinds of natural and manmade stressors, so sometimes the instinct to have an interest in sounds has been trained right out of them. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, some dogs are so over stimulated and anxious that sounds will do absolutely nothing to get their attention and will only serve to add more stress to an already overwhelming situation. As an alternative, try using toys to get their attention.

At home, my little monster Junie will pull every toy out of her toy box until she finds the perfect one to play with. Whatever thought-process goes on inside her tiny brain, it’s clear the diva has her preferences. It’s hard to say exactly what type of toy a dog will respond to, so I always keep a wide variety on me at every shoot. Pay special attention to the dog’s energy when taking out new toys. While toys work well for capturing the attention of some dogs, others can become overwhelmed and overexcited by their presence. If you sense your dog’s energy getting out of control, slip those toys right back into the bag and work out another attention-getting solution. Like treats, it’s extremely important to keep the toys in your own hands (or the hands of a trained assistant). While the dog’s owner surely has the best of intentions, as we’ve talked about, allowing them to hold a toy or a squeaker can often work against you. Having the toy anywhere but directly next to your lens will most likely result in photos of the dog looking— you guessed it—anywhere but directly into your lens. Shape and texture are really huge when it comes to toys. Look for toys that have both crinkle and squeak, toys that have both plush and rubber textures, and toys with interesting and fun shapes (like a snake or a starfish). Keep in mind that plush toys will likely get destroyed during your shoot, so be open to the idea of keeping a fresh stash at home and giving the used ones away to dogs that really love them once you wrap up their shoots. I’ve always found discount stores like Marshalls or Homegoods to be good places to seek out these types of toys

for cheap so that the cost doesn’t become prohibitive. I’ve also been known to stock up on toys at pet stores the day after Christmas or Halloween when they’re blowing out their holiday toy clearance section. The good news is that your dog model won’t hold it against you if you’re sporting a pumpkin toy in June.

BALLS I may or may not have a container at home stuffed with enough balls to fill a Chuck E Cheese ball pit. Ok, I may. I probably do. I definitely do. What I’m getting at is balls can be an amazing tool at any given shoot. More often than not, a dog will prefer a good oldfashioned tennis ball over even the most exciting toy. (I’m not calling Border Collies out here, but I’m not not calling Border Collies out here, if you’re with me.) I like to think that, for the dog, the ball promises an adventure. When that ball comes out it’s time to run, play, chew, and fetch—all the best things in life! The great thing about a standard yellow tennis ball is how timelessly they photograph. It’s one thing to capture a photo of a dog playing with a pink rubber pig, but for me, there’s nothing

like the look of a dog with a classic yellow tennis ball. Now, I do carry a variety of different balls with me at my shoots (spiky balls, rubber balls, squeaky balls), but if I know I want the ball to appear in the shot, I’ll take a minute to switch out whatever ball I might be using for a standard yellow tennis ball. I bet you didn’t think there’d be so much talk about balls in this book, didja? Moving on.

4.3 FIGURE 4.3 My dog, Joshua, is a great example of a dog who would much prefer to work for toys than for sounds. You might be able to snag an inquisitive glance or two from him with a very cool and unusual sound. But after the second or third time, the sound begins to lack all appeal and becomes completely useless. Lucky for me, however, Joshua is exceptionally toy motivated. When he sees his favorite bright red ball—or even better, a brand new toy that he will be gifted just for his participation in my photo shoot—he will work for hours. There are certain breeds who will choose a toy over treats any day of the week. (I’m looking at you, Border

Collies and Aussie Shepherds!) Always bring along a few different toy options with you in your magic bag to the shoot. Some dogs will prefer balls, others plush toys or frisbees. Remember, the toy exists as a visual cue, and dogs do not see color in the same way as we humans do. Try to pick out toys in colors that dogs can see the most clearly: blue and yellow.

4.4 FIGURE 4.4 This blue ball is much easier for Olivia to keep her eye on than one in orange, pink or red for example. The reason for this is because dogs are what’s called dichromats—mammals that posses only two types of color receptor cells in their retinas. This means dogs are limited to seeing only the blue-violet and yellow color spectrums. Keep this in mind when choosing toys to use at your shoots for maximum canine visibility.

4.5

TREATS Treats are going to be the most common tool you’ll use at your photo shoots to get your dog models to work with you. For dogs that are treat-motivated, you’ll want to positively reinforce everything that you ask them to do with a reward (most dogs request this reward to be edible.) Look at your photo shoot like one, long extended dog-training session. While we don’t have enough pages in this book to go through every dog training method that’s out there, I highly recommend that you read

books or take courses on dog training if you’re hoping to get into dog photography as a profession. I’m aware that I sound like a record on repeat. But it’s important. The dog training methodology that I specifically apply in each and every one of my shoots is called positive reinforcement, a concept that we talked about in chapter 1. As a brief recap: What does positive reinforcement mean? Each and every time that your dog model does something you (or the owner) asks of them, you positively reward them for that behavior. Simple. Dogs are smart. The moment they realize that everything good they do brings them something good in return is the moment that your photo shoot takes a turn toward being a whopping, magical success. (As long as you keep on paying, my friends!) Even further, clicker training is a positive reinforcement-based training technique that’s proven to be wildly successful in the training of not only dogs, but many mammals ranging from dolphins to parrots to gorillas. The concept is simple. They do something you ask of them, you “click,” they get a treat. After a surprisingly short period of repetition, many dogs will have quickly made the association of that very particular clicking sound with “oh hey, I’ve done good. A reward is coming.” Basically, you’re Pavlov-ing your dog into being the best dog model of all time.

The cool thing about using this technique in relation to photography is that you can use your shutter’s click in place of a traditional clicker tool. It serves exactly the same purpose. I use this technique from the very moment I begin all of my sessions. In fact, if you take a look at the first 10-20 photos of any given session in my Lightroom library, you will see that they’re all just pictures of my feet or the ground. This is me doing clicker training with my shutter sound, and working to create that positive association with my camera well before any actual photography is taking place. It happens to be mostly photos of the ground at this point because I specifically turn my camera downward to present it in the most non-intrusive, nonaggressive way toward the dog as possible. If all goes well with this mini training session, then my camera shutter will be a welcome and positive sound to my dog model for the rest of the day. I find my dog model will look to it in anticipation of when the next treat might be coming. And there is nothing more that I could ask for than a gorgeous dog staring eagerly and happily in the general direction of my camera.

4.6a

4.6b

4.6c

4.6d FIGURE 4.6 Ah, here you have it. A sampling of the beginning of every single one of my photo shoots. Glorious photos of my feet, the ground, my shadow, and the dog at a cellular level as I clicker train with my shutter sound.

4.7

I would say that about 90% of my dog models throughout the years have been what could be confidently dubbed as “treatmotivated.” There are varying degrees of treat motivation, starting with dogs who enjoy an occasional, selective snack to dogs who eat without discrimination or with abandon. (Cough cough, Beagles, cough cough.) Keep in mind that it’s going to work out best if you, the photographer, are the only person holding treats at your shoot. Dogs are, as we know, easily distractible, and will find any excuse to look anywhere but directly into your lens. Keeping all

the good stuff as close as humanly possible to your camera will give you the best chance of capturing that sought-after eye contact. The most food motivated dog I’ve ever met in my life happens to be my own dog, little Junie the Gremlin. Junie would do virtually anything for a treat or food crumb of any kind. That happens to make her an amazing model, because her interest in any food particle floating through the atmosphere means I can keep her eye directly on my lens just by hovering a tiny little snack above it. She’s an insatiable monster. You will find that there are some dogs whose treat focus is so calculate that you’ll actually be able influence exactly where they’re looking. You might find you’re able to drag their eyes drag back and forth down to the exact millimeter where you want them looking, just by moving a treat in front of your lens. Be aware, however, that sometimes, using a treat can be overly motivating for a dog. This means that you are not going to be able to get any meaningful work done until you put the treats away. Some dogs get over stimulated by very high-value treats. (Junie toes this line quite daintily, but usually falls on the side of just barely being able to keep herself in check while treats are in the atmosphere.)

PRO TIP:

As for what types of treats to use, start by referring

back to the pre-session questionnaire that you had the owner fill out and send over. Read it thoroughly to be sure that your

dog model doesn’t have any allergies or dietary restrictions. Something I learned a few years back: also ask the owner if they themselves have any severe allergies. I’ll never forget the time that I used peanut butter on a shoot with a dog whose owner was highly allergic. By the end of our shoot her face had turned into a red balloon that looked like it could pop at any moment. Not a mistake I ever plan to repeat again. It’s important to know that not all dog treats are created equal. Not just when it comes to their overall ingredients and quality, but in their usefulness for this strange and exciting art known as dog photography. After much trial and error with many varieties of treats over the course of my shooting years, here are a few pointers: You’re going to want to use treats that are high value. High value typically means something that your dog model doesn’t get everyday. No, this isn’t your average, run-of-the-mill daily doggo treat, this is something out of the ordinary. Let’s call it a “special occasion” treat. Go for something exceptionally stinky. Smelly. Odorous. Aromatic. Delicious. Use the dog’s sense of smell as much to your advantage as possible. Usually this means fishy sorts of treats win the day, but a good stinky beef- or rabbit-based treat could do the job well, too. Don’t be too surprised when you smell like a dayold barbecued salmon by the end of the shoot. (Best if you don’t go directly to a fancy dinner party.)

Always check with the dog’s owner beforehand to confirm any allergies or dietary restrictions, and choose your treats accordingly. Think outside of the pre-packaged dog treats box. For a dog that’s either really picky or difficult to get to focus, you may just knock it out of the park with slices of roast beef or even small cubes of cheese. (If I need treats quickly and can’t find a specialty pet store anywhere, hopping over to the local grocery store to grab some meat or cheese is always a good bet!) For some variety in shots that will give you some fun and whimsical tongue-licking action (as well as keep the dog busy, and therefore, mostly unmoving and in place) try stickier substances like peanut butter. Beware of brands that contain the sugar substitute Xylitol. Stick with tried and true names like Jif or Peter Pan. Use the peanut butter as sparingly as you can get away with, maybe only focusing on it for a small series of shots. Like anything good in life, moderation is key, since there are higher amounts of sugar and fat in most brands than dogs should really be having on the regular. If the dog model has any restrictions that remove peanut butter as an option, things like cream cheese or canned pumpkin are good alternatives. (And remember, whatever treat you bring along—your lens will likely be covered in it by the end of the shoot. So be sure it’s something you like so you can lick it off later!)

Break your treats up into very small bites that will leave the dog wanting more and won’t fill him up right away. You want to keep that insatiable canine desire for treats alive throughout the course of the entire shoot, so dole those babies out slowly and evenly. This won’t overload his tummy throughout the course of the day and make him throw up later. Owners will appreciate that. Bring a variety of treats. Don’t just rely on one kind. If your dog model happens to get bored of one kind of taste, you always want to have a backup or two on hand to keep the dog model mojo going! Nobody knows your dog of the day better than the owner, so always ask them to bring along what they consider to be their dog’s ultimate favorite, earthshatteringly delicious treat type as well. This way, if for some reason what you bring along in your bag of tricks turns out to be a fail, you have a tried-and-true backup to get you through the shoot. It’s always better to have more than less. You’re going to be better off with treats that are soft and easy to break up. Especially considering that you are going to be working for the majority of the session with only one hand for treats. Naturally, your other hand is going to be tied up with fiddling around with that whole camera thing. (Oh yeah and p.s.: learn to shoot well with one hand.) On this note, try to avoid hard treats like biscuits or stiff cookie-style ones. You’ll get fed up

really fast when you realize it’s a huge effort to break them up and basically impossible to do with one hand. The other trouble with hard treats is that when you do break them up, they typically crumble and the little bits fall all over the ground in front of you. That’s a surefire way to lose your dog’s attention while he devotedly forages the ground for all the free payout that’s been spread far and wide in front of his excited and overactive nose.

WHAT’S IN THE TREAT BAG? Let’s be honest: we photography nerds love gear. If we get a chance to interview a superstar photographer who we look up to, one of the first questions we might ask would be “What’s in your camera bag?” We ask this question because we hope that whatever is in that camera bag is the secret to creating amazing images. Well, fellow dog photographers, have I got a treat (pun intended) for you! Not only do we get to have a sweet camera bag full of shiny, expensive gear, but we also get to carry a second bag to every shoot. A stinky, often times sticky, dirty bag of magical grossness. A bag that is somehow just as important as the bag full of camera gear. I’m talking, of course, about the treat bag. List of treat bag must-haves:

Sounds ANIMAL CALLS You can pick these suckers up at your local

sporting goods store. Rabbit calls, duck calls, turkey calls. Each produce a unique sound that most dogs (especially those with a bit of a prey drive) will tilt their heads right off their bodies for! I’ve made myself a fancy necklace on which to keep my different calls always at the ready at my sessions. If you’re a bit of Crafty Carol yourself, I recommend you do the same! SQUEAKERS

Lucky for me, my little dude Joshua loves to

excavate all the squeakers from deep inside the bellies of his various toys. I then collect said squeakers and put them to good use at my shoots! KAZOOS

Does anyone else own a metal kazoo? Just me?

Well, if you’re not a professional kazooist like myself, you can certainly use any cheap plastic kazoo for the job. The nice thing about these musical babies is the sheer range of sounds they can provide. The only limit is your imagination! If you’re looking for a suggestion, however, I’ve found that dogs always love my kazoo rendition of WWE Superstar John Cena’s ring entrance song.

Treats STORE BOUGHT TREATS

Not all dog treats are created

equal. You want to seek out both quality and utility in your shoot treat of choice. Go for limited ingredient treats to fit

as many dog diets as possible, as well as a high stink factor and the ability to break them up easily. I recommend Wellness Wellbites or FreshPet Dog Joy chicken treats. HIGH-VALUE TREATS

These are going to be magical,

coveted things that dogs don’t get everyday. It’s the stuff they salivate over that comes to them in their dog dreams. We’re talking cheese, hot dogs, turkey, ham. Moderation is key here, but bringing these big guns along will ensure you have something to pull out if everything else fails you. LICKABLES

Peanut butter, cream cheese, canned pumpkin.

Think hilarious expressions and big, giant dog tongues.

Toys PLUSH TOYS

Pick these out with a focus on shape, texture,

and sound. Toys that crinkle. Toys that squeak. If the dog falls in love with these, plan to let your pup take it home after the shoot. RUBBER TOYS

Look for toys with fun shapes and unusual

sounds. I’d be lying if I said that my bag didn’t contain a full on menagerie of rubber chickens, pigs, and hippos. If Noah’s Ark happened to float my way, I could offer up a few squeaky species to bulk up the head count. BALLS

Bring a variety of balls in different sizes. Remember

that dogs see yellow and blue best, so try and be sensitive to that and bring along a ball that will really catch their eye. Squeaky balls and rubber balls are great, but don’t forget

the ol’ classic tennis ball.

Accessories TIE-OUT STAKE Use this sucker in a pinch to tether your

dog model into a chosen spot for a short period. As a quick tip—I’ve accidentally left probably a dozen of these behind at shoot locations over the years, so I’ve found that a brightly colored stake is easier to spot and remember when packing up! 30-FOOT LEASH For dogs who can’t free-range it safely,

but who also deserve an opportunity to let loose and go wild. BACKUP PLAIN COLLAR

model

arrives

For those times when your dog

wearing

a

neon,

glow-in-the-dark

Spongebob Squarepants collar for his timeless shoot in endless fields of lavender. Additionally, this is a lifesaver to have on-hand when your dog owner of the day arrives with their dog in a harness and has forgotten to bring along a simple collar to change him into.

Lickables Not actually a word, I know. But this term describes this specific type of treat pretty accurately. Lickables are things that dogs, well, lick. My go-to lickable is a delicious, magical little substance adored the world over that you might have heard of: peanut butter. I tend to buy the small

“to-go” containers, because they’re easy to hold in one hand while I’m shooting. I’ll extend my peanut butter hand, let the dog have a lick, then move the peanut butter container just above my lens so that my dog model’s eyes follow. This is a perfect technique for getting fun, wacky photos with big, goobery tongues. The viscous stickiness of peanut butter will keep your dog model busy for quite a bit longer than with a normal treat. These little moments of time are like generous offerings, gifting you a window in which to sneak in photographs while your superstar top model is otherwise occupied. If your dog model isn’t allowed to have peanut butter due to allergies or dietary restrictions (or maybe he just doesn’t like it), other great lickable alternatives include cream cheese and canned pumpkin. The latter of the two will also help give your pup nice solid, fibrous poops. Small miracles. Alright, hang on!! Before you call PETA on me, there are a few small words of warning about safely giving peanut butter to dogs. First, make sure the peanut butter you choose does not contain the sugar substitute Xylitol, as this can be poisonous to dogs. Most brands do not contain Xylitol, but certain “health brand” peanut butters do. I’d suggest sticking to the ol’ tried and true staple brands the likes of Jif and Peter Pan, but always do your due diligence and check the labels. And of course, peanut butter is not an everyday treat for dogs because it contains

more sugar and preservatives than dogs should regularly have. Keep it to only a “special” treat and only use it for a small, limited portion of the session. Be sure to always check with the owner first to be sure it’s okay to pull out the PB magic, and if so, use your peanut butter in moderation.

4.8 FIGURE 4.8 Laid out here like the holy Sankara Stones unearthed from the Temple of Doom—are all the little dirty secrets I take along to each and every shoot with me. Or, in other words, the entire contents of the magic treat bag!

4.9a

4.9b

4.9c

4.9d FIGURE 4.9 Gimme that sweet Peanut Butter!

LEVERAGE THE POWER OF THE OWNER The good news about this whole dog-owner-invadingyour-personal-bubble part is that if your dog model turns out to be highly treat motivated (see: Junie the Gremlin) or toy motivated (see: Joshua), then you will likely be able to skip this whole part of the process because the dog won’t give a flying frig where their owner is as long as you’re loading their open mouth hole with an unending supply of treats. If you notice that your dog model and their owner have a spectacular and deep connection, you’re going to want to leverage the owner’s influence and energy into keeping the dog’s attention for you during the course of the shoot. This means you’re going to position the dog owner either next to you, on top of you, or just behind you when you’re in position to get the shot. Wait. Back Up. What was that second thing? ON TOP OF ME? Yes. The first thing that I tell my human clients when we arrive on-location for the shoot is that I have no personal bubble whatsoever, and that they are more than welcome (and in fact, encouraged) to invade my personal space any time they see fit or are called upon to do so. I know. This may make some of you cringe really, really hard. (And yes, I’m a hugger! How did you know?!) I have found it incredibly valuable to have

certain dog owners very close to me. Nine times out of ten, your dog model is going to look in the direction of where their owner is standing. Also nine times out of ten, I am going to be lying on my stomach on the ground while taking the shot. In those cases I ask the dog owner to stand or crouch with me betwixt their legs so I can get as direct and connected eye contact from the dog as possible to really knock the photo out of the park. At first, most normal people are still going to stand a bit far away from you, as is our weird and long-cultured social human instinct to avoid contact with strangers. Slowly, over the course of the session, it’s going to be your job to coax them in and make them feel as comfortable as possible with getting crazy-close to you. (Creepiest thing I’ve said in this book so far.) If you have the dog owner too far away from you, you’re going to run into a situation where they are trying, in earnest, to get the dog to look at you by standing off to the side and yelling “Molly! Look over there!” and wildly gesturing in your direction. You can probably deduce how well this tactic usually works, especially since, last time I checked, dogs still don’t speak English.

4.10

4.11 FIGURE 4.11 Here are my wonderful friends Paul and Di demonstrating exactly how the dog’s owner should be standing over you while you shoot. I snagged this behind-the-scenes shot of Paul from the Dog with the Bow Photography working with our German Shepherd model while Di from Diane Keough Photography was helping assist him at a dog photography workshop in Costa Rica. Also, my very modest partner, Sam, is shirtless in this shot so let’s see how much grief I get from him about putting this photo in the book.

4.12 FIGURE 4.12 You’re going to be extra lucky when your dog model’s owner is a dog trainer by trade! Esme’s Mom Michalla was an incredible help on the day of our photo shoot. The most beautiful things about working with dog trainers on location is that they know about energy, and they bring they very best kind along with them to make your day run smoothly and magically. If I could put Michalla and her calm, even energy in my pocket and bring her with me to every shoot, you can bet I would!

HOW TO KEEP YOUR DOG IN PLACE If you’re really, really lucky, the dog model that turns up on the day of your shoot will know one magical word that will change everything you ever thought you knew about unicorns, rainbows, and the lost kingdom of Narnia. That word? STAY.

Before we get too deep into our happy dances, know that most dogs who do know stay, still only “kind of” know stay. He’ll be aware of what the command means, and he might even hold a stay for two or three glorious seconds, but overwhelmingly regularly, there’s far too much excitement for the dog to waste the day by just sitting around! (Said pretty much every mediumly trained dog ever.) When you are on location somewhere glorious, with delicious treats hiding in the pockets of every sucker human who succumbs to a wag, and endless smells swirling in the air just waiting to be sniffed, it proves to be a pressing situation for dogs who are testing out their training and skills. So, aside from that magical unicorn 1% of dogs who have unending staying power (see what I did there?), the majority of dogs will make you grateful that you have these next few tips up your dog-hair covered sleeve.

4.13 FIGURE 4.13 Here he is, the rarest of the rare—the magical unicorn of “stay.” Dobby the Poodle has the single greatest stay I’ve ever seen in a dog. It’s safe to say that this four-legged curly miracle is on my short list of rock-star supermodels that I call upon for exploring new ideas and impossible dream shots.

Putting Dogs up on Things Next time you’re outside in any given location, look around you. Do you see a really cool stump? Maybe a fallen log? A rock? A park bench? Most outdoor areas are full of features like this. All of these elements can be used as invaluable tools at your next dog photo shoot.

The good news is, that when we’re snapping photos at 1/200th of a second or faster, we only need a tiny slice of time for our dog model to give us the good stuff. The truth is, even the very best dogs are never going to be perfectly still for us throughout the course of our photo shoot. That’s completely okay. If we’re doing our job correctly, we only need tiny moments here and there. The easiest and most non-intrusive trick to getting a dog to stay in one spot, if even for a few seconds, is to put him up on something. That slight vertical space between him and the ground is enough to keep him squarely in one space for at least a few seconds at a time. The hesitation is simple: it’s primal. The small jump to the ground acts as a mental barrier that buys you a few seconds of posing time before your dog commits to the act of leaving and moving on to the next exciting thing. This trick works especially well with smaller dogs. Even if they are up on an element that’s only two or three feet off the ground, their primal instincts prevent them from attempting a jump of that height. Instead, they stay stuck up on said rock or log, considering their predicament. These moments of consideration are like little gifts to you, the photographer. Combine this tactic with one of the above, like using sounds or the pull of the owner to get the dog to look in your direction, and you’ve got gold. No one has to know that the dog only stayed that way for a literal fraction of a second. That’s just a secret for you and me. (Okay, and everyone else who reads this book. But your secret is safe with us!) Putting dogs up on things doubles as a surprisingly effective way to get multiple dogs lined up on an even plane in one

photo. This will miraculously work on even the unruliest of little scruffers, who all seem to walk right to front edge of said feature, and wait there, shoulder to shoulder while they try to make a decision about what happens next. If you have your sh*t together and you fire quickly enough, WHABANG. You’ve got it. You sly, sneaky snake, you. Of course, of course, of course it goes without saying that when putting dogs up on things, you need to do it with careful consideration and use your discretion. In other words, put dogs up on things responsibly. (My new public awareness campaign, more information can be found at www.puttingdogsuponthings.org. You GUYS. Don’t go there, it’s not a real website. I’m kidding.) And speaking of using discretion, I once photographed a little 17-year-old rock star of a dog named Hunny. We did her shoot at this amazing old castle in New Hampshire that had lots of stone turrets and windowsills. I had the bright idea to pop all 15 pounds of her into the window frame of an amazing old guard shack on the grounds. We all agreed that I was a brilliant genius (okay, this might be a slight re-imagination of the story). She sat up there so sweetly for her photos, and then, just like that, she decided to pull the cutest version of Amelia Earhart you’ve ever seen, and take a flying leap of faith directly off the edge to reintroduce herself to planet earth just six or seven easy feet below. My heart shot into my brain and sent little jolts of electricity into my limbs as I rolled in slow motion across the ground to become her human landing pad (quite spongy,

especially these days with enthusiasm toward my new philosophy: extra whipped cream or you’re not living). I missed her landing by about 48 inches and she bounced lightly off the grass and sprung to her feet. Hunny looked back at all of us humans like “What’s the problem?” and proceeded to run, lightfooted, across the ground after an exciting looking leaf. I died and came back to life that day and thank everything that is good and holy that sweet Hunny was completely unscathed from her first lesson at flight school. That said, the moral of the story is to be careful and responsible when putting the actual lights of other people’s lives up on things. Be more careful than me.

4.14

Also: get a general liability insurance policy because folks, to put it frankly...sh*t happens.

4.15

Tethering Okay, so since we’ve established that the great majority of the dogs that step in front of your camera won’t have an all-star “stay” command locked down, here’s a good alternative to keeping them in place. If the leash must be in the shot anyway, use it to your advantage for a dog who’s more interested in roaming the prairie than modeling in it. Look for things in your shooting environment to tie the dog’s leash back to to get him “stuck” in one pre-chosen spot for long enough to snag a few shots. You’ll want to be on the hunt for elements like fences, benches, and trees. The key here is that these elements be both

strong enough to hold a tethered dog in place, as well as aesthetically pleasing. If your dog model is tied back to it, then there’s a strong chance that it will be featured somewhere in your shot. I often plan my shots around the visual beauty of said element, and incorporate it into the overall story of my image. This way, it’s fulfilling its two purposes of being both beautiful and utilitarian. When you’re attempting shots in which your dog model is tied back to something, try your best to make sure that the dog’s collar is turned around, so that the ring where the leash is clipped is behind his head. Be sure the leash itself is extruding cleanly behind or off to the side of your dog. If you end up with the leash and clip in front, you risk it getting caught underneath the dog, squished up into his armpit as it passes under him, or worst of all, wrapped around his paws. These scenarios are all nearly impossible to deal with in Photoshop, so set yourself up for success by keeping your setup as clean as possible. When tying a dog back to something, keep in mind that you need to work quickly to get them in and out as fast as humanly possible. You’ll find that some dogs won’t be even remotely bothered by being tied back to something, but others will find being restrained away from you and their owner highly stressful. Work quickly, give lots of treats, and give them ample breaks in between being tied if you want to persist with more than a minute or two of attempts in one location. If you make it a continually positive experience for the dog in front of your lens, I find that the great majority of them don’t mind conceding

to being tethered, so long as you don’t forget to divvy out those stinky salmon treats!

4.18a

4.18b FIGURE 4.18 This beautiful black iron fence caught my eye as we were walking past it at Winnie’s photoshoot in downtown Boston. I wanted to stop and try out a few shots with it in the frame, but since we were not far from a nearby road, there was no way we would take Winnie off of her leash. The

fence ended up being the perfect spot to tie Winnie back to keep her in place while also being a featured element in the image. After a super quick 60-second run through Photoshop to remove the leash, we’ve got a safe dog and a stationary dog, and an uncompromised final image!

4.19a

4.19b

FIGURE 4.19 Reese and Daphne came to their photo shoot with identical leashes. This is always a huge asset at a two-dog shoot when it comes to tethering dogs to elements in the environment. Due to the fact that their leashes were the same length, it was easy to get them lined up, side by side on the same plane of focus, while also being safely secured in place. We found this gorgeous old wooden bridge and were able to get this duo of sweet Shiba Inus perfectly posed with just a little bit of sneaky crisscross tethering magic!

Stake ‘Em in! Most times, when I call out to my assistant on location and ask them to grab me the stake, my clients hear the word, get very confused, and wonder if I’ve brought proper filet mignon to bribe their dogs with. In this case, s-t-a-k-e refers to the thing that you use to keep your tent grounded in windy weather. Except in this instance, we’ll be keeping a dog grounded in windy weather. (Well, in any sort of weather actually.) Keeping a dog in one, pre-selected place long enough to nab his photo can sometimes prove to be very difficult. Dogs are typically more interested in bouncing through the world at 785 miles per hour and rolling on dead and stinking treasures that they proudly discover in the grass. Sometimes it’s necessary to get a little bit of outside help to keep them planted firmly on the ground for a few precious minutes. Enter the in-ground stake. When you are in a location that’s more wide open, and you can’t find any rocks, logs, or benches to tie your dog model’s leash to, this sucker is going to become a magical little miracle tool that you’ll be grateful you have on hand. Simply spin the stake into a spot of good, solid earth, hook your dog’s leash

right over top of it, and voila! No more free ranging dog model. The advantage of using an in-ground stake over tying your dog to a bench or a tree is that it’s very easy to get rid of the evidence in Photoshop. The stake in the ground is so low profile that it’s simple to remove in the post-production stage of things. If you’re able to line it up right in camera and you have the dog positioned directly in front of the stake, you may actually have the dog’s body completely covering any evidence of both the leash and stake, anyway. The most satisfying part is when the average laymen is viewing your photo and marveling at what a magical, well-behaved dog that is in the shot, and you can chuckle to yourself internally and never tell the real truth. (Seeeeecrets.) A couple of tips about the stake that will be important to keep in mind: Make sure the stake you’re using is strong enough for your particular dog model. Sometimes stakes are more than hearty enough to hold up to the pulling of a 20- or 30-pound dog, but they’ll pop right out of the ground if a 50-pound dog unexpectedly makes a heroic attempt at flight. Be ready for anything.

4.20a

4.20b FIGURE 4.20 Here’s Harry to show off a little bit of behind-the-scenes, inground stake sorcery. Good boy, Harry!

If you have two or more dog models, an in-ground stake can be an amazing way to get them lined up neatly side by side. Make sure their leashes are the same length when you hook them back to the stake so that when

they reach the end of the leash, they’re exactly the same distance away from the stake. For two or more dogs you’ll very likely need more than one stake to handle all that weight and force. Make sure to pop them in the ground as close together as possible without compromising the hold that they have in the dirt. Not all types of terrain are going to be candidates for using the stake. Stakes work brilliantly in soft earth like grass or dirt, but as you might expect, are typically impossible to use on rocky ground or sand. Always do the research on your location beforehand so you can be better prepared with other alternatives if there’s a chance a stake won’t work on the ground type. I suggest hooking the handle of the dog’s leash over the top of the stake, rather than tying the leash in a knot around the stake. It makes for a much easier removal when you’re done and cuts off precious moments in which the dog might be feeling frustrated if they’re stuck for too long. This frustration can build up to be a shoot killer, so the less stress they feel, the better! For some dogs, being tethered or having their movements restricted by a leash can be a source of stress. Some dogs will be able to tolerate being tied back for 10 or 15 minutes while others will only give you 4 or 5 seconds before totally losing their cool. Of course, each dog has their own personality, tolerance, and patience levels, so when using a stake, feel out the

situation and always put the dog’s safety and comfort first. The most important thing is to get your shot as quickly as possible. Make sure to have all of your camera settings perfect before tethering your dog model so that you can make their tethered experience quick and stress-free. If your dog model starts showing signs of stress or anxiety, be sure to give them a break from being tied, or have their owner join them where they’re tethered. Have everyone sit on the ground by the stake, cuddle, have treats, and generally make a racket of delight right in that area. When you’re ready, you can have the owner pop right out of the frame for 10 or 20 seconds at a time before barreling right back into the camp of positivity that you’re conditioning your dog model to love.

4.21 FIGURE 4.21 Surprisingly, we were able to get the stake to stay twisted in the ground on this beach made of rocks and shells in Boston. It was a great solution to getting this excited boy to stay put for a few seconds since the wide open natural area offered nothing else to tie him back to. The stake and majority of the leash will be easy removal from this photo, but admittedly, that spot where the leash’s clip hits Chase’s collar on his chest is going to be one seriously tough job to work on. This is a good example of something that could be changed in order to set yourself up for a more successful final shot.

Long Leashes Here’s a tool that I find invaluable to have with me in my bag of

tricks at every shoot: the long leash: 20 to 30 feet in length. The reality of dealing with real-life, everyday dogs is that you are going to have quite a range in behavior, temperament, and levels of training. Every day, every shoot, and every new dog will be an entirely new adventure. Some dogs will have excellent reliability and recall, and be able to be off-leash for the entire length of their photo shoot. Some dogs will be able to be off their leashes for a portion of their shoots, depending on the relative safety and busy-ness of the location you’re shooting at. Other dogs will never be able to come off their leashes, not even for a single moment, or they will disappear into thin air at the first sight of a squirrel’s happy tail bobbing through their periphery. You have to expect—and be prepared for—all the aforementioned types of dogs. Based on that, it can be a complete shoot saver to have this magical long leash tool in your bag at all times. The long leash is going to allow you to keep your dog model safely tethered while still allowing them to get wild and let loose. The best part about a long leash, for sure, is your ability to still capture high-flying, super fun action shots of a dog who otherwise might be a flight risk. The 30-foot leash length allows them a large area to run and play in while still being safely connected to earth. A long leash presents one small risk, which is one we dog owners know very well. You know that moment that I speak of. The one where your adorable (but not very bright) dog has no

idea that he’s tethered back to something and runs valiantly to the very end of his leash (which doesn’t exist in his slo-mo montage dreamworld), and cold, hard reality slams him in the face when he hits the end of said leash and majestically flips backwards. That is no good for anyone involved, but most especially it’s not great for the dog’s neck and trachea. To avoid this kind of moment from happening, I suggest that you always connect the other end of the leash to a moveable object e.g., a human. If you have an assistant or the dog’s owner hold the end of the long leash, the length gives them plenty of opportunity to stay far outside of the frame so as not to interfere with your photo. This way, if they see the dog getting dangerously close to the end-of-leash-pocalypse, they can gently move with the dog so that they avoid the moment of impact. In addition to this precautionary measure, I also like to take a moment when the dog is first attached to the long leash, to physically show him where the end point is. Walk the dog gently to the end of the leash; once they hit that mark where they can go no farther, they tend to realize and remember that they’re tethered. This helps avoid any superhero pirouettes through the sky where they unexpectedly run into the magicalbut-unforgiving land of whiplash.

4.22

TAKE A BREAK! (OR TWENTY.) This session tip cannot be overstated. But what the heck, I’ll give it a try by saying it again, this time worded in a new and exciting way: Give frequent breaks. Try to remember that when dogs are paying attention to you, to their owners, to novel and different sounds, to fabulous smells, to all this exciting movement and energy in a new and undiscovered place that they just want to explore—they are working hard. To your human sensibilities, it may seem that all they are doing is simply “sitting there,” but to your average dog, that couldn’t be

further from the truth. The restraint that a dog has to employ to simply “sit there” in a brand new setting with so much colorful stimuli all around them for the sniffing is of a magnitude larger than we could ever fully understand. Keep that in mind, and be kind. Give your dog model plenty of breaks in between shots to enjoy and investigate the environment. Use this time to look back through your images, check sharpness, consider composition, and dream up the next idea you want to try. Don’t make the mistake of using up your dog’s precious seconds of attention by chimping at the back of your camera or adjusting settings. All lenses must be chosen and attached, treats poured into your pouch, and settings dialed in, well before you’ve got your dog in position. Be respectful of his attention, his energy, and his time. If you’re following this rule faithfully, you’ll discover that not only are frequent breaks brilliant for your dog model, but they’re also going to be incredibly valuable to you to do all the pesky human stuff you have to do. These breaks are good opportunities to engage your client in conversation and get to know a little bit about them, as well. I like to try and actively shoot for two to three minutes at a time, break for five, and then try my shot again for another two to three minutes. Rinse and repeat this process all day long, sometimes with even longer breaks peppered in. This way, I’m never fully wearing my dog model out, and this keeps him fresh and interested so I can nail all the

different varieties of shots that I have in my head.

4.23

4.24

HYDRATE, HYDRATE, HYDRATE! This may seem like a really obvious one. However, if you assume that the dog’s owner is going to be bringing water, and they assume that you will be bringing water, and then you both show up to the shoot with no H20 in sight, you’re concocting yourself a happy little recipe for disaster. Taking into account that your dog model will likely be intaking more treats than usual, mixed with the extra energy expenditure and more excitement than the average day in their life, water is going to

be a huge necessity. I always take a pop up travel dog water bowl along with me as well, just so I’m fully prepared in case the owner doesn’t have one of their own. Or shoot, just let him drink straight from the bottle! Giving plenty of breaks and plenty of water are two easy and small things you can do to keep your shoot running on a full tank so you can knock the day’s creative goals out of the park and into the stars.

GET LOW! Dogs are amazing, no doubt about it. And to crazy dog lovers like you and me, they are very likely the most exciting and remarkable thing we encounter on an average day, right? Right! (This explains why I feel like I might spontaneously combust everytime I see one.) So, based on our combined enthusiasm, I’m about to say something blasphemous. Here it goes: to your average person living in this century, dogs are actually quite an unremarkable sight. (RUBBISH!) What I mean to say is that a dog walking through the periphery of one’s visual life is quite a common sight. Dogs are spotted everyday, in our city streets, riding in cars, on walks with their owners, in advertisements and pop culture, and sitting faithfully at our own feet. The sight of a dog seems ordinary to most because we see a dog from exactly the same viewpoint—the same angle— everyday. We see dogs from approximately 5 feet, 6 inches above the ground—human standing height. Even in the case of

the tallest Great Dane, or the most towering Mastiff, we are gazing in a generally downward direction toward them as we pass them by. After seeing dogs like this for as many years as we’ve been alive, it starts to become a repetitive and common visual. So, change it up. That’s right. Take that pre-conceived notion of the way you’re supposed to view a dog, and flip it on it’s head. (Maybe literally.)

4.25 FIGURE 4.25 You must get low for one very important reason: so puppies can get on your butt! (Oh yeah, and also to make good photos.)

Get down low. On the dog’s eye level. Possibly even beneath the dog. Immerse yourself in his world. Turn your dog into royalty. Make them the king or queen of their dominion. Maybe

they’re superheroes on the brink of saving the world. This is the part where you don’t apologize. You simply challenge the status quo and you create. This is how you handcraft a visual buzz. This is how you capture the inquisitive human eye. Interrupt the everyday pattern of how dogs are expected to be seen. This captures hearts and gazes in exactly the kind of impactful way the image of dog deserves to be viewed. Take Figures 4.26 and 4.27 for example. Same dog. Same location. Same magical fairytale light. Same exact moment, really. The only difference? In the first shot, I put very little effort into taking the photo. I stood up from my valiant 5 feet 4 inches above the earth, I pointed the camera towards Gator, and snapped. Meh. Nice. Cool. FINE. But I’m not in the business of creating fine images. Oh no, I’m more set on taking photos of the knock-your-socks-off variety. Now, we’re talking. Eye to eye. Heart to heart. My moment is his moment and his moment is mine and we’re living in his world. A little more effort? Yes. I had to sit down on my butt on the ground to change to this perspective, rather than grab a cool snap on the run as I lazily moseyed on by. But my goodness, that extra, tiny percentage of effort really makes this moment stand out. That was worth its weight in dripping liquid gold. You are going to spend the great majority of your time as a dog

photographer lying on your stomach in the mud. There ain’t no ifs, ands, or buts, and no graceful way around it. (The only pro tip I can leave you with here is: Don’t wear an all-white, silk business suit that you just picked up from the dry cleaner to your dog photo shoots and you’ll be just fine.) It will be the one distinguishing factor that will make your work completely killer. It will connect people to your dog subjects in a way that is so impactful and so important, that I can guarantee to you that they’ve never experienced it before.

4.26 FIGURE 4.26 Gator from standing height.

4.27 FIGURE 4.27 Gator from a low, crouching position.

4.28a

4.28b FIGURE 4.28 Balderdash is gorgeous no matter which way you look at her, but I prefer to be immersed in her world, at her eye level, as in the second photo.

WORKING WITH AN ASSISTANT (OR NOT) Rest assured, dog photography is possible to pull off with no assistant. I know many great photographers who work solely by themselves and manage to carve out incredible careers and create award-winning images while dusting off their proudly

independent shoulders. So, don’t panic! Don’t let this part get you down if you feel you have no resources to bring an assistant along with you to every shoot. There are always ways to get creative and make things happen with no extra set of hands. That said, I feel as though I must address this point here in this book at least for a moment, because I, myself, do work with an assistant. If you know anything about me personally, you know I share my life with a pretty swell dude named Sam. Sam is a fellow professional photographer and has been alongside the Dog Breath Photography journey since the very beginning. We share our lives as well as our work. He’s got his own business and I’ve got mine, but we try to be there both professionally and emotionally for each other as often as possible. (As you can imagine, it’s a delicate work/life balance when we’re so inextricably up in each other’s beeswax on the daily.) Sam is with me at almost every photo shoot, barring days he’s got his own shoots or other priorities to attend to. (In these cases, ninety percent of the time my backup assistant is my Mom! No fooling! Hi Mom!) Over the years, Sam and I have developed a system of approach to our dog photo shoots that’s turned out to be incredibly effective. From the initial greeting of the dog and owner and managing energies to the dog training side of things, to the actual techniques of the shoots themselves, we’ve worked out a sort of unspoken code as to how we work together. And because our human relationship spans both personal and professional, we’ve wound up to be pretty genuinely connected on location. We’ve even reached a

point where, for the most part, we no longer need to speak to each other when we’re working on location. Sam has gotten remarkably good at intuiting what I need from the dog, from my gear, and from the lighting at any given moment.

4.29 FIGURE 4.29 Ahhh, there’s the back of his head in all it’s glory. Sam is with me to assist on every photo shoot. He doles out treats, holds toys, holds leashes, makes wacky sounds, flails his arms behind me, and regularly throws his wallet on the ground in front of me to make the dog look down into my lens. (I’ve never explicitly asked him why he does that last one, but I suspect its because its the first thing he can find to grab in the midst of the exciting moment.) While you may not be lucky enough to find an assistant that throws their wallet at you, do explore the potential of working with a partner. Someone with dog training and behavior skills is a major plus.

Another of Sam’s duties includes holding the light that I often like to drag along to shoots. When I first started photographing dogs with studio lighting outdoors approximately a decade ago, I quickly realized that photographing a swiftly moving subject with a light on a static, non-moving and inanimate stand was not going to cut it. I learned that the light needed to move with

the dog, and therefore, must be held by a thinking, feeling, constantly calculating, actual live human being. Thanks Sam! At first glance you may not even think of this, but a really brilliant and simple reason to bring an assistant along is simply to keep your human client entertained. I can’t tell you how much pressure it takes off of my shoulders if my assistant and client get into a really great and juicy conversation that helps shift the focus off of me. As a natural extrovert, I feel like I have to fill each and every moment of silence up with some kind of sound or conversation, which admittedly, is a huge detractor for when I need to climb into my own head and do some creative thinking to nail a shot. That said, I find it absolutely invaluable to have a few quiet moments throughout the session. If my assistant is gabbing away and keeping that client engaged and enjoying their day out with us while I have precious moments to build a private relationship with the dog and think myself into a place of brilliance, then, to me, that single reason alone is enough for having an assistant on hand. If you don’t have the right person to bring or the budget to allow you to hire someone for a few hours, the good news is that nine times out of ten you can ask your dog model’s owner to step in as an assistant and help you with various things, and they’ll be thrilled to oblige. Dog owners are typically so excited about the prospect of their dog’s photo shoot that they are going to be itching to be involved in some way. This way, when they look back upon the photos for years to come, they’ll always have that happy memory of working together behind

the scenes and to have contributed their personal touch to those moments. Even if you do bring an assistant along to your shoot, I still suggest you include the owner in some way or give them a “job.” I find that the photos seem to have more meaning to those owners that are particularly involved in the process on the day of the shoot.

4.30 FIGURE 4.30 Working with Molly and her owner Nicole was an absolute delight. Nicole had an amazing connection with Molly and was an indispensable resource in helping me get Molly in position to nail the photos at her shoot.

HARNESSES

My very own little meatball, Joshua, must be walked out in public with a harness on at all times. I’ll never forget the time that my 95-pound mother tried to walk him on only his collar on a sunny afternoon through her quiet neighborhood. She took an unassuming step out the door just when a squirrel launched itself valiantly across the lawn in front of Joshua’s intrigued eyes. That little surprise visitor meant that within 45 seconds of leaving her front door, she was suddenly upside down with her head in the bushes and her feet towards the sky. (Don’t worry, Joshua apologized and she’s forgiven him since then.) You may be able to relate to this story that highlights the importance of a harness with your experiences surrounding your own furry terrors. A large majority of my clients are in the same boat as you and I—their dogs must be walked from place to place on a harness, rather than just hooked onto a simple collar. Without his harness stretching it’s length around his deliciously round, velveteen little belly, Joshua gets a sparkle in his eye—the one that glints in the sun just before he’s about to misbehave—knowing that he’s free to commandeer our walk to his very own custom specifications now that he’s in full control of the situation. That said, very much like Joshua needs to be clipped into his harness before being able to channel his best attempts at being a very good boy while out and about, you’ll find that most dog owners will feel similarly and will arrive to your shoot with their dogs already harnessed in. Sometimes these harnesses are relatively simple contraptions, but guys let me tell you, on a few occasions I’ve seen some

seriously mega-industrial-grade multi-strap designs that look like they’re straight out of the Fifth Element’s costume department. All this is to say, be sure to prepare the owners beforehand—make it clear that safety is the number one priority of your shoot. Explain that while it’s no problem at all to do the walking-from-place-to-place sections of the shoot with the harness, it’s going to be necessary for the harness to be removed from the dog and a collar added in its place before you begin taking the actual photos.

4.31 FIGURE 4.31 I absolutely love this shot that I took of this gorgeous hound in the South of France, but overall, I feel the heaviness of the black harness

on his body takes a bit of the magic away. It would have been in my best interest to have asked the owners if we could remove it beforehand. You know, hindsight and 20/20 and all that.

4.32a

4.32b FIGURE 4.32 This is one of my all-time favorite photos of my little sock monkey, Joshua. It was shot on a total whim, as I saw a sunset developing in the sky from my living room window. In order to make it outside and up the hill to where we could get a view of it on time, we had to rush out of the front door like mad people. In my haste to get outside ASAP, I forgot to bring a simple collar for him. (But of course I remembered the sock monkey sweater. Priorities, guys.) Since I didn’t feel comfortable taking Joshua off the leash, I decided to just photograph him on his harness, and attempt to remove it later during post-processing. Hardest (and possibly crappily-est done) harness removal of my life. There’s a chance that you’ve seen this photo in my portfolio before and didn’t even notice the harness removal until now. That would be the impossible power of Joshua’s cute face as a distraction technique.

Back in the day, oh, about 10 years ago or so, when I first

started photographing dogs professionally, I had a backbone like a piece of yarn. I was constantly too meek and too afraid to ask anything at all of the dog owners at their shoots. I was hyper-concerned about never wanting to cause any extra stress, always telling myself that if I learned Photoshop well enough, I could handle those things that I was too afraid to speak up about in the post-processing stage of things. Fast forward to the next day when I’d be unloading the memory card and absolutely agonizing about the 75 amazing shots that all have an atomic green harness dominating the scene that I couldn’t even dream of removing digitally. All that just to avoid a little awkwardness on location about what the dog might be wearing. Bad Idea. Don’t do this! I’ve had some otherwise incredible shots completely ruined by a giant, glaring, totally distracting and impossible-to-remove harness stuffed up into the armpits of some seriously gorgeous animals. (And you’ll be proud to know, I’ve grown some giant proverbial balls since those early days, and now I know how to present my no harness rule confidently and like it’s the best idea in the world. Because, well, it is.) There are always going to be exceptions to the rule, especially in dog photography. With that said, you may meet a dog or two throughout the course of your dog photography adventures that absolutely cannot, for any reason whatsoever, be out of his harness while on location or in public. Typically this is a behavioral thing; it could be related to reactivity to other dogs, or potential reactivity to certain people, among other things. Or, it could be more along the lines of a service dog type scenario.

These dogs must staunchly remain in their vests while they’re in public. If a situation like this arises, don’t panic. The most important thing that I have found throughout the course of my career (and really just on my adventure throughout life in general) is that it’s important to be as up front, honest, and clear as possible in all communications. You may still agree to take on the photo shoot with this condition in place, but it must be made crystal clear to your client in advance that anything the dog is wearing or has on his body in the actual photo, will REMAIN on his body in any final images. If the owner is 100% happy with that, then great, no worries, shoot away and try not to let a harness ruin your day! But do not move forward with the shoot until you have properly and clearly set the owner’s expectations.

4.33 FIGURE 4.33 There’s one brand of harness that comes hand-delivered straight out of hell for the purposes of dog photography. I won’t call out that brand name here, because those poor guys didn’t mean to make the most

challenging harness in the history of dog photography, but I will post this very subtle photo of one.

4.34 FIGURE 4.34 Okay, these ones are cute. (But also distracting.) I’ll let you be the judge.

4.35 FIGURE 4.35 The one and only reason that this photo works with this giant red harness dominating the scene is because I was hired by this brand to specifically shoot this product for their commercial campaign. As gorgeous as this harness is, when photographing dogs for personal owners, my mantra is: more dog, less harness.

COLLARS Here’s one more thing to keep in mind: Not all collars are created equally. When it comes to the “look” of dog collars for portrait purposes, there are certain types you want to watch out for. On the more obvious side of this spectrum, avoid prong

collars at all costs. Without going into a debate about the varying opinions of prong collars as a training tool we can all agree on this simple fact: In photos, they look like crap. Another type of collar you’ll see from time to time is another training tool type: the remote training collars. We could get far off track with facts, opinions, and the history of force-based dog training, so we’ll just stick to how we should feel about these bulky collars and their role in photography—to put it simply, they stink. Nobody wants a giant black box stuffed up underneath their dog’s chin in every shot. When it comes to these types of visually abrasive training tools, be honest and upfront about how they’ll affect the photo, and ask permission to remove them for the shots.

4.36 FIGURE 4.36 DOUBLE WHAMMY! A collar and harness duo brought to you by the ghosts that are pulling on this pup’s leash. (Thats a joke. A reference to my bad Photoshop job of removing the leash but not addressing the

ghost pull. Thank ya, thank ya very much.)

Over the years, you will likely start to form your own opinion of what kinds of training methods you feel are right and what aligns with your personal morals. You may make the decision not to allow shoots or take clients who use these types of tools on their dogs, and I would say that I wouldn’t blame you. In the end, it’s your business and your decision, and you must always follow your heart and intuition as to what you feel is right. Lastly, try and steer clear of Martingale-style collars. The shelter that I got my start at actually uses exclusively Martingale-style collars on all their adoptable dogs, so these collars are a personal nemesis of mine that goes way back to the beginning. While their practical application for a dog who might otherwise be able to back up or slip out of their collar is fabulous, for photography purposes these things are a giant pain in the nuggets. I didn’t have to search very hard in my Lightroom library to find a few examples of Martingale collars appearing in my past work. Martingales are designed to have an extra flap of material that pulls outward to tighten when the dog is putting tension on their leash. If the dog is putting no tension on their leash, that extra flappy bit just sort of hangs there. It’s usually big, bulky, and it obscures a beautiful swath of neck or chest fur that is incredibly difficult to bring back in the post-processing stage of things. The visual repercussion of this is that instead of a nice, smooth simple collar in your final image, you’ll have a distracting, bulky bit of material that takes the viewer’s eye

away from the dog’s gorgeous face. Your best scenario for what your dog should be wearing at your photo shoots will be a clean, simple, basic collar. All one, bold color and with a snap or buckle enclosure. As with any photo shoot clothing direction, avoid pure black or white—those colors tend to come across quite starkly in still imagery. With a color that sits somewhere in the middle of the hue spectrum, you’re able to easily shift the color afterward to help match the overall scene if need be. Here’s a pro tip for you: I always have a set of clean, simple, shoot-appropriate colors in various sizes in my crazy-dog-lady bag. I bring them to every shoot as emergency backup options in case my client and I interpret “clean and simple” in two totally different ways. (Which is quite a bit more often than you might think.) I live in Boston where there’s an—errr—shall we gently say “devoted” sports team following. Because of that, I see lots and lots of pro sports team collars turning up on dogs at my shoots. While the red, white, and blue Patriots logo might be cool on say, the jerseys of the football players themselves, this logo was not designed to be considered fine art, and it should stay away from any involvement in my fine art photos. Nothing takes me out of a gorgeous, timeless moment quite like a glaring, stark, and immediately recognizable logo of a popular licensed property. This goes for Boston Red Sox-themed gear and Marvel-gear alike. If it’s someone else’s licensed intellectual property, I prefer to keep it out my shots. Joshua has a sweet Muppets collar that I love to bits, but it’s never

appeared on his body in a single photograph I’ve taken of him —and for good reason—Kermit might try and steal the show!

4.37 FIGURE 4.37 This is possibly the most gorgeous, velveteen boofarino face I’ve ever seen. That Martingale collar, however will present some challenges in the post-processing stage of things.

4.38 FIGURE 4.38 Sweet Rosie giving me the ol’ raspberry delight. Her

Martingale collar gave my Photoshop skills a run for their money, though. Unrelated, but also notice that she is tethered back to the only thing I could find there on the beach that would do the job: an, old heavy piece of driftwood. When you don’t have exactly what you need, you improvise!

In this same vein of thinking, stay away from any type of collar that is going to grab the attention away from your gorgeous dog model’s face. Because of the close proximity of a dog’s collar to his face, its important to be very thoughtful about the colors and textures you put there. Don’t go with over-the-top, highly decorative or bejeweled collars. Stick with simple. There are always exceptions to the rule, so if the theme of your shoot is purposely ornate, intricate and Renaissance, then of course go wild with your collar choices as if you were King Henry the II’s personal stylist. But overall, these are the rules I’ve stuck to for collar types over the years for my non-themed, regular shoots that have given me stellar results.

4.39 FIGURE 4.39 Watch for collars that are too long or oversized on your dog model. There may be an extended bit of collar that juts out across the dog’s chest or into the rest of your scene that will draw attention away from the subject. I photographed this little guy at an animal shelter in Belgium, and this is the collar that he emerged from his cage with. In retrospect, I should have asked a volunteer to dig out a nicer-fitting one.

4.40 FIGURE 4.40 Gorgeous dog. Not my favorite collar for timeless portrait purposes.

TAGS Ninety percent of dogs will arrive at your photo shoot with an array of various tags attached to their collars. Some people will have beautiful, delicate, and gorgeously handcrafted tags, while others will have gaudy, bright, government-mandated registration and rabies tags attached. More commonly, it will be a jingling smorgasbord of both. Know when to discern which tags should be removed from the collar before shooting, and which tags are lovely and storytelling enough to stay. While it is sometimes possible to remove tags in Photoshop further down

the line, do yourself a solid and set your shot up for success by taking the right action on location. This way, you won’t have to rely on digital trickery to fix your mistakes. You can keep your post-processing capabilities secretly in the back of your head to use as an absolute last resort, but by god, do not tell your client that this is something you believe you’re capable of because you may have to put your money where your mouth is down the line. Make sure the human portion of your client duo is made aware that any tags that are on their dog throughout the course of the photo shoot will be on their dogs in any final photos. This usually prompts the owner to look right then and there at their dog’s collar, and make a conscious decision on the spot as to which tags they’d be happy to include in their forever photos, and which they’d prefer not to have immortalized. Government and county tags tend to be the worst offenders on the aesthetically offensive scale, usually printed on a bright neon plastic that serves to draw the eye away from your subject’s face immediately and with unapologetic force. This next part really goes without saying, but always be sure to have any removed tags on hand on the super off-chance that a pesky ranger with the giant hat happens to come by at an inopportune moment and asks to check the tags on the dog you’re working with. Always be prepared to outsmart that guy and your day will go a lot smoother.

4.41a

4.41b FIGURE 4.41 Hurley and Riley wore fantastic tags to their photo shoot. These are the rare kind of tags I would be sure to leave on the dogs for their photos, as they are personalized to each dog’s unique personality and aesthetically beautiful.

4.42 FIGURE 4.42 The tag that gorgeous Wilson donned at his photo shoot in Lake Tahoe is a great example of an elegant and storytelling tag that I feel is appropriate to leave on the dog for display in the final shot.

NAKED IS NICE In a perfect world, every shoot scenario would be one where the dog of the day could run angelically through a fresh spring bloom of flowers while the world turns to slow motion, as if you’re all floating through a lilac-colored dream. The kind of fairytale world where every dog is

totally tagless, collarless, and harnessless. If there ever comes a day where you’ve got that rare dog in front of your lens and you can pull that kind of magic off, I say go for “naked” photos. Their timelessness and regality cannot be beat. But, safety is always first, and if you can’t make it happen, here’s one small bit of good news—in the cases of our fluffier and more furrily endowed friends, you can usually pull off the “naked” illusion without too much challenge. Due to their excessive floof, their collars are typically buried so deep that upon a glance at a still image, not a single soul could tell that they were heavily restrained and sedated at the time of their shoot. (What? Just kidding. No sedation. Just peanut butter.)

4.43 FIGURE 4.43 Now here is a situation where I should have asked the dog’s owner if we could remove some or all of the tags prior to commencing our shoot. Yoshi is wearing quite a few jangly county

tags and licenses that are all bulked up together on his chest. Trying to remove these in Photoshop would be a bona fide nightmare. But hey, if I’m going to go in there and do it anyway I might as well also remove that single packing peanut that managed to blow in to take a co-starring role in this frame.

4.44 FIGURE 4.44 Ahh, all that extra floof serves as the perfect cover up to the fact that Appa is wearing a collar somewhere deep down inside all that cottony magic and no one would ever know.

4.45 FIGURE 4.45 If you have a dog who can safely handle it, full nude is the way to go!

SHOOTING BLIND You may recall from the very first chapter in this book that, in dog language, directly staring at one another is considered egregiously aggressive. I’m going to give you a little scoop into how to avoid re-creating that same scary moment for your dog model.

Naturally, there’s no getting around the fact that we need to point a lens in the general direction in the face of our furry rock stars in order to take a photo of them. But how do we soften the experience for them? How do we create less intensity and stress surrounding the process of capturing their gorgeous little images? Shooting blind. In case the term “shooting blind” is a bit outside of your everyday photo jargon vocab, it means exactly what you think it means. Shoot blind. Taking a photo without looking through the viewfinder. Say whaaaaaat?!! I know this sounds bananas. There are already 855,007 things going against us and challenges we’re facing photographing a subject like a dog. So, how the heck on Earth are we supposed to make it all happen while simultaneously shooting WITHOUT ACTUALLY LOOKING AT ANYTHING? I know.

4.46

4.47 FIGURE 4.47 Shooting blind can often surprise you with unique and interesting perspectives! In this case, I stuck my camera up in the air high above both my and Poppy the Chihuahua’s heads, and pointed it straight downward as she sat on a wooden box in the midst of a field of tulips in the Netherlands looking up at me. Voila! A new way to tell a different story!

First let me address any initial stress and anxiety at this bold point I’ve made by saying, you don’t have to shoot blind all the time, but learning to master it for at least small portions of your photo sessions is going to be a complete game-changer. Here’s why. While we humans still struggle from our end of things to read and interpret dog body language as fluently as possible, dogs have already blown us out of the water by mastering this art from their side of things. Dogs have almost seamlessly learned our human body language and facial expressions, and they use those characteristics to internally compute an interpretation of what we’re trying to say to them. Your human face and all its endless tiny muscles and varying animated expressions are like pages in a book that dogs have expertly mastered how to read and understand. That said, when a foreign, oddly shaped, black, clicky box pops up to obscure our faces, dogs’ ability to read us reverts back to zero. It removes their ability to interpret our energy. This fares very poorly for creating a good connection with your furry subject at a photo shoot. In a fragile environment like a dog photoshoot, everything hinges on this connection being genuine and authentic. Remember and respect what dogs need from us in order to find comfort in any

given situation, rather than always thinking of what we need from them. By

shooting

blind,

you

are

alleviating

any

potential

complications that might arise by leaving your face clear for your canine subject to interpret. Based on that, the ideal time to use your best shooting-blind skills is at the very start of any given photo shoot. Give yourself enough time at all your shoots to spend 20 or 30 minutes up front simply getting to know the dog before you really get into the thick of things—before you get too fancy or wild with your setup and shot attempts. This is where you can also start shooting blind or “shooting at the hip.” This will give your dog some time to acquaint himself with your exceptionally strange-looking camera gear while still being able to read all the magic and wonder of your ever-changing human face. Once you feel your dog has an understanding of you as a human and an acceptance of the pesky, clicky, black box, then you can start slowly moving your eye to the viewfinder and covering up little bits of your face at a time. By the end of your shoot, you should be able to cover your face completely with the camera without the dog having too much trouble with it. I’ve found, over the course of the past decade of private clients shoots, that right around 85% of dogs are comfortable moving forward into the “viewfinder only” zone after about 25 minutes or so of blind shooting. The good news is—I recommend that you know this trick well,

but also, if you do it right, you shouldn’t have to do it for long.

4.48 FIGURE 4.48 Shooting blind “from the hip” can result in some really fun and humorous shots. You’ll discover new and exciting angles and perspectives that you may not have tried had you had your eye to the viewfinder. As a tip, shooting and nailing blind shots is much, much easier at wider focal lengths like the one used here: 16mm.

CHAPTER

SUNSHINE WRANGLING KARATE KICKING NATURAL LIGHT IN THE FACE.

“Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire It. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth and you will know the key to photography.” Someone really important said that: George Eastman, American entrepreneur, inventor of roll film, and founder of Kodak. His life’s work was exploring the relationship between light and its effects on film, to create still and moving pictures. Based on that, it’s fair to assume that Mr. Eastman understood the critically important role that light plays in the capture of photography.

Photographs are, literally, a recording of light. In fact, the word “photography” comes from the Greek words “photos” and “graphé” which roughly translate to “drawing with light.” Without light, we are left with only darkness—and in perfect darkness,

try as we might, we cannot make photographs. Over the course of your adventures in photography, you will find, time and time again, that there is another star in your imagery aside from your lovely dog model. It’s shiny, it’s sparkly, and it’s very eager to be a part of things, photographically speaking. That star is light. Light can help you tell a story. It can give your image a voice, a feeling, a narrative. It can elevate an image or it can detract from an image. It exists in many different forms, blasting at, well, light speed directly from the fiery orb of Earth’s sun. Think of it as a character in your images. A silent hero. An old friend. A force of unprecedented power, to use as your artist’s heart wishes— yours to harness and to share in exactly the way you see fit. This chapter is populated by many beautiful dogs. However, these lessons on light are truly universal. They work for any type of photography, whether you’re pointing your lens at a blushing bride, a rolling canyon blanketed in a rainbow of spring flowers, or, of course, the decidedly coolest thing you could ever point your camera at—a happy dog. As mentioned, in order to make beautiful and compelling photographs, one must first and foremost know light. As our old friend George Eastman would attest: knowing light will be your key to the next level. Like in Super Mario Brothers. You cannot advance closer to saving Princess Peach from the evil Bowser King of Koopas without first passing through the entirety of the Mushroom Kingdom. Capiche?

I can personally attest to the great importance of light and exactly why it’s so magical and so mighty. When I first started shooting photos of dogs, I spent painstaking hours learning everything I felt I needed to know about how to work my camera. Apertures, ISOs, shutter speeds, focus modes, the exposure triangle—you name it. I pressed every button you could press and turned every knob in existence until I felt like my big moment had come. It was time to make amazing art with my mad camera skillz. (“Z” on purpose, to denote how unendingly cool I felt I was.) Confidently, I went out into the world with my newfound technical knowledge, and commenced shooting. One afternoon while I was volunteering up at the shelter, I was asked to take photos of a gorgeous new pup that was available for adoption. With all my fancy button-clicking genius, I took on the challenge. It was right around 1 p.m. on a sunny day. I eagerly took this absolutely beautiful little creature out onto the lovely shelter grounds for an unforgettable photo adventure, and began making absolute magi— Ha! What’s that?! You want the true version of the story, you say? OK: In actuality, what I was shooting out there in that blazing, midday light was (to put it gently) blazing, midday crap (technical term). Perplexed, I looked at the back of my camera. I stood there for a long time, gazing down at this gorgeous little dog who was peering up at me with sparkling eyes, and then

back to the little LCD rendering of that same dog on the back of my camera. Back to the real dog again. And back to the camera. Something wasn’t adding up. How on earth could this little dog be so beautiful in person, before my eyes, shining with a smile that could save the world, while simultaneously being so wildly misrepresented and underwhelming on the back of my camera? I was doing everything right, wasn’t I? And that’s when it hit me for the first time ever. I’ll never forget it. It was like an incandescent light bulb flashed to life above my red head, blinking madly. A new concept smacked me in the face: Light matters. And here, my friends, is a shot of that very dog, from that very moment when I had this particular artistic awakening. I’m highly embarrassed to share this shot, and have placed it into the body of this text 17 times and deleted it 16. But here it stays because I figure, we all have to start somewhere, and this is the true story of Kaylee Greer. (I rhymed! Thank you! I’ll be writing my knock your socks off guide to rapping next.) Plus, my secret is safe with you right? Right??

5.1 FIGURE 5.1 We all have to start somewhere!

GIVE HIGH NOON THE MIDDLE FINGER As a photography community, I think sometimes we all make the assumption that anyone and everyone—even those just starting out—understand that it’s really unwise to shoot at noon. In fact, when I was new to the game, I remember having a conversation with a few photographers who I looked up to and respected. They were poking fun at anyone who would make the mistake of shooting midday, in what we photographers universally consider to be poor light. I nervously laughed along like I knew exactly what they were talking about, desperate to be a part of the cool-kids club, but the truth was,

deep down inside, I really didn’t know. I had heard it said time and time again: “don’t schedule your photo shoots at noon.” But photography was so new to me that I hadn’t yet had the time to study or experience what makes good light good, and what makes bad light bad. These days, when I teach folks who are just warming up to the art of photography, I try never to assume that they already know everything there is to know about the nuances of light or when the best time of day to shoot is. I say let my experiences and my many failures help you slide right through this part of your learning journey. Let it help you level up—click yourself a notch or two ahead—so you don’t have to spend as much time making as many mistakes as I did to figure out all this natural light business. Let it be my gift to you. Let’s address why midday light tends to be a no-go for most photographers, and explore some better times of day for shooting outdoors. When the sun is high in the sky, say around noon or 1 p.m. on a bright summer day, if you’re standing in an open field with no semblance of trees or source of shade, you’re going to experience one thing more intensely than anything else: brightness. Secondly, a common by-product of brightness is contrast. That means that things that are bright due to being hit directly by that overhead flaming ball of gas, are going to be really bright. And things in your atmosphere that are dark, where the rays of the sun are not hitting, are going to be really dark. The distance between your image’s brightest value and its darkest value is known as Dynamic Range. And guys, I’ve got to tell you something: You may have

just dropped $6,000 on a brand new camera, but even the best camera on the market has nothing on the human eye when it comes to dynamic range.

5.2a

5.2b FIGURE 5.2 When shooting at the shelter, one does not always have their perfect pick of the daylight hours to work within. This is where knowing how to handle midday light can change everything. Stepping a few feet to my left saved my shot of this beautiful adoptable dog. I captured the first few images of him in blaring, unfiltered midday light. Upon looking at the back of my camera and realizing what a terrible job and general disservice I was doing to this gorgeous boy, I looked around me to find a better spot. Just a few steps away, there was a nice, even swath of shade from a massive oak tree that provided much needed reprieve from that bright midday light. Here, at a glance, is the enormous difference that choosing the right light situation can mean to the impact of your images.

When an image is super high in contrast, it means you’ll find lots of very bright things and lots of very dark things, but not many just-right things that will fall somewhere in the middle. Too much contrast creates a very chaotic image in which it

becomes nearly impossible to capture an even exposure. While your eye may be capable of seeing detail in the highlights and shadows of the scene in front of you, you’re going to have to make a choice with your camera. Either expose for those super bright spots (leaving the rest of your photo incredibly dark), or expose for the super dark spots (leaving the rest of your photo incredibly bright). It’s typically a lose-lose situation, which is why I’d highly recommend that you avoid shooting in midday light altogether. Okay, I get it. Too much contrast sucks. So how do I avoid it?

AVOIDING MIDDAY Why It’s Better to Shoot in Earlier or Later Hours Instead of shooting when the sun is high in the sky, try taking photos during the first few hours after sunrise (if you like to soar with the birds in the morning, which, by the way, is very much not me). Or (if you’re more like me), try shooting in the few hours before sunset. When the sun is low in the sky, either making its first appearance for the day or descending to switch places with the moon for the night, there’s one common denominator. At these times, the sun will be close to the horizon. There are three qualities to the rays of light that come blasting out of the sun

that are enormously affected by this specific lower position the sky.

The Color I’m sure you’ve heard the term before. It’s the coveted time slot when a great percentage of photographers make their magic. That’s right, the golden hour. Have you ever considered why it’s called that? In that same vein of thinking, have you ever noticed how the color temperature of the sunlight truly does get warmer as the sun dips toward the horizon? That’s not a hallucination. There’s a real, scientific, physics-based reason why the color temperature of sunlight appears measurably warmer and redder from a lower angle. (The technical term I’ve coined for this color quality is “ooey gooey golden light”—very scientific.) The color of the light has to do with scatter. During sunrise and sunset, when the sun is at a low angle, particles in the air scatter the short-wavelength (e.g., blue) light. This is not a university textbook on the physics of light (for going in-depth on the subject, I recommend the book Light Science & Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting, by Fil Hunter, Steven Biver, & Paul Fuqua). The important thing we need to know is that the color temperature of light changes relative to the sun’s position in the sky.

The Intensity During the coveted golden hour, the majority of light in the

atmosphere is indirect, and therefore less intense than it is at high noon on a sunny day. Rather than harsh, intense sunlight falling directly onto your subject, you’ll get to work with softer, gentler light that has spread throughout the atmosphere. This type of light will paint your subject and your scene in a much more even and flattering way than the blaring midday sun.

The Angle/Direction When shooting at midday, the sun will be directly above your head. Just within the visual scope of a dog’s face, that particular straight-above angle of light is going to effect the exposure of your image quite dramatically. The light will hit the top of all the dog’s features, e.g., the crown of their head, their eyebrows, and the tops of their snouts. However, the areas beneath all those features, where the light is not hitting, is going to appear very dark, if not pure black, in the image. When you choose to shoot in early morning or late afternoon hours instead, the angle and direction of the sun will have changed dramatically. Instead of hitting your dog model from overhead, the sun will now be coming across the earth in a sideways direction to your subject. This angle allows you to put the sun behind your subject, to the side of your subject, or in front of your subject. All of these lower angles of light are going to be perceived by a substantial portion of photo viewers as more flattering to your subject and scene.

RULES ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN As an asterisk, in photography, not all rules are hard and fast. While there are lots of general tips and tricks that have been passed down by generations of amazing artists before us—little bits of knowledge and nuggets of information that are shared with us to help us perfect our craft as we move through the different stages of experience and learning—it is ultimately up to us to decide what time of day we want to shoot and the type of images we want to make. Some of the greatest photographers in history have chosen to throw all rules and recommendations right out the window, and have still created impactful and thought-provoking art. Joe McNally comes to mind, shooting outdoors in harsh midday light with his portrait subjects from time to time as an intentional style choice, and turning out images so beautiful they have the power to bring people to their knees. So, I say, know the rules. Know what works and what is universally loved by artists the world over. With that knowledge firmly in the palm of your hand, you can then consciously choose to curl up your first and crush it all to dust if you choose. You decide what type of light you think is most beautiful for your own viewpoint on the world. Those individual choices that make each unique artist shine in their own way is what this is all about.

QUALITIES OF LIGHT Color Temperature As you adventure through the world and try your hand at photographing dogs in different types of light, at different times of day, and in different locations, you are going to discover that the color of light will vary quite a bit. We likely always think of light, beating down on us from the unblinking sun, as being one color: kind of yellow. The truth is, the color temperature of light runs a large spectrum, from very cool and blue to very warm and orange. This color is determined by the scatter of light waves and is measured in degrees of Kelvin. All that science-y stuff aside, for our purposes here, all we need to know is that the color of light greatly affects the mood and feeling of our photographs. You will experience the color temperature of light changing throughout even the small timeframe of your photo shoot. If you shoot for three hours— starting in late afternoon and working through sunset—you’ll find that the light may start off quite cool, then get gradually warmer, then hit a peak of fiery warm right before sunset, and then slip back to cool again as twilight fills the sky. Over time, you will recognize this change in light temperature so intimately that working within it will become subconscious. Know the type of story you want to tell and the kind of impact you want to make with your image, and then shoot it at the time of day when the color temperature is at its most appropriate.

PRO TIP

As photographers, we do have a small amount of

manual control over the color temperature in a shot, despite the time of day. Hello, white balance settings! As I’ve previously mentioned, I almost always shoot with my camera’s white balance set to Cloudy, which gives my images a slightly warmer look. If you tend toward images that are more cool, you can try setting your white balance to Tungsten.

Cool light.

Warm Light.

Direction Where, in relation to the dog, is your light coming from? Place your dog in the scene with the direction of the natural light in mind. You can position him with his back to the sun, with his face to the sun, with his side to the sun (figures 5.5–5.7). These different directions of light will all impact the look of your photo in dramatically different ways. When choosing a location for your photo shoot, it’s always important to consider the features of said location that you want to include in the images, and then plan for how the direction of light will correspond to

those features and specific shooting angles during the time of day you plan to be shooting there.

5.5 FIGURE 5.5 Front light.

5.6

FIGURE 5.6 Side light.

5.7 FIGURE 5.7 Backlight.

Quality (Soft vs. Hard) Light can be many things—soft and painterly, hard and punchy —and everything in between. Quality of light (be it natural or studio light) is directly affected by two factors: size and distance. Here’s what you need to know: The closer the light source, the softer the light; and, the bigger the light source, the softer the light. The opposite is also true: The further away the light source, the harder the light; and, the smaller the light source, the harder the light.

The ultimate soft light is big and close. The ultimate hard light is small and far away. Since this is the natural light chapter, let’s stick with the sun as our main example. If you’re shooting in the middle of the day (which, as we’ve discussed, is typically a no-no, unless it’s a very intentional style choice) without diffusors or shade, the light is going to be hard. Your light source (the sun) is relatively small in the sky and extremely far away. (Some might say “light years.” Nyuk nyuk.) Shooting under these conditions with no supplementary lighting will give the light in your photos a quality that is very hard. This hard look can contribute to work looking amateurish (refer back to that shot of the sweet little shelter pup from when I had no idea what I was doing, and you’ll see what I mean). So now the big question: how do we make the sun closer and bigger? Well, we don’t. But Mother Nature does. Let’s pretend it’s the day of your big shoot. You wake up, look out the window, and instead of seeing a beautiful sunny day, you see that the sky is filled with depressing grey clouds. A lot of photographers might feel like jumping directly to the emergency mode of “Oh no, I need to reschedule my shoot!”— but rest assured that these overcast, cloudy conditions can often make for some truly spectacular photos. On an overcast day, light from the sun scatters through the

giant swath of clouds, shadowing the earth. Not only do those clouds appear much larger in the sky than the sun, they are also physically much closer to us. Our overcast day has provided us with a large, close light source, giving our images a significantly softer and dreamier quality. You can tell quite a lot about the quality of light in any photo by looking at the image’s shadows. Clearly outlined, crisp shadows with sharp edges are an indication that the image was captured in hard light. Oppositely, long shadows with nearly indecipherable edges are a telltale sign that an image was created using very soft light. No matter which quality you’re hoping to capture, it’s important to check yourself while you’re on-location to see what kind of light you’re working with and make conscious decisions on how you want to use that light to create your own images.

5.8 FIGURE 5.8 Hard light captured at the very beginning of an afternoon shoot

when the sun was still quite high in the sky. Telltale signs of hard light include the sharp shadow lines across Acadia’s chest as well as the dark shadows and contrast of the rocks in the background.

5.9 FIGURE 5.9 Soft light captured on a very overcast summer afternoon mimics the physical softness of Appa the Samoyed puppy’s fluffy white coat.

5.10 FIGURE 5.10 It’s not every day that you get to photograph in an 11th century castle! I met Leeloo the Pomeranian in the South of France while teaching a dog photography workshop, and I got to try out my indoor shooting skills as we explored through a winding maze of elaborate hallways and rooms in search of magical window light!

TYPES OF NATURAL LIGHT Natural light all comes from the same place, right? Blasting forward like little bits of fire from a yellow, burning orb somewhere in space? True. However, there are some distinctly different variations on the type of light that we see coming from

said yellow orb, and you can use it in different ways when it comes to dog photography. It’s important to be aware of the different types of overarching light scenarios and how they might affect the types of images you want to shoot and present to the world.

Indoor / Window Light I very, very rarely shoot indoors. As you can see by the large majority of the photographs in this book, I spend 95% of my time photographing dogs outside, on-location. However, on the rare occasion that I need to make beautiful imagery indoors (due perhaps to a dog potentially being immobile, or a commercial client who needs indoor images), I need to be prepared with a solid knowledge of how to work with window light. The beautiful thing about shooting indoors is that you have more control over your environment and an infinitely easier scenario for managing distractions and keeping your dog focused. You also have an expanded window of time throughout the day that you can successfully shoot within. You don’t need to worry as much about the harsh qualities of noon sunlight since the roof over your head and the walls and ceilings provide quite an effective barrier to the fiery sun and all its midday wrath. The difficult thing about shooting indoors is that you’ll almost always be dealing with a significantly darker and more limited environment when it comes to light levels.

5.11 FIGURE 5.11 I have big, beautiful windows in the old mill building I live in, which lend themselves to some really lovely lighting opportunities. This is a shot I snagged of my sweet boy Joshua standing in his favorite spot, watching over the world (and other dogs on exciting walks) go by.

If you’re not familiar with using window light, start by shooting in your own home. You may notice that a particular window in your house lets in a stream of unbelievably beautiful light at a particular time of day. Try a shoot with your own pup around the time when the light is best. Try shooting with the window light backlighting your dog, perhaps even overexposing it to create a pure-white background. Try a shot with your dog

looking out the window, exposing for the beautiful light that falls onto his face, and letting the rest of your image fall into darkness. There’s a lot of experimenting that can be done with window light, but whether you’re photographing your own dog in your own home, or visiting a client’s house for the first time, there is one basic tip I would implore you follow: Keep these shots clean and simple. When you’re shooting outdoors and there’s a tree that you don’t like, you can’t necessarily move the tree. When shooting indoors, you can (and should) take the time to remove all unnecessary objects from your shot. If you’re in a client’s home, don’t be afraid to ask, “Hey, would you mind if we moved this chair?” Trust me when I say that the extra effort you put in to cleaning up your scene will 100% be worth your time. Also, pay special attention when it comes to the fall-off of the light’s intensity. If there is a window with particularly strong light streaming through it, notice how the light is brighter and more powerful close to the window, but becomes less and less intense as it reaches further into the house. If you are looking to capture the general ambiance of the room itself, try placing your dog model further away from the intense part of the window light. This should provide you with a smaller amount of dynamic range, allowing your camera to capture detail in both your subject and the room. If you’re looking to create a high contrast images, place your furry model in the most intense part of the light and either over- or underexpose, depending on your desired result.

Ultimately, it’s important to experiment as much as you can so that you can truly master window light. I’ve provided some of my favorite window-light dog images in this book, but don’t be afraid to look outside the dog photography industry for more examples of great window-light work. Wedding photographers tend to be an exceptionally rich resource for information on making window light absolutely magical. So go forth, discover, and conquer, you valiant seekers of the light!

5.12 FIGURE 5.12 I met this sweet boy just outside of Barcelona, Spain in a very old, rustic estate on an expansive olive farm. In order to capture the ethereal softness and magic of that gorgeous study we were in, I kept it to one single, soft light source—the window just to the right, where the light is streaming in.

5.13 FIGURE 5.13 Here’s another shot of Joshua in my home as he lie on the couch with his most convincing “give-me-more-treats” tragedy face. You can see by the reflections in his eyes that the light source is a single large window across the room.

Full Sun This is not your midday, straight overhead, harsh brand of sunlight. When I say full sun, I mean a brighter and more direct quality of sunlight, but also the angle of said sunlight is coming in from the front, lighting your subject with a healthy dose of relatively even, but strong daylight. It’s key that the sun be low enough in the sky to properly pull off this look. When the sunlight is coming from directly in front of your dog model, one extremely important (and somewhat obvious) thing happens. Your dog model becomes brighter.

You’re probably thinking “Neat. But why is this important?” Well, great question. Allow me to explain. Earlier in this chapter, we discussed dynamic range and how your camera is only able to capture a limited amount of information from a scene with both extremely bright and extremely dark values. Typically, when shooting outdoors, the brightest part of your photograph will be the sky. Your model will almost always be darker than the sky, making it impossible for you to properly expose for both. When you use the sun to light your dog model from the front, your dog model will become brighter, bringing him much closer to the brightness value of the sky. This will allow you to capture detail in both your dog model and your sky in a single image. Having this abundance of light to work with will also give you the ability to shoot at more stopped-down apertures (such as f/11 or higher) and capture in-focus detail both in your subject and your background. As with backlight images, there are also certain difficulties associated with front lighting your images using full sun— especially when it comes to unwanted shadows. If you’re shooting with your dog model relatively close to you, it’s likely that your own shadow will fall onto your subject. This, my friends, is no good. Avoid this full-sun pitfall however you can, whether it’s getting creative with your shooting angle, or positioning the dog farther away and shooting with a telephoto lens so you can effectively move the scene beyond your pesky,

intrusive shadow. Using this full-sun method to front light your dog, you’ll be able to create punchy images with brightly colored skies—a wildly different look than the softer, more ethereal look of backlit images. You may prefer one look over the other, but it’s definitely worth giving both methods a shot!

5.14 FIGURE 5.14 Photographing Carlin on this Florida beach in full sun allowed me to expose for both Carlin and the sky in a single frame. Whether right side up, or upside down, I think Carlin looks pretty brilliant captured beneath that bright and tropical blue sky.

Cloudy Cloudy days can be pure magic for photography. As the sun hits the clouds on its way to earth, the light gets softened and scattered throughout the atmosphere, turning the cloud cover into a gargantuan makeshift softbox in the sky above you. On cloudy days, the light is typically very soft and even. You’ll also find that the color temperature tends to be a bit bluer and cooler than on a sunny day. Images shot on cloudy days are often much lower in contrast, and in turn, have a much more limited, camera-friendly dynamic range. While cloudy days are quite a bit kinder to managing exposure settings, keep in mind that the light tends to fade off much earlier and more dramatically than it would if you were shooting at the same time on a sunny day. You may find yourself trying to salvage the last bits of usable light by bumping your ISO higher or slowing your shutter speed. Overall, in exploring my Lightroom library and searching for my images with the highest ISO settings, they all have one trait in common: they were shot on cloudy days. Well, two traits: they’re also the softest, dreamiest, and most ethereal of all the images in my collection. (Let’s hear it for clouds, the silent heroes of our photography adventures! Woohoo!)

5.15 FIGURE 5.15 I’ll never forget the day that I photographed Golden Retriever siblings Gracie and Kracker. The clouds came swirling in toward the end of the shoot, filling up the sky with a soft blue light. We found these wispy dune grasses to mimic the softness of the overall atmosphere, and these two magical creatures did the rest. No, I can’t take credit for them loving each other so much that they were willing to unabashedly snuggle on camera.

Shade At some point throughout the course of your adventures in dog photography, you’ll likely run across a shoot scenario where the client is completely inflexible, and can only be available during terrible midday light. On those occasions, you’ve got to know a thing or two about how to hack yourself out of a bad-light situation. So, my friends, let’s talk shade. (And by that, I don’t mean let’s say bad, gossipy things about the people around us. I mean the stuff that happens when the sun gets blocked by something.)

If you find yourself in an outdoor situation where the sun is too harsh and too intense for you to be shooting anything worth looking at, you’re going to want to go on a very important hunt for shade. Lots of things create shade—trees, buildings…(I just ran out of things that I could think of, so I yelled downstairs to my fiancé Sam and asked “hey, what kinds of things make shade?” and he yelled back “A very tall Dachshund?”) You get the picture. Just find shade! As long as the swath you find is big enough, shade graciously gives you even light to work with. Instead of being at the mercy of the super bright whites and super dark blacks you would find in an open field, you’ll have an area with a much smaller dynamic range to create magic within. Here’s a common example. You show up at a park in the middle of the day, and hunt around until you find some woods that you can walk into to escape the blazing sun. Congratulations! You’ve got shade! Don’t get too excited, you’ve still got work to do. Even though you’re in a shady, forested area, brightness may subtly step in and be a huge problem. Take a look around in all directions and you’re bound to find that some spots of the forest—even those far off in the background—may still contain incredibly bright highlights and super dark shadows. Even if your subject is in nice, even shade, having a background full of those bright and dark spots will still result in a photo that is less-than-magical. Instead, keep looking, working your location and angles until both your subject and your background are in relatively even shade. This effectively crunches down the dynamic range so that your

camera can easily and effectively capture an even exposure.

5.16 FIGURE 5.16 This image was shot around high noon in the midst of a summer day in California. I was in Los Angeles for a commercial shoot and was asked by the ad agency to shoot some pictures during a less-than-ideal window of time. Luckily, we found a small saving grace in a patch of shade created on some green grass by a nearby building, and were able to make some colorful, compelling, and evenly lit images despite the challenging circumstances.

5.17 FIGURE 5.17 Here is another image created in the shade of a building. I shot this at a winery in St. Maximin, France with two brilliant little dog models. You can see the sun peeking into the background over that low stone wall to the left of the dogs. This swath of shade allowed me to really control my exposure, manage my highlights and my contrast, and keep the focus firmly on the most important matter: the connection between those two magical French canines. L’amour!

Backlight Backlighting is my personal favorite technique for creating gorgeous, dreamy, shots featuring that ooey-gooey golden light I talked about earlier in this chapter. The indisputable queen of backlighting in the realm of dog photography is my very talented colleague and friend, Charlotte Reeves of Charlotte Reeves Photography, so I highly recommend you take a moment to go and check out her work if you want to be absolutely gobsmacked by raw, sunshine-y talent and general inspiration.

In a backlighting scenario, picture yourself (the photographer) and your light source (the sun) as the two pieces of bread in a photography sandwich. When you place the dog in between yourself and the sun, you wind up with your subject being lit from behind. This may seem counterintuitive, especially for those first starting out in photography, but trust me when I tell you that this recipe can truly be magical. Just to be perfectly clear, creating this type of shot is really only possible during the golden hour that surrounds sunrise or sunset due specifically to the angle of light. If the sun is too high in the sky (like it is in the middle of the day) it would be impossible to create that photography sandwich. During golden hour, the sun is low enough in the sky for you to easily position your light source, your dog model, and yourself in line with one another. Having the sun coming from behind your subject in this manner allows you to capture beautiful golden rim light sparkling through the edges of your dog’s fur. When shooting with a shallow depth of field, this light can create stunning bokeh for a truly fairytale-like background.

5.18

5.19 FIGURE 5.19 When backlighting your subject, try and put low foliage behind your dog model to filter the sun. When shooting at a wide-open aperture (for example, f/2.0) the leaves and spaces between them where the light peeks through will blur out of focus into fairytale bokeh the creates a beautiful and ethereal look.

While this method of shooting can produce some fantastic

results, it can also be difficult to pull off. The main obstacle you’ll have to overcome will be focusing. Remember, in this recipe your dog model will be in between yourself and the sun, so the light will be pouring directly into your lens. Having too much light coming into the lens can make it extremely difficult for your camera to focus. In addition to focusing issues, you’ll have to deal with lens flares caused by the sunlight coming directly into your lens. If done right, I happen to really enjoy the look of lens flares—however, if not created with care, they can easily overwhelm your photo. In order to overcome focusing issues and help tame lens flares, I highly recommend using something to block the sun from directly entering the lens. This is where those funky looking, plastic, black hoods that come new in the box with (most of) your lenses come in (although, I’ve conveniently lost or misplaced every single one of mine. Go figure.). Lens hoods work by extending out past the glass element of the lens, effectively shading it from any errant sunbeams that might otherwise shine directly in. If you don’t have your lens hood on you, you can always use your hand to shade the end of the lens as you’re shooting, just as you would use it to shade your eyes on a sunny day. This will make it significantly easier to focus while shooting backlit images, and will help to reduce the intensity of any lens flares. If the sun is low enough to the ground, and you’re shooting from a low angle (in the world of dog photography, you should be), you can often use your dog model’s body to block the sun.

You’ll wind up with the same beautiful backlit hair, the same background bokeh, and maybe even a nice subtle lens flare— but you shouldn’t have those pesky focusing issues or the overwhelming flares that will destroy your image. If the sun is still too high in the sky for you use your dog model’s body to block the light, try to find a tall tree that can do the job for you. Shoot with a shallow depth of field, using wideopen apertures like f/2.8 or f/1.4, and as the sunlight filters through the leaves of the tree, you should be rewarded with an abundance of stunning creamy, dreamy bokeh. A quick tip when shooting in this style: don’t be afraid to underexpose your photo. Your first priority is to make sure that the brightest parts of your image are properly exposed. If your highlights are properly exposed in-camera, you shouldn’t have a problem pulling up the shadowy areas of your image in post, assuming, of course, that you’re shooting in RAW. It may look slightly underwhelming on the back of your camera, but shoot with the bigger picture in mind and know the limits of your camera’s RAW files so you know what you can rescue later in post.

Twilight Twilight has historically been known as dream light for photographers. It is a very fleeting few moments of the day when the light in the sky is colorful, but exceptionally balanced. It illuminates buildings, street signs, mountains, people, and the sky itself with a painterly and even value of luminance. It

has a tendency to make everything look hyperreal, like an illustration or a comic book. It lasts only a few precious moments. The period of twilight starts the very moment the sun has dipped behind the earth’s horizon. At this point, there is no more direct source of sunlight in the sky. Essentially, the earth itself is creating shade. Once the sun dips below a certain point as the earth turns, the sun is blocked from shining directly onto the land. Instead, the light bounces into the overall canvas of the sky to scatter and glow across the earth. It’s a long-winded way of saying that this indirect source of light is absolute magic. The most surreal, heavenly, and otherworldly moments that I’ve ever captured on film (well, on an SD card) have been nabbed within those very special parameters of the softness of twilight. The bad news is that dogs don’t care about fairytale light, so getting them to work with you within the tight timeframe twilight can be a difficult; but it’s a rewarding quest to conquer.

5.20 FIGURE 5.20 At the end of a very long shoot day, as we were packing up to leave the location, my sweet dog model Jessa took it upon herself to splash and play in a tide pool on the beach. I noticed the light changing as the sun dipped behind the horizon and immediately saw the magic in that moment. As twilight filled the sky, I grabbed my 70-200mm lens, zoomed into 200mm, laid on my stomach in the sand for the ultimate low perspective, and shot a few frames of Jessa standing in this shallow tide pool. Moments later, the lights of an industrial building way across the bay flickered on in the evening light and sparkled in the background. It felt like a page ripped straight out of a fairytale.

5.21

CHAPTER

CATCHLIGHTS TWINKLY EYES IN EVERY SIZE!

Ah, catchlights, those magical reflections of the light source in the eye of the subject. They are those gorgeous little sparkles of life in the eyes that you see in any great portrait—dog or human. These suckers are really, really important to creating a highly impactful final image that connects the subject to your viewer like a lightning bolt. BA-BAM! They bring your subject life. They become a part of the story. I know it’s really ridiculously cliche, but I’m gonna say it anyway. Yep, you know what’s coming: Eyes are the windows to the soul. And if eyes are in fact, the windows to the soul, then you want those eyes to sparkle and glitter and shine like the heavens.

6.1

FIGURE 6.2a Indirect light from a wide-open sunny sky in late afternoon.

FIGURE 6.2b 42″ Octabox.

FIGURE 6.2c Metal 22″ beauty dish.

FIGURE 6.2d Fabric 20″ beauty dish.

FIGURE 6.2e In-studio Octabox setup.

FIGURE 6.2f Midday high sun pinpoint.

FIGURE 6.2g Ice light.

FIGURE 6.2h Gold reflector.

FIGURE 6.2i Wide-open cloudy sky.

The shape, size, and quality of catchlights are going to be defined by the light source illuminating your subject. Depending on where, when, and how you’re shooting, that light source could be anything from a strobe with an umbrella, the natural light bounce from a reflector, a circular ring light in-studio, the sun on a bright and cloudless day, or the light of a giant swath

of open, cloudy sky (that last light source is the one that, in my humble opinion, creates the heart-melting-est, most doe-like catchlights of all). Keep in mind that the further away your light source is, the smaller and harsher the catchlight will be. This means that a midday sun high in the sky and very far away is going to create a pinpoint catchlight in the dog’s eye. Compare that to a shot taken in late afternoon, with a bigger, closer sun at golden hour—your catchlights go from pinpoints to large, sparkly orbs. Always keep in mind, that whatever is at your back as you face your dog model is going to be the source of light that will create the catchlight in his eye. Or, in other words, the catchlight will be created by whatever your dog model is looking into. So, if you’ve got your dog model up on a rock in the middle of a thick forest, with more of that same thick forest to your back, ask yourself: What is this dog looking into? Yup. More dark forest. In that case, you’re going to get less-than-stellar catchlights, if any at all. If however, you’ve got your dog model sitting in some lovely leaves at the edge of a forest, looking out into a field with a big open sky, you’re going to get big, dreamy catchlights. For this reason, always consider what is to your back when on-location. Always. This could be the difference between soulful, storybook eyes full of life and wonder, and totally uninteresting, “dead eyes” that result in a subpar photo that viewers might have trouble connecting with. In some instances, the angle of the dog’s head is going to make a galactic difference in the appearance of catchlights.

You may feel you have everything set up appropriately: Dog in a beautiful setting: √ Big, soft light source at your back: √ Dog looking longingly toward it: √ Yet, for some reason, you’re not able to grab any catchlight in the eyes whatsoever. Consider the angle of your dog’s head. In order to reflect the light from the source, the dog needs to be looking into said source. That means that if it’s the sky (outward and above) doing the reflecting, you may need to have your dog’s head tilted slightly upward to actually capture light in his eyes. In situations like this, sometimes millimeters can make a difference to the overall impact of a final image. I find that dogs with deep-set eyes need to make an even more extreme tilt toward the light source to really nail the catchlights successfully. Later in this book, I am going to share with you some tried and true shot ideas that I have lots of success with at my shoots. One of those shots is the puppy-eyes-looking-upat-you-type shot. The reason that this shot is so universally successful has very much to do with the angle of the dogs eyes —up. Toward the sky. Toward the light source. These are the types of shots where you’ll get some of the sparkliest and most beautiful catchlights of all. Here is an example where just a slight flick of the dog’s eyes upward to the sky made all the difference in the world in the final image, going from just a decent snapshot of a dog with “nothing” eyes, to a soulful,

unforgettable piece of artwork that serves to capture that dog’s true legacy and personality. Just like us, dogs eyes vary wildly. Their color, size, and shape will be determined by their breed and genetics. Some will have large, round, light-colored eyes that you’ll find incredibly easy to snag focus on and photograph; while others will have very dark, small eyes, which will be infinitely more challenging to focus on and work with. My Mom’s Papillion, Patches, has historically some of the most difficult eyes I’ve ever attempted to capture. They just happen to be very tiny and very dark and beady little bastards, so shout out to Patches for giving me my fair share of healthy challenges over the years. On the other hand, while I adopted a dog with one of the weirdest little wrinkled faces I’ve ever seen, Junie does have one incredibly endearing physical attribute: the single greatest set of sparkly, bright and gorgeously colored gemstone eyes I’ve ever seen (both for photography purposes and for meltinghearts-in-real-life purposes).

6.3a

6.3b FIGURE 6.3 Yoshi was looking down and happily enjoying his lovely stick. From where I was seated on the ground across from him, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to capture any catchlights in his eyes unless he flicked his eyes upward toward the light source (in this case, the sky behind me). I asked his owner to casually say his name, and at that slight auditory cue, Yoshi briefly glanced upward at his owner who was standing above and behind me, and voila! Sparkly eyes!

6.4a

6.5a FIGURE 6.4 Here you have it: Patches’ tiny, black, beady eyes nestled within some of the darkest-colored hair on his face, versus Junie’s giant gemstone eyes. Quite a bit easier to snag focus on those golden beauties (and Patches, if you’re reading this, don’t let it get you down! You’re beautiful too, little bud!).

6.4b

6.5b FIGURE 6.5 Newfoundlands are one of my favorite breeds to photograph. With enormous, goofy personalities and even bigger hearts, these guys are a dream to capture on camera. Think of an oversized, highly squeezable black teddy bear and you’ve got my friend Jackson here. However, Newfies have some of the hardest shaped and sized eyes to photograph of all dog breeds. This is due to their trademark droopy eye skin and deep set eyes, whose size is quite small relative to their heads. Chihuahuas, on the other hand, commonly have exceptionally big, round eyes that take up a much

larger percentage of their otherwise diminutive heads. This makes them worlds easier from a technical standpoint to capture in a still frame.

6.6 FIGURE 6.6 Okay, I saved you a Google. May I introduce you to one of my favorites, the silliest and most gorgeous Bouvier des Flandres I’ve ever met? Well here he is! This is Dusty Bear, and he says: “I challenge you to capture even one catchlight in my eyes in a still photograph.”

You are going to find that capturing beautiful catchlights is a piece of cake in some breeds: Chihuahuas (thank you big, giant, gorgeous bulging eyeballs as big as your heads!), Pit Bulls, German Shepherds, Greyhounds, and Jack Russell Terriers, to name a few. You’ll also find it’s an absolute nightmare in other breeds: Saint Bernards, Bloodhounds, Newfoundlands, Poodles, and Mastiffs (hello small, deep-set eyes). There’s one dog breed that could win a shiny trophy in the impossible-to-capture-catchlights category. And the award

goes to (drumroll please)… Bouvier des Flandres! He’s like the final boss of impossible-to-photograph dogs. The furriest, most beautiful black-hole-of-catchlights nightmare. You think I’m kidding? Go ahead, give it a Google and see what I mean. I’ll wait.

6.7a

6.7b FIGURE 6.7 Sweet, 17-year-old Josie came to her photo shoot equipped with her wheelchair and her unendingly joyful Dachshund spirit. While her eyes were a bit cloudy due to nuclear sclerosis—a common condition in senior dogs—I was able to bring back a bit of the sassy youth in her eyes in the postprocessing stage. I selectively painted in both a highlight and exposure adjustment and added contrast to just the eyes in the RAW file in Lightroom.

One last thing to consider is that you will find that age and the quality of the eye also play a role in how catchlights are captured. It is quite common to see degenerative eye diseases like nuclear sclerosis and cataracts in older dogs, especially in small breeds like Dachshunds and Boston Terriers. These types of eye conditions will severely limit the amount of catchlight you are able to capture in a portrait due to lack of reflection, even in an excellent lighting scenario. When working with dogs who bring along conditions like this, I’ve found it’s best not to panic on-location. I’ve uncovered a few ways to make up for the lack of catchlight when I work on the image later in the post-processing stage.

6.8 FIGURE 6.8 Well, hello friends! Coming at you live from the inside of a Boston Terrier’s shiny, round eyeball. Now imagine having to remove my stupid head in about 85 of these babies. Great way to spend a Saturday (or 10).

PRO TIP: CATCHLIGHTS

Keep in mind that all things in front of

your dog at the time you click the shutter will be reflected in their eyes—and that includes you! So, If you know you might have to shoot in a relatively dark environment and anticipate that you may need a little boost of sparkle, you can dress in light colors or wear a bright white t-shirt to add a pop of highlight into the catchlights. And speaking of things reflected in the dog’s eyes, if you zoom into any of the tens of thousands of photos in my Lightroom library, you’ll see one brightly colored common denominator. A bit of visual data that happens to be fire engine red—that’s right! My head! On one occasion many years ago, after putting up a gallery for a client after a super successful shoot with her

pup, I get an email reply asking what the heck that red thing in her dog’s eyes was. I had to zoom in to 200% to see what she was talking about, but sure enough, clear as day, there was my bobbling little red head staring back from inside the dog’s eye. I chuckled thinking well, no big deal, I’m really tiny in there and I can’t imagine anyone would get too caught up looking at that. Womp womp!!! Well, my friends, that’s when my client said that she couldn’t possibly unsee me after taking notice of my continual appearance in every shot, so to appease her, I edited myself out of her dog’s eyes in every single photo in her order. (I can laugh about this now. But I was 100% tears, then.) I have a new clause in my contract these days that makes my clients very much aware that due to Earthly physics, they should expect that the person taking the photo will be in the reflection of the dog’s eyes, which has saved me a few thousand hours of intricate Photoshop work in the years since. Thank goodness for small miracles. Hey, you live and learn, I guess.

CHAPTER

LOCATION BECAUSE YOU GOTTA MAKE THE MAGIC HAPPEN SOMEWHERE.

By now, you might have a good grasp on what camera and lens to bring to your shoot, how to manage the energy once you get there, and what kinds of stinky treats to have on hand. One major question remains: Where do you go to do it all? You’ve come to the right chapter, my friend. Right off the top, I am going to make a bold statement: In terms of visual impact, the location that you choose is of equal importance to that of your dog model. It is not, and shouldn’t ever be, an afterthought.

7.1 FIGURE 7.1 The swirling blue waters of Alberta, Canada’s iconic Lake Louise didn’t make a bad background for this special shot of sweet Grizz. This is an example of the location directly tying in to the creativity of an image. Grizz’s ears were intentionally positioned to become a part of the rugged mountain landscape that he calls home.

7.2 FIGURE 7.2 I met Danke in a fairytale town nestled in a valley of the Swiss Alps in Lucerne, Switzerland. I felt so inspired by the ornate architecture and intricate design motifs that appeared throughout the town that I knew I had to revisit them with a gorgeous pup. In this case, the location inspired

the image, and I just happened to get lucky enough to have the perfect little pint-sized dog step into the co-starring role.

People often ask me what my secrets are when it comes to making impactful images of dogs. What is in the special sauce that I use to concoct a dramatic, colorful, and (hopefully) unforgettable photo? Ready for the answer? Location. I seek out locations specifically to catch the viewer’s eye. To surprise them. To delight them. To shock them. To turn their head. To make imagery that burrows into a cozy spot in their mind where it burns itself into their memory to be recalled again and again. That is not by happenstance. That is by design. Now bear with me for a moment while I divert us with a funny side story: I often get inquiries from potential clients who share kind words about my work and their excitement to book a session so they can have images of their own dogs in my style. Interestingly, a surprisingly large portion of people assumes that the backgrounds of my images are photoshopped in. On more than one occasion I’ve gotten this question: “How does this work? Do I come to your studio and you photograph my dog on a white backdrop and then I get to select the background from your library of pre-selected places that we can put him in?” My

reaction to this is two-fold: first, I have to laugh a bit, because that would be such a strange and interesting business model; and second, I’m always quite humbled that these people see my imagery and feel the backgrounds are so colorful, interesting, and impactful, that they have difficulty believing they’re real. I take that as a compliment. When I tell people that no, the dogs are actually in these locations and we must really go to these places to get photos that look like that, I often get responses like, “You have a dog in a gondola in Venice in your portfolio. That can’t be real.” The answer I’m always proud to give is, “Oh yes it is!” The point of that story is that you should be putting so much effort and care into choosing your locations that the results of your hard work are turning heads. And please, don’t think I’m saying that you must go to Italy to make important and beautiful photos. I simply mean, take care in selecting locations —local or far—that serve to move your story forward in an impactful and eye-catching way. This could be the two-hour trip out of state to that unbelievable beach or the park two miles from your home, as long as it’s chosen with careful consideration.

7.3 FIGURE 7.3 If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to get a dog on a gondola in Venice, I’ll give you two hints: Loads of searching for a patient, dog-loving Gondolier, and a crisp $50 bribe.

Water

Forest

Mountains

Local Landmarks

Iconic Landmarks

Arboretum

Beach

Park

The location you choose is a massively important part of your image’s story. It’s the home for your fairytale. It’s the setting of

your epic fable. It’s a visual device that you grasp with all your artist’s power and use to make viewers feel feelings. How about that? It’s safe to say that you are going to encounter clients who don’t understand much about photography or the importance of what a good location means. (That’s why they’re hiring you!) They are naturally going to tend toward the easiest or most convenient option. It’s going to be up to you to educate them on why putting in the effort to go somewhere special will massively benefit the results of their shoot. That responsibility is going to fall squarely on your shoulders as the creative, so don’t shrug it off and let them control your shoot (believe me, they will try!). Many people will ask you to come and shoot in their backyards. To this, I say: Low-effort locations yield loweffort results. Or maybe I should say: Backyard photos yield backyard results. The reality is, I cannot possibly make a client’s small backyard look anything like that image from my portfolio that they specifically sent me as inspiration of a dog on top of a Tolkienesque mountain peak in New Zealand. In a situation like this, the expectations and reality cannot possibly match up. This is why I no longer allow photo shoots to take place in people’s backyards, no matter how much they may plead. I simply tell them I may not be the right photographer for them, and that’s okay! (The only exception here would be if a dog is disabled, ill, or cannot physically leave home due to an extenuating

circumstance.) Although do let me tell you about the time that I told a client I would not shoot in their backyard as suggested, and almost passed on taking the shoot since they were insistent on the matter. I finally caved (this was early on in my career, don’t judge me) and when I pulled into the driveway of their multimillion dollar sprawling oceanfront mansion on the day of the shoot, I had a good, ironic chuckle at myself for being a dimwit. But usually for the mere mortal portion of your clients, I’d suggest sticking to the rule of “don’t shoot in people’s backyards” (or maybe ask to see a photo first to check on potential waterfront mansion status, and don’t make the same mistake that I did). This is my personal (but very passionate) opinion. Take it with a grain of salt and consider what works best for you. There are loads of talented photographers out there who do feel comfortable taking requests for backyard shoots and make lovely imagery. You do you. But it’s hard to argue with the idea that to make amazing pictures, you need to go to amazing places. Simple, right?

7.4a

7.4b FIGURE 7.4 When comparing these two simple, natural light photos, it’s hard to argue that location doesn’t make a monumental difference in the final impact of an image. The image on top is a nice, technically wellexecuted, properly exposed photo of a dog in his backyard. The image below is a much more compelling shot of a dog, also technically wellexecuted, in a far more interesting location.

7.5 FIGURE 7.5 It had long been a dream of mine to photograph a dog onlocation at a lively carnival. I took Kai the Golden Retriever (if you recognize that face, it’s because he’s our cover star!) to the midway at the Topsfield Fair and snagged his photo in front of the Ferris wheel at sunset. A great photo of smiley Kai, made even better by the unique and fun location!

7.6 FIGURE 7.6 Frankie posed like a rock star in front of these gorgeous, medieval 11th-century church doors in Sitges, Spain. This location was carefully chosen to complement Frankie’s fur coloring and to tell the story of his culturally vibrant home.

Yet, one of the most common mistakes that I see amateur dog photographers make is a consistent lack of importance placed on location. You can capture the sharpest, most perfectly exposed photo of a beautiful dog with a joyful expression in front of your niece’s Playskool swing set in your side yard, and guess what? It will still be a shot of a dog in front of a Playskool swing set in your side yard. Forgettable. So, you want to talk secrets? Here’s one: The easy option may not be the best option. (Note: it’s actually almost never the best option.) Put the effort in. Go to that magical place. Climb a mountain. Wade across a river. Explore a field of wildflowers. You’ll be absolutely amazed by the number of your peers who are not willing to expend the effort to do the same. Here’s your leg up. A good location will keep your work sparkling above the rest.

7.7 FIGURE 7.7 I photographed Drugo at the Colosseum in Rome in the middle

of a rainstorm. In order to capture an image without thousands of tourists milling about in the background, I had to wait until 1 a.m. to nab this shot. Tired? Yes. Wet? Yes. Is the end result a personal dream photo that was very much worth that effort? Yes.

7.8 FIGURE 7.8 I had the lucky opportunity to photograph Blue and Basil the Red Retrievers at an extra special location: The Wanaka Tree in Wanaka, New Zealand.

Now, let me take a moment to clarify something very important: I don’t want to you to confuse this advice with the suggestion that I think you shouldn’t try to make absolutely amazing images anywhere you can, at any time. If you’re practicing how to nail focus, or how to work on your dog’s fear of the camera, or exploring different techniques to master backlighting your subject, don’t let not having the perfect location stop you from doing that. Go ahead—frolic into your backyard and master working within its tight limitations to make beautiful portraits. In

fact, mastering those kinds of challenges in less-than-ideal scenarios is only going to make you that much better when you finally arrive in a fairytale location. What I do mean to say here, however, is that when it comes to making images that you intend to show to the public in a portfolio or to showcase as a representation of your brand, these shouldn’t be the practice photos that you’ve taken in your backyard or other underwhelming location. The blunt and honest truth is, if you want to make photos that rise above all the visual noise of imagery that average photographers are constantly shooting and sharing, then paying close attention to location is like a key to the staircase that will lead you to the next level. Now, keep in mind, that amazing locations are certainly not a dime a dozen. Dog-friendly amazing locations? Even rarer. Here are some guidelines and considerations that will help you snag the perfect location for your next dog shoot.

RULES, REGULATIONS, AND PERMITS (BOOOO!!) When searching for the perfect spot for your shoot, the first thing to consider is a factor so obvious it’s easy to overlook: Does this location even allow dogs? The way the cookie crumbles is that your locations are going to be frustratingly limited because a vast majority of gorgeous locations do not allow dogs. State parks may have extremely strict rules regarding dogs, as does pretty much any beach in America for a

large percentage of the year. And just forget about trying to get a shot of your dog model in the middle of a Michelin star restaurant in Paris (trust me on that one). Do as much research as you can when it comes to a location’s rules and regulations about dogs. The last thing you want is to be embarrassed in front of a paying client, frantically trying to figure out what sort of story to craft as the Park Ranger, with his big pointy, pompous hat inches closer and closer to you from across the park. Take it from me, it’s embarrassing as heck when you’re kicked out of a park, or off of a beach on a shoot day, and are left scrambling to find a replacement location in an effort to salvage the shoot. (All the while, deep down inside you’re thinking “who the heck needs a hat that big anyway?!”) That said, if there is a dream location that you’re dying to get a dog model to, don’t give up so easily. I very enthusiastically subscribe to the policy of “If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.” It’s worth a call or an email to whoever might be in charge of a given location. Be kind, polite, and thoughtful. Explain who you are and what you’re looking to do. Bonus points for crafting an inquiry in which you can offer something to them, like a few lovely high res photos of their property as a trade for some dog-friendly time on-location. The best that can happen is that you’ll be granted special access, and the worst that can happen is that you’ll just be a slightly annoying little blip in someone’s day. No harm, no foul! I find that when I am specifically working on a charity or shelter project, associations, trustees, organizations and general powers-that-

be are much more willing to make exceptions and grant special access. The same thing goes for permits. The importance of permits varies greatly by location. For example, I’ve never needed a permit to shoot around the Boston area, either because permits aren’t required, or because they’re extremely lax about enforcing them. The opposite can be said about shooting at a state park in Nevada. I’ve shot in several beautiful locations in Nevada, and each park office has been deadly serious about me having the right permits, insurances, and paperwork filed months in advance. Do your homework ahead of time and show up to your shoot prepared. It’s nasty to have to spend your time on-location anxious about the repercussions of any rules you might be breaking when 100 percent of your focus should be on creating amazing images of your dog.

7.9 FIGURE 7.9 Bringing along her best multi-colored eye fashion (heterchromia, for those of you interested!), Tally also packed her unbelievable modeling skills. Photographing her in the remnants of this abandoned, graffitied building in St. Maximin, France was an unforgettably cool adventure. A not-so-average place for a not-so-average photo!

7.10 FIGURE 7.10 Hero and Marvel (two superstars who you may recognize from America’s Got Talent!) sharing a tender moment of friendship with my lens in this gorgeous, expansive, wide-open field beneath epic skies in the sprawling landscape of Lancaster, California.

LOCATION SCOUTING Take some time before your shoot to scout your location. In order to make your shoot day run as smoothly as possible, it’s super helpful to know as much as you can about your location in advance. For example, where will the sun be in relation to that monument you want in the background? How busy is it going to be on a given day of the week? Is it teeming with other off-leash dogs that could be a potential distraction? If you’re going to physically scope out your location, it’s important that you go at the right time of day. Are you shooting during golden hour, hoping to capture sunset? If so, what direction will the sun be setting in relation to your shoot location? Did you schedule your shoot for the middle of the day? (If so, here’s a loving little smack for your forehead! You’ve read the natural light chapter so why would you do that?) If so, does your location have areas with shade or trees that you can filter the harsh light through? Are you doing a night shoot? Can you capture twinkling city lights in your photos, or perhaps an area with a clear view of the night sky? So much about the atmosphere, ambiance, light, and shadows can change from hour to hour that it’s critical that you match your scouting hour to your ultimate shooting hour. I suggest finding 4 or 5 excellent locations in your area, doing as much research on them that you can do over the internet, and then visiting each one in person at the right time of day. If they pass all your in-person judgments, take nice, clear photos of them from a few different angles, then add them to a list or

location guide. This way, you’ll have a small stock of great suggestions for future clients where you can rest assured with a calm confidence that you’ll be able to make stunning imagery. I use an amazing app called SunSeeker that allows me to use my phone’s camera to track exactly where the sun is going to go in any given location. Once I arrive on-site, I open the app and through the camera lens, I can discover the exact track of the sun’s route through the sky. It is $9.99 in the app store and worth its weight in gold. As a New England native, one thing I know all too well is how drastically the look of a location can change from season to season. One of my favorite tools to use to sleuth out these ever-changing states of beauty is a little virtual location scouting on Instagram. If I want to shoot in the Boston Public Gardens, for example, but I’m not sure if their Spring flowers are in bloom yet, I’ll simply head to Instagram, search for either the hashtag #bostonpublicgardens or the geo tag for Boston Public Gardens, and scroll through recent photos until I find the answer to my question. Since the Gardens are such a popular and busy place, it’s constantly full of people snapping and sharing photos, and it’s easy to find photos that are only minutes old. This little location scouting hack is a quick and easy way to get all the information I need, and much more fun than a 2 hour round trip drive into the city to check on it in person. It’s also an awesome trick for seeing how your location may look during different times of day. It may turn out that the

sun doesn’t set on the dock like you thought it did, or that the building casts a shadow in the wrong spot after 5 p.m. Using this tactic has saved me from extreme disappointment and long drives to so many places where I incorrectly assumed flowers would be in bloom or the grass would be green. It’s great to find out from the comfort of my couch that the flowers have in fact been trampled and the grass has been burnt dead brown by the sun, rather than making the arduous journey to be disappointed with my own eyeballs.

7.11 FIGURE 7.11 I had to acquire a special permit to photograph Nana at the Valley of Fire State Park just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. It was quite an involved process to get the permit, but in the end it was completely worth it to shoot in this gorgeous, otherworldly red rock landscape.

7.12 FIGURE 7.12 Magic with three friends in front of Lake Louise, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada.

7.13a

7.13b FIGURE 7.13 One of my favorite local parks to shoot at changes dramatically with the seasons. Here is the same exact location within this park pictured at a late summer shoot versus a midwinter shoot. These two places don’t even look like they’re on the same planet, let alone within the same park.

PERSONALIZE An important factor that often goes overlooked when trying to choose the perfect location is actually a careful consideration of your dog model himself. What can your dog model handle? What are his strongest characteristics? What are his weakest tendencies? What sorts of places is your dog model already accustomed to? What type of energy does your dog model naturally saunter through the world with? These are all going to be tiny compass arrows that, when strung together, will begin to point you in the right direction. If you have a dog that’s constantly on the go, hiking trails every weekend up in the mountains with their owner, it’s a pretty safe bet that he’ll flourish in a rugged, natural environment. If you have a dog who might be a service dog, and visits multiple busy buildings, teeming with the vibrant life of people, sounds, music, smells, and distractions on a daily basis, then you’re going to be good to take him or her into the city, where the flashing lights and non-stop movement will be of no consequence to his attention span. On the other hand, if you have a dog who hasn’t left the confines of their small family backyard for most of their life, you’ll want to re-think trying to take them into the heart of the bustling city for their photo shoot. Instead, it would be in your best interest to consider a super quiet and rural local park that’s not a huge hotspot for too many other people and dogs. Choose the location based on what your dog model can handle

in order to set yourself up for as successful a shoot as possible. We talked about the pre-session questionnaire that you should be sending out before every shoot. It will include questions that will help guide you to the right location based on the dog’s personality traits and history.

7.14 FIGURE 7.14 Sparkling rain in the medieval streets of downtown Bruges, Belgium.

DOG-SIZED WORLD You may be walking through a park and say “Wow, this park is pretty!” You may even put your camera up to your eye and take a nice landscape shot. Now, take a moment to consider the height of your average dog: two, maybe three feet off the ground. But what if you were to lie on your stomach and take a photo? Did the look of the park change

dramatically? Absolutely it did. Down at dog-height, tons of distractions that previously went unnoticed are now huge and looming in your frame. Knee-high fences obscure what should be views of a nearby lake. Trashcans previously too low to matter now dominate your frame. The beautiful flowered trees are now too tall, and all you can capture are bare trunks and roots. In anticipation of this exact problem on a recent trip to shoot in the tulips in the Netherlands, our little crew was sure to bring along a wooden crate as a way to give our sweet Chihuahua model, Poppy, a little bit of extra height to get her at the most visually compelling level (alongside the actual heads of the tulip flowers, of course).

7.15a

7.15b FIGURE 7.15 Photographing a dog in the endless fields of technicolor tulips in the Netherlands in the spring had very long been a bucket-list dream shot of mine. I played out exactly how I wanted to shoot this over and over again in my head for years leading up to its ultimate execution. The thing is, it’s very easy to overlook scale and perspective when you’re dreaming from your couch, and not really standing there in real life, on-location. I always envisioned getting this shot with the dog sitting on the ground, nestled in between two rows of tulips. Once finally arriving to the Netherlands and having my tiny model Poppy the Chihuahua sit in my pre-chosen spot, I very quickly realized that, way down there, all I was going to be getting in the shot was the churned up dirt and messy bottoms of the tulip’s stalks. Thank goodness we had a wooden crate in the trunk of the car (shout out to my friend Cat!), because I needed to use it to give Poppy more height, and get her away from the cluttered ground and up to where all that color and magic lived. When comparing these two photos, my original shot idea on the left, and the final shot we went with on the right, it’s easy to see what an absolutely massive difference even just a few

inches of height can make to the overall impact of a photograph.

7.16 FIGURE 7.16 Although he can dream, PJ the Chihuahua is nowhere near the height of your average Sunflower. This is why we had to get him up high for this shot in a blooming Sunflower field in Newbury, Massachusetts.

DISTRACTIONS Consider distractions you may never have considered before. There are things that dogs pay extra special attention to that would typically be overlooked by an average human: squirrels,

bicycles, skateboards, flying soccer balls, baby strollers, ducks, children playing—you get the picture! The above is a thorough but incomplete list of things that could majorly affect the flow of your photo shoot, and in some cases, could even throw off your shoot entirely, leaving you with no other option but to try again another day in a more thoughtfully chosen location. (I say incomplete list because I’m not including the one time I photographed a dog who couldn’t see a single flower without losing his cute, furry little mind. I figure that’s pretty…unique, so I left it off the list. You’re welcome.)

SAFETY FIRST Oh, and traffic. Guys. Traffic! Choose your locations carefully. Safety is always the number one priority at any photo shoot, and being in too close a vicinity to moving cars is never a good idea. Just ask the girl who ran screaming after her dog model, who chose to slip his lead and barrel into the busy two-lane road that bordered the park. Ask if she caught up to him in time (she did). Ask her if her life flashed before her eyes and if she very unprofessionally burst into tears in front of the client in a moment that will go down in her personal history as horrifying and embarrassing (she did). Ask if that “she” is actually me, Kaylee Greer (she is).

7.17 FIGURE 7.17 This was taken in front of the Pont Du Gard, a 1st-century Roman Aqueduct just outside of Nimes, France

CHAPTER

EXPRESSION IT’S WRITTEN ALL OVER YOUR FACE.

We have something in common with dogs (besides the smelly farts that can happen after a high protein meal). That is, you can read our moods right on our faces. Our expressions tell others everything they need to know about our moods and general demeanor in a given moment. Dogs are also highly expressive creatures. They may not talk in our spoken human language, but dogs do speak, and my friends—they have quite a lot to say!

happy

happier

happiest

shocked

concerned

inquisitive

excited

derpy

pensive

serious

engaged

displeased

playful

approachable

speculative

wild

brooding

goofy

tragic

friendly

intense

blissful

content

outraged 8.1

A dog’s expression is the most magnificent part of your image’s story, and it can singlehandedly make or break your shot. Their eyes, eyebrows, ears, tails, posture, face, lips, snouts, jaws—all those characteristics form thousands of combinations to directly communicate how your four-legged subject is feeling. The resulting

expression on their faces (and in their bodies too!) can tell the viewer everything they want to know about that dog in that particular moment you’ve captured in a single glance. The dog’s expression sets the mood for your entire photograph. Pay attention to it. In a single moment, a dog can go from expressing silliness and joy to appearing refined, pensive, or even a little bummed out. (Think of that second scenario as their bio headshot for their New York Times Bestselling self help book: How To Be a Good Boy.) A dog’s expression can change in an instant, which means the story in your image changes in that same instant. If you aren’t super thrilled with your dog mean mugging it at the camera or looking like he just sauntered out of his neuter appointment, try running around or playing ball with him beforehand to coerce his happy, silly play face. Or you could use lots of stinky treats, or heck, even a delicious hunk of cheddar cheese! We’re not above bribery.

8.2 FIGURE 8.2 A change of expression will affect the overall feel of your entire photo in an instant. But don’t let me convince you, just let these at these magical little creatures do the talking!

The truth is human beings tend to anthropomorphize animals. As I mentioned in the very first chapter, it’s important to remember that we commonly assign our human thoughts and emotions to our dogs. It’s not necessarily a bad thing to do, per se, but it’s important to be aware, when we put jokes and shenanigans aside, that we consciously do this. While they may appear to, dogs do not, in actuality, wear facial expressions in the same way that human beings do. Dogs

don’t frown when they’re expressing disappointment in the same way we would, by turning the corners of our mouths down. And technically, they don’t “smile” in the same way that we do. What we often perceive to be a smile, for example, is typically the dog holding his mouth open and panting—which can very often be a sign of anxiety, overheating, or exhaustion. I’m not saying all this stuff to be a Debbie Downer, so forgive me if I’ve done any dream crushing with those last few sentences (reader throws book against the nearest wall, vowing to burn it in their next summer bonfire). In fact, I just did it. I’m anthropomorphizing in the chart in figure 8.4. I used my human viewpoint to categorize and label some of the most endearing expressions I’ve ever captured on the faces of my furry models. While it’s so joyful and so silly to think that my dog model is being pensive or expressing frustration through his expression, we of course know that dog’s don’t express their emotions in exactly the same way as us human beings do—don’t forget, we’re an entirely different species. So, for the record, let’s call that colorful spread a compendium of dog expressions as perceived by human beings. Since we are creating images for other human beings, I believe it’s very much okay—even necessary—to capture expressions that other members of our species can recognize and relate to. It’s about connection through familiarity, even if those emotions might be incorrectly assigned. As long as you are working safely and respectfully with your dog model, I see no harm in

aiming to elicit and capture expressions that their human counterparts and caretakers see and read as familiar and expressive. These perceptions are what will set the tone for the mood of your photograph. As a dog photographer, you have a dual responsibility as you create your imagery: The responsibility to the execution of the photograph; and the responsibility to the safety and comfort of the dog model. The task for you here is twofold: Create an image that conveys an emotion, but also know what the dog is really saying.

8.3 FIGURE 8.3 This photo of Joshua has served to remind me time and time again of how immeasurably important a dog’s expression in a still image can be. Of all the photos in my current portfolio, this photo right here is

technically one of the lowest-effort shots of all, in terms of the difficulty of shooting it. It was taken without much forethought on a casual afternoon walk with Joshua. Just a simple 50mm prime lens and natural daylight (and not even at a terribly special time of day). No extra bells or whistles. I shot a couple of frames as we walked across this bridge and kept on moving with my day. I threw it up on the internet on a whim one day, and it was my first experience with a little bit of “virality.” It turns out that this is one of the single most commercially requested photos in my portfolio, and has brought an astounding amount of licensing fees through the door over the years. Why does this photo resonate with so many people despite its relatively simple visual nature compared to most of the other shots in my portfolio? You got it. The magic is in the expression.

All of that out of the way, onto exploring some different expression scenarios! Try to imagine the sort of vibe you want your photo to embody, the sort of feeling that you want to ultimately pass on to the viewer. For example, in a brightly colored spring setting with multicolored tulips swaying in the yellow afternoon sun, you might decide you want to share a message of joy. Sticking a dog in that setting with a sourpuss face might be a bit contradictory to the feeling you intend to capture in that still moment. While you can’t control a dog’s expression, you can influence them. In order to get your dog model to perk up and

give a bit more energy and perhaps a panting “smile,” spend a few moments before the shot just letting loose and going wild. Throw his ball for him, play some fetch, get out an exciting toy. Give him lots of love and praise. Let him pop a couple of paws in the water and splash a bit. Anything that gets him into a looser, more fun and relaxed state of mind. Now, try your shot in the tulips again. You’ll find it astounding the difference that a dog’s expression can make to the overall impact of the shot.

8.4 FIGURE 8.4 I had just wrapped up a long summer weekend at my Aunt and Uncle’s lake house a few hours drive from my home. I had Joshua in the car with me and we were only a few minutes from finally arriving home after our long road trip when these incredible dark clouds began to swirl in and ominously fill up the sky above our heads. As an extreme lover of odd and interesting light, I had a feeling that something wild and extreme was about to happen in the pre-rainstorm sky. In order to catch the moment in time, I pulled over at the closest place I could find—a quiet basketball court in a little park in my town. Joshua was so kind to hop out of the car and hang out there on the blacktop for me while we waited for the sky to give us an unforgettable show. Now, as evidenced extensively throughout this book,

Joshua is a bit of a clown, with what seems like a perpetual goofy smile slathered across his highly expressive face at all times. I was really hoping, if everything came together, that he might be able to tone down the “derp” for me for a moment so I could capture a different mood. The color in the clouds that night is something I will never forget. And sure enough, as the first raindrops began to fall from the dark sky, Joshua closed his eyes and looked upwards, allowing me to snag exactly the kind of expression that I wanted for this dark and epic moment. In this shot, Joshua’s expression works in tandem with the mood of the sky—thoughtful and ominous. It was exactly the kind of art I wanted to make in that moment, so kudos to my darling Joshua for giving me that little gift of magic!

The exact opposite of this scenario plays out quite a bit, as well. You may have a very serious shot in mind—a timeless, regal, traditional shot that depends quite a bit on a serene expression on your dog model. But instead of regal and thoughtful, you might have a regular, doofy, Grade-A class clown for a dog model. You have to work a little harder to get a serious expression out of a doofy dog, rather than a doofy expression out of a serious dog—but it can be done. Squeaking a toy, for example, might elicit a microscopic moment of mouth closed, head tilted, which will pause the general derp in the atmosphere for maybe a 1/4 second or so —certainly long enough to capture a shot or two, if you’re shooting at 1/100th of a second or faster.

8.5 FIGURE 8.5 I saw this 100-year-old Japanese Maple tree when we arrived on location for Elle’s photo shoot and I just knew I had to do something special with it. I waited until dark so I could get creative with some colored gels and speed lights to create a fantastical, Tim Burton-esque fairytale scene. The tone of this photo was intended to be quite serious and dark, and I thought Elle was the most perfect, strong, and regal dog for a shot like this. Her serious expression in this photo works brilliantly with the dark and creepy vibes of this twisting Maple at night.

Most times, you’ll be trying to capture an expression on your pup that is most appropriate to the overall story and setting. But sometimes, a totally contradictory and hilariously ironic expression can be a welcome and adorable surprise, whether it was captured completely by chance or totally on purpose. For example, this Boston Terrier’s comically tragic old-man-grampa face with his droopy jowls is a hilarious juxtaposition to the overall colorful purple sunset sky he sits in front of. Know what kind of story you’re trying to tell, and make sure to pay attention to your dog’s expression to either support that

story or make people laugh in spite of that story. So how do we best elicit a certain expression from our dog models? Truth be told, we really have no discernible control over the faces they’re going to supply us with. That’s kind of the magic of dog photography. It’s real. It’s unscripted. It’s the very definition of candid. That said, there are a few tricks I’ve found to be effective for at least attempting to sway my dog models in one direction or another, in terms of eliciting desired expressions. For a dog that you find is far too “serious looking” for the type of shot you’re hoping to capture, you can try to elicit a different expression by stirring up the energy of the shoot a bit. To do this, I suggest pulling out a fun toy and getting excited. Play with your dog. Maybe even grab their leash and go for a short jog up the trail you might be shooting on or across the park and back. It’s important that you not force the dog to run or jog or play. Any kind of forced action can turn from fun to anxiety very quickly. Always keep that in mind. Rather, initiate their natural play drive and see what kind of energy they offer you. You can also try to bring out some treats, just to get them a bit more roused and excited about the general atmosphere of the moment. Do note that some dogs get overexcited or almost too hyper focused when treats are around—so there’s a chance they could end up having the opposite effect. It will be up to you to try out some different methods on your dog of the day and decide which one works best for drumming up some fun and excited energy that doesn’t put them in the red zone of

overstimulation. There’s another little trick you can try, in hopes of drawing a bit more life and expression out of an overly serious, unshakably solid dog. If the impromptu playtime trick I’ve mentioned above is a bust, then this will be my last-ditch effort to attempt to elicit a warmer expression. This one is a little harder to pull off, but if you’ve got a good eye for timing and are quick on the shutter, you can usually finagle a few winning shots. In this situation, I’ll try manipulating the dog’s expression by using one or two very high value things: treats or a toy. (Likely, a ball. See every Border Collie on planet Earth snapping his head to look at you in unison “DID SOMEONE SAY BALL?!”) Now, not every dog is highly motivated by either of those things, so as a note, if you’ve got one of those harder-to-amuse pups on your hands, I’m sorry to say you might be out of luck. If your dog model is within the vast majority who do fancy themselves a delicious treat or favorite toy however, then read on! When it comes to the edible version of this trick, I’ll use either standard treats or even a stickier substance like peanut butter. If you’re able to shoot in-between the chews, you can usually capture some pretty fun expressions that can emanate something that’s reminiscent of a “smile” on your dog model’s face.

8.6 FIGURE 8.6 Blue the Boston Terrier was the absolute master of expression at his photo shoot in Boston. He could go from joy to disappointment to comedy to tragedy within a matter of milliseconds. He kept us all laughing until our sides hurt throughout the course of the entire shoot. This is one of my most favorite expressions he gave us that day—a delightfully whimsical version of what I interpret as a perpetually disappointed curmudgeon-ey grampa. In fact, after I snagged this shot, the whole crew of us called him “Old Man Gramps” for the rest of his shoot. You’ll find that there are dogs who are only mildly expressive, and then every once in a while, you’ll be lucky enough to discover a hidden treasure of a dog like Blue who will provide you with more variety than you ever knew possible.

Or, if you go all out and capture the whole process of chewing and licking, snapping without discrimination—you’ll likely end

up with some pretty hilarious and wild expressions that will lend a more joyful tone to your overall image. If you’re looking to lighten the vibe of the shot, better to have an expression that skews further to the sillier side than the alternative of having a stone-cold serious dog. You’ve likely seen photos like this in a number of hilarious series that have gone viral on the internet, wherein photographers are eliciting very big expressions by photographing them mid-eating, chewing, licking, or catching treats mid-air.

8.7a

8.7b FIGURE 8.7 Back to my little monster Junie as the world’s best example of how expression can change the mood of a photograph. She’s pictured here in front of an amazing, fiery sunset. The emotional atmosphere of that moment was overwhelmingly happy and joyful. The vibrant, saturated colors in that swirling summer sunset reminded me of eating a red, white, and blue popsicle on the 4th of July. Magic. Bliss. Happiness. Junie’s expression, however. Well—whoa, boy! It was reading dramatically otherwise, to say the least. Intense is one word for it. Almost as if she were trying to channel her inner Voldemort. Sweet little Junie’s excessively profound expression there was stomping all over the happy vibes that I was intentionally aiming to capture in this photo’s story. I knew we had to work on that before I could get the right image, so I took out her favorite toy and played with her just for a moment to elicit a little joy. Just as she began to pant lightly from excitement, I began snapping again and was able to snag that second shot. Ah. Much more summery and happy. (Now someone go get me one of those Rocket popsicles!)

8.8a

8.8b FIGURE 8.8 When photographing Emma in all that vibrance of the spring tulips, and from such a fun Alice-in-Wonderland sort of perspective, I knew I wanted her to wear an equally fun and light-hearted expression on her face here. Emma was such a cool, calm, and collected model, however, that her face appeared as it does on the left here for the majority of her shoot. In order to elicit a bit of a sillier and more joyful vibe that would fit the overall narrative of the photo best, I used a small bit of peanut butter to get Emma’s lip’s smacking and voila! Photo on the right!

8.9a

8.9b FIGURE 8.9 When shooting a fun campaign for a commercial client of mine, our creative directive was to focus on capturing as silly, whimsical, and totally over-the-top expressions on the dog models as possible. I was proud to have my sweet dude Joshua snag his own starring role for one portion of this shoot. Even though Joshua is the king of bananas, exaggerated expressions on a typical day, in this particular moment, he was being a bit of a Serious Samantha. As a solution, we brought out his favorite treats, tossed a few his way, and managed to capture this intense treat-catching

face that pretty much made everyone on set pee their pants with laughter. (Okay, I can only speak for my own pants, but you catch my drift.) Objective achieved!

8.10 FIGURE 8.10 A great example of a gentleman who is highly passionate about his favorite ball, Prince’s expressions were pure comedy gold in the tiny moments before he snatched his ball out of the air. Prince kindly traded some big, beautiful, completely over-the-top expressions with me for a simple toss of his favorite toy. Ah, dogs. What did we ever do to deserve them?

The same idea works for a dog who is more interested in his favorite toy or ball. Gently toss the ball at the dog for a catch while he’s in a still sit in front of you. The key to nailing this shot is timing. You must be ready with your finger on the shutter and all settings dialed in—this pre-ball-catch expression typically lasts less than a fraction of a second. Most times, their whimsical hyper-concentrated expressions and open mouths will make for some hilarious expressions. Again, these are really last-ditch efforts to make a dog whose feeling quite

serious the day of his shoot just a little bit more silly! How about the opposite scenario? If you have a dog model who’s far too, shall we endearingly say “derpy,” for that timeless, classic black-and-white shot you’re dreaming of— then you’re going to need to try and reel them back in. I personally find this the harder of the two scenarios, since exceptionally goofy dogs tend to be that way by nature, and are almost perpetually in a state of punch-drunk happiness while donning excited expressions. (Oh, Golden Retrievers of the world, why is it that you pop to mind here? Is it possibly because you’re SO EXCITED TO BE ALIVE AND WALKING AROUND ON PLANET EARTH AND MUST SHARE THE JOY WITH EVERY PASSING SOUL YOU MEET? Yep. It all checks out.)

8.11a Derpin’ it up in Derp Town

8.11b Dr. Seriouspants, PhD has entered the chat. Now I don’t get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day.

In order to try and elicit a calm, closed-mouth, more serious expression, your first focus should be on removing all the extra stimuli from the environment. Think zen. Think calm. Tone down your high, excited “oh-my-gosh-you’re-so-cute-I-want-tosquish-your-head-off-your-body” dog voice to a nice, even, low, gentle voice. Put away any treats or toys. Have your dog owner and all assistants who might be on location with you mirror your sense of calm. Possibly even go fully quiet. Once all of this is in effect and you have your dog model right where you want her, then, at that moment, try using a single, short and quick burst of an unusual sound. (Later in this book, you’ll find

a treasure trove of information on different sound types and how to use them, so hold any sound related questions in your mind for now.) Usually, this tiny moment of change in energy plus the quick staccato of a new sound will get the dog to close her mouth, perk up her ears, and if you’re really lucky—even deliciously tilt her head. The moment will be lightning fast— think 1/200th of a second in duration—but if you’re ready with your finger on the shutter, that 1/200th of a second is all you’re going to need. No one has to know that the gorgeous, traditional, regal moment happened only within a moment shorter than the dropping of a pin. That can be our little secret.

8.12c

8.12d

8.12e

8.12f

8.13

CHAPTER

SHOOTING ACTION SEE SPOT RUN (AND PHOTOGRAPH HIM DOING IT).

He’s coming around the corner, zeroing in on the finish line. His fur is blown backward from his face and his eyes are wide with the frenzy of focus and anticipation. His rocket-powered legs are on fire, he defies gravity as he whips past you at 400mph, blowing your hat off your head with a puff of wind. He runs, runs, runs, and rolls across the grassy finish line, pulling ahead just in the nick of time. The crowd erupts in celebration. What’s this? He’s taken his own bandana off and is waving it as a flag of celebration? Folks, we have a new champion racer. This is the Tuckie Bum 500, and we are cheering in the stands.

9.1 F/3.2, 1/2500 sec., ISO 500, 70–200mm

Ladies and gentlemen! Get your frames per second ready, snap on your telephoto lenses, and make room on your memory cards, because in this chapter we will be discussing the wonderful world of photographing dogs in action! That’s right, just when you think it’s all about trying to get dogs to stay still, we flip the script! Now it’s about getting dogs to move as fast as possible, capturing every glorious leap and bound, every droplet of flying drool, every speck of kicked up dust, every wild-eyed expression; all beautifully composed and perfectly sharp. Sounds easy, right? Ok, maybe it’s not super easy. Or at least, not at first. Just like anything, photographing fast-moving dogs is a skill that takes practice to master. Even after a decade of practice I still come back from shoots with dozens of missed shots. (The difference is, when I first started, I’d come back with hundreds of missed

shots.) That being said, I’m hoping the little tidbits of info and magic that you might be able to glean from this high-flying chapter will help you achieve out-of-this-world superhero action shots that would make even the staunchest of Tuckie Bum race-goers proud.

THE GEAR Let’s get started by talking about the best gear for this type of shot. For the greatest chance of success, you’ll want a camera body that is capable of shooting at an extremely high frame rate. This is where having one of those more sports-inclined camera bodies really comes into play. As an example, of the camera bodies I have in my bag, I would choose my Canon 1DX MkIII for shooting action, because it can shoot up to 20 frames per second. Ideally, your camera will be able to capture anywhere between 9–20 frames per second. Anything within that range should be a great contender for the job. If this seems like a lot of images, well…it is. In most cases, shooting action requires taking incredible amounts of photographs, then, like a pioneer during the gold rush, sifting through all the mediocre shots to pull out the few amazing gems. Now let’s talk about the perfect lens for this job. To do that, it’s helpful if we first think about the average pattern of action that a dog exhibits when he runs or plays. If you’ve ever played a healthy game of fetch with your dog, you’ve likely noticed that the farther away he is from you, say on his way back from just

retrieving the ball, the faster and more intense his level of action is. As he gets closer to you to return the ball, his movement slows to a stop. Like most mammals, dogs have a built-in instinct to slow down as they approach on obstacle. Whether you are the ball-thrower or the camera-wielder, you are that obstacle. That means that the peak intensity of your dog’s action is happening when he is farther away from you. That means, you need a lens that will cover this distance and give you the perfect, close-up view of those far-away peak action moments. Use the 70-200mm, and zoom that baby all the way in to 200mm. I find this to be the absolute perfect lens for capturing action shots. The second factor that’s important for making gorgeous action images is the lens’s ability to open wide in order to isolate your subject from the background. I’ve found this subject isolation to be a hugely integral part of shooting high-impact, gorgeous action shots, and that means using a lens capable of achieving such an effect. Again, the 70-200mm is the perfect fit for the task, with an aperture that opens all the way to a stunning f/2.8. At f/2.8 around the 200mm range, the image is compressed beautifully. This compression mixed with shallow depth of field will make your dog model jump off the background, isolating him perfectly in all of his action-packed glory.

9.2 F/2.8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 800, 70–200mm

9.3 F/2.8, 1/1250 sec., ISO 400, 70–200mm

THE CAMERA SETTINGS So, you’ve picked out the perfect camera and lens for the job. Now what? First, it’s extremely important to make sure your autofocus is set to the correct mode for tracking movement. That means AI-Servo for Canon or Continuous-Servo for Nikon and Sony. As we discussed briefly in the Basic Camera Settings chapter, shooting action is the one time during my shoot that I’ll switch my camera’s autofocus point selection from single-point to zone. No matter what camera and lens combo you’re shooting with, the autofocus points located in the dead center of your frame are generally going to be the most powerful. Oppositely, the autofocus points farthest away from the center of your frame will be the least responsive. My camera allows me to select a zone of focus points that are just above the dead center of the frame, and there’s a good possibility that yours will allow you to do the same. I’ve found this particular area of focus points to be the best for shooting action, as compositionally, this is the approximate location my dog’s head will typically occupy during his burst of action. Dialing in the correct exposure should be relatively easy. For these types of shots I personally absolutely love a shallow depth of field, so I’m dialing in my widest aperture first. In my case, that’s f/2.8 on my 70-200mm. When you’re first starting out, you may decide you want to give yourself a little bit more room for error when it comes to nailing the focus, and increase

the depth of field. If you start by setting your aperture somewhere around f/5.6, you’ll be giving yourself a slightly larger and more forgiving plane of focus to work with. Next, my shutter speed needs to be extremely high. In fact, the higher the better. Even if I’m shooting in bright sunlight, I’ll often raise my ISO a bit so that I can achieve the fastest shutter speed possible. I have no problem shooting at ISO 400 or 800 if that allows me to crank my shutter speed to 1/4000th or 1/8000th of a second. This high shutter speed will work miracles, especially if you’re shooting in or around water. In order to freeze the movement of those tiny, flying droplets, you need a mega-fast shutter speed. Now, is there something to be said about shooting action at slower shutter speeds in order to capture the feeling of movement? Of course! This is a technique many sports photographers use when they do panning shots. This is the type of shot you might see of a speeding racecar at the track, where the car is in focus but the track and the cheering crowd behind it are blurred into motion. I personally don’t do too many of these types of shots with dogs, but I have colleagues in the pet photography arena that do. So if this is something you’d like to try I’d encourage you to experiment with it to get the look that you like. That being said, the types of settings I’m suggesting in this chapter are the ones that I feel will get you the highest percentage of sharp photos, and that means keeping your shutter speed as fast as possible!

PRO TIP:

Sometimes shooting action rounds early in the

session is a great way for your dog model to expel excess energy, or work out stress or anxiety that can sometimes come with being at a photo shoot. You don’t want to exhaust your dog, but sometimes a few rounds of action can go a long way toward loosening your dog model up and evening out the energy for an ultimately successful shoot, especially if you’re waiting with a handful of delicious treats at the end of every run.

LIGHT, CAMERA, ACTION! Now on to the fun stuff! If you’re about to photograph an action dog, the first thing you’ll want to do is find the perfect location. Ideally, you’re going to want a nice, flat, obstacle-free space; a place where your dog model can feel free and comfortable to shake some of the dust out of his bones and really let loose! You also want to avoid visual distractions in the frame that could confuse or overwhelm your camera’s focusing system as it works hard to track your subject. For example, don’t choose a location with lots of super tall plants or grasses if you have a small dog who could get visually lost in them. For the best action shots, keep your location choice clean, clear, and simple. Whether that location is a field, a trail, or a beach, pay special attention to where the sun is positioned relative to where you’ll want your dog to run. The position of the sun is one of the biggest factors in creating stunning action shots!

Depending on your location and time of day, you’ll wind up with one of three scenarios for action lighting: backlit action shots, front-lit action shots, or side-lit action shots. As a note, I shoot 100% of my actions shots with purely natural light. No reflectors, no speedlights, no strobes, no nothin’ else. If handled properly and with care, the good ol’ giant yellow sun hanging out up there in the sky does a bang up job of lighting these high-flying shots.

Backlight While creating a backlit action photo is possible, it is undoubtedly the most challenging of the three lighting scenarios we will talk about. Your camera’s autofocus system is already going to be working hard to track your fast-moving, erratic, bouncing furry subject. Position the whole scenario in such a way where you’re also shooting into the sun, and you’ve just loaded about 1000 pounds of extra challenge onto your camera’s already difficult job. If the sun is shining directly into your camera, you are bound to have a difficult time focusing. In order to achieve a successful backlit action photo, make sure to look for an area that allows you to filter the majority of the sunlight through trees. The backlit trees will serve the dual purpose of making it easier for you to focus by reducing the amount of light shining directly into your lens, and also creating a spectacular backdrop of beautiful, circular bokeh.

9.4 F/2.8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 1250, 70–200mm

9.5 F/2.8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 1600, 70–200mm

Front Light Using the sun to front-light your action dog is the best-case scenario. This lighting situation is the most likely to provide you with the highest number of sharp, in-focus photos. Front lighting your dog model by placing the power of the sun at your

back allows you to keep your shutter speed up. The added aid of the sunlight shining directly onto the front of your dog will also be a massive help to your camera’s brain as it’s trying to find and track the subject. A funny side effect of this lighting scenario, however, is that I notice that some dogs have a hard time seeing you as they run directly into the sunlight. If it’s a ball that’s been thrown by their owner that they’re chasing toward you, sometimes they lose focus on the ball in the sun and go a bit off course. Additionally, it’s not often that I get a 50-pound dog straight to the forehead at full speed, as dogs tend to slow down as they reach obstacles, but a front-light scenario is the highest percentage chance I have of having a collision with the underside of Scruffy’s delicious bottom. As you’d expect, if the sun is too high, your action photos will look contrasty and unflattering, so you may need to wait until the sun appears slightly lower in the sky before attempting these action shots.

9.6 F/2.8, 1/5000 sec., ISO 400, 70–200mm

9.7 F/2.8, 1/4000 sec., ISO 100, 70–200mm

Sidelight Having the sun off to the side of your subject as he runs toward you can work as well, though it’s not my favorite look. I do find, however, that I face this sidelighting situation pretty much every time I find myself shooting on a beach. Since it makes most sense to have my dog model run down the sand toward me, using the longest expanse of space, parallel to the line of the lapping ocean surf, a beach location almost always winds up presenting me with no other option but side-lit action shots. (This might be different if you live in a place where the coastline runs east to west, but here in New England, I’m looking at a majority of beaches that run north to south.) As the sun rises in the east and sets to the west, during any given golden hour, the sun is always going to be coming in from the side. Shooting with sidelight will give a slightly more dramatic,

shadowy look to your action photos. This look can be very cool, but I do find it problematic with very dark- or black-colored dogs, because their shadow side risks becoming so dark that it’s unrecoverable. If it’s cloudy, the light becomes much softer and more subtle, so side-lit action becomes infinitely easier to pull off. If it’s full sun that day, however, this lighting scenario can often result in exposure problems that are difficult to overcome.

EXPRESSION This, right here, is arguably the very best part about action shots. Wrapped up in these tiny moments of joy that are frozen in time are some of the greatest expressions you’ll ever see on the faces of these four-legged comedians. These moments of intensity and action call for extreme focus, extreme joy, and—you guessed it—extreme expression! But hey, don’t believe me just because I’m saying it; just enjoy this little photo grid (Figures 9.10a–d) of magic and I dare you not to laugh.

9.8 F/2.8, 1/3200 sec., ISO 500, 70–200mm

9.9 F/2.8, 1/1250 sec., ISO 100, 70–200mm FIGURE 9.9 This may seem obvious, but keep in mind that the sun exists in the sky even on cloudy days. Even though its effects are more subtle, you’ll still wind up with shots that are either backlit, front lit, or side lit. Regardless of the weather, pay close attention to the position of the sun when photographing action!

9.10a F/2.8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 320, 70–200mm

9.10b F/2.8, 1/800 sec., ISO 2000, 70–200mm

9.10c F/2.8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 1250, 70–200mm

9.10d F/2.8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 800, 70–200mm

SAFETY

With the location chosen, the next thing you’ll want to do is take a moment to walk through the area where you’ll want your dog model to run. Along with the owner, and anyone else that might be along at your shoot, do a quick once-over and look for anything that might be hazardous to your dog, including broken glass or holes in the ground. Additionally, try to look for soft and easy ground surfaces with substrate that will be a breeze for your dog model to run and pick up speed on. A cushy, grassy field is going to be an infinitely better option than a hard rocky beach, for example. And of course, check in with the owner to make sure they’re comfortable letting their dog run in your chosen area.

9.11 F/2.8, 1/800 sec., ISO 2500, 70–200mm

GET LOW! Now it’s time to assume the position. I hope you’re prepared to get dirty, because now’s the time to lie down on your stomach. What’s that you say? It rained earlier in the day and the ground is all muddy? Well, it’s a good thing you brought a change of clothes with you (you did remember to pack a change of clothes, right?). The point is, if you’re looking for impactful action shots, you need to be prepared to get low. The reason for this can be summed up in one word: perspective. If a dog leaps two feet off the ground and you capture it from standing height it will look like, well, nothing. Take that same two-foot leap and capture it from two inches off the ground and suddenly that dog becomes Robert Downey Jr’s replacement in the next Iron Man movie, a superhero soaring effortlessly through the sky.

9.12 FIGURE 9.12 When you get this low, you’re at risk of a gaggle of puppies swarming your head with kisses in between shots. Occupational Hazard.

If you guys are into secret tips and tricks (and I know you are), here’s a big one for photographing action dogs. If you thought action photos looked great from ground level, just wait until you see them from even lower. If the ground allows it, try digging a small trench so that you can place your camera just a few inches lower than ground level. This should allow you to shoot at a slight upward angle, further exaggerating the leaps and bounds of your action dog. Trust me when I say that it’s little things like this that make all the difference. Another trick I love to use for action shots is to find a log or branch that I can use as a hurdle (Figure 9.14). I always laugh

to see the number of dogs who outsmart me on this and simply divert their course around such an obstacle. But some dogs will embrace their new makeshift agility equipment and fly over it, allowing for incredible “four-off-the-floor” shots that, coupled with your low angle, are unforgettable slices of action-hero magic!

MOTIVATION Ok, so you’ve nailed your camera settings, you’ve chosen the perfect location, you’ve dug a little trench, and you’re ready to get unapologetically dirty taking the world’s best dog action photos. Now the big question is: how the heck do I get this dog to run at me? It would be great if there was one simple answer to this question, wouldn’t it?

9.13 F/2.8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 500, 70–200mm

9.14 F/2.8, 1/2000 sec., ISO 200, 70–200mm

9.15 F/2.8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 1000, 70–200mm

9.16 F/4.0, 1/1250 sec., ISO 1600, 70–200mm

Well, of course this is a subject with many potential angles, because every dog is different. Different dogs have different motivations, agility levels, and fears, and it’s up to you to figure out what will work best for your particular dog. Having worked with just about every type of dog personality imaginable, I’m here to show you some of my go-to methods for getting dogs to run full speed, directly at my face. I know what you’re thinking, but it’s ok: 99% of dogs come stock with fully functional brakes. First, you should check with your owner to see what they’re comfortable with. Is the dog allowed to be off leash? Does the dog have a strong recall, or will he go bounding toward you, then past you, then off into the sunset to start a new life with forest sprites, never to return? If there is even the slightest bit of hesitation about the safety of the dog being off leash, do not risk it. It’s all good. We can get action shots even with a dog who cannot be off-leash. We’ll discuss shooting action with tethered dogs in a moment, but let’s begin with the most ideal scenario.

Scenario 1: Your Dog Model Is Safe to Be off Leash and Has a Great “Stay” and Recall This is every dog photographer’s dream dog. These dogs are the shooting stars, four-leaf clovers, double rainbows—you get the point—of the dog world. It’s not often that you come across a dog with such good training, so when you do, you need to make sure you’re ready to make the most out of it.

Try having either the owner or an assistant place the dog in a sit approximately 100 feet away while you lay down in your shooting position. With the dog placed in a stay, have the owner slowly walk back to where you lay at the ready with your camera and stand directly over you. Not off to one side, directly over you, with their legs on either side of your body. Is this is little close and personal? Yes. But a dog with this level of training will almost certainly be looking directly at his owner during the entire course of his run. If the owner is off to one side, you’ll wind up with a lot of action photos, but lose the eye contact that can make these types of shots truly special. So directly above you they go. That way the trajectory of the dog’s run and their eye contact are both squarely set on you and your awaiting lens. With the owner firmly in place above you, ask them to call the dog while being as excited as possible. This “excited” part is important. We really need big energy here. This is the owner’s time to shine, so ask them to go absolutely bananas and really get wild! That enthusiasm will translate directly to the expression and the gait of the dog model mid-action. This is one of my top secrets to nailing seriously memorable and magical action shots.

9.17 F/2.8, 1/1600 sec., ISO 200, 70–200mm

Scenario 2: Your Dog Model is Safe to Be off Leash but Has a Poor “Stay” Command Dogs that fit this description are more common. Figuring out the best way to work with them for their action shots can take some trial and error, but there are a few go-to methods that I recommend. First, if the dog is highly ball-motivated, get in your shooting position and have either the owner or an assistant take a ball and walk the dog on leash until they are approximately 100 feet

away. Have the owner (or assistant) get the dog extremely excited about the ball, unleash the pup, and then chuck the ball directly at your head (Hey, I never said this job was without it’s hazards). Okay, so maybe not directly at your head, but honestly the closer the better. I always tell owners to aim to hit me right in the face with it. Generally, they protest, and I insist, knowing smugly that almost no one’s aim is quite that good (except for that one guy that one time...). The success of this method will be determined by both the dog’s obsession level with the ball, and the assistant’s ability to throw. If the dog has a poor stay and is also not ball or frisbee motivated? Here’s a solution for that one! Have an assistant walk the dog on leash approximately 100 feet away while the owner stays with you. Nine times out of 10, the dog will be owner-focused enough that he’ll want to run directly back to the owner as soon as the assistant lets him off-leash. Now, be sure your dog owner is standing exactly where they need to be (over you, or, in a perfect world, merged into your body like an amoeba on a cellular level), and that they get excited to really amplify the energy on the return run. Voila! Action magic! Regardless of which one of these methods you use, it’s important that you ask the person who is helping on the dog end of things to kindly run sideways out of frame as quickly as possible so they don’t photobomb your dog’s action shots. If you forget that part of the instruction, you’ll find yourself having to remove an errant human from the background of 45 shots in Photoshop while you cry into your keyboard at 11 p.m. on

Sunday evening.

9.18 F/2.8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 1250, 70–200mm

9.19 F/2.8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 640, 70–200mm

Scenario 3: Your Dog Model Is Not Safe to Be off Leash One of the most important accessories I bring to every shoot is

a 30-foot training leash. This sort of leash is cumbersome, annoying, and somehow always tied in a knot. However, it’s a bona fide lifesaver for action shots. Essentially, you’ll use one of the two methods described in Scenario 2, with the added challenge of the leash and an unexpected amount of surprise cardio. The most important thing about working with such a long leash is safety. Not only safety in regards to the dog not getting loose, but also safety when it comes to how you (or the owner, or your assistant) handles the leash itself. Keep in mind that because the leash is so long, your dog will most likely act as if it’s completely free. That means your dog is potentially going to reach full running speed, which can be dangerous if the leash is not properly handled. Not only could the dog reach the end of the leash abruptly, potentially causing impact or injury to his neck or trachea, but the leash itself can also become a hazard, tangling around legs of dogs and people alike. That being said, whoever is handling your on-leash action dog needs to be extremely aware of the leash at all times. It will be their job to gradually apply tension to the leash to help bring the dog to a slow and natural stop, along with making sure the leash itself doesn’t trip the dog or any of the people at your shoot. LongLeash Action Dog Wrangler is a tough job, so don’t dole out the responsibility lightly.

9.20a F/3.2, 1/1000 sec., ISO 1000, 70–200mm

9.20b F/3.2, 1/1000 sec., ISO 1000, 70–200mm FIGURE 9.20 Here’s an example of an action shot featuring a furry star who could not be off leash. While photographing this sweet boy out in Utah’s expansive Bonneville Salt Flats just as twilight began to fall, we had to keep him on leash, but still wanted to take advantage of those vast wide open spaces by allowing him to let loose and stretch his legs a bit. After a little time in Photoshop, you’d never be the wiser that he was tethered during his action shots! Safety and security is number 1, and in this case, a little Photoshop allows us to preserve those priorities while still making beautiful

imagery.

If you don’t have a long leash, there is an alternative for photographing action dogs on their standard leashes. This method involves everyone’s favorite activity, heavy cardio. Whoever assists you in this method will have to be up for the task physically, since they’ll be sprinting alongside the dog as they run toward you (while staying as far from the dog as the leash will allow, of course). Aside from the intense workout, there are a few other challenges when using this method. First, you’ll find that a lot of dogs will be extremely interested in the person they’re running with, especially at the beginning of their run. It’s important that you ask your assistant to keep their energy extremely low while the owner stays with you and gets excited, calling their dog with as much enthusiasm as possible to redirect their attention back in the direction of the camera. Unless your assistant also happens to be a track star, they may find it extremely difficult (or impossible) to keep up with the dog, especially on takeoff. One great tip is to have your assistant start by running away from you with the leashed dog model, then make a smooth 180 degree turn back toward you to complete their run. This gives the dog and your assistant a little more time to match speed before they come barreling straight toward your lens. When using this technique, just be sure that you duck quickly if the leashed space between the dog and the human comes hurtling toward your head. This way, you won’t end up with any Tarantino-esque beheadings by dog leash, which, according to our poll of dog photographers around the world, is the least preferred trajectory of any shoot.

9.21 FIGURE 9.21 Here it is. My favorite outtake of all time: Sam trying to wrangle Joshua for a series of action shots at our local baseball field. It’s a little slice of time that properly displays the true madness, mayhem, and pee-your-pants laughter that the dog-wrangling process can often be. Joshua is defying gravity in a clear quest to reach another galaxy while Sam is attempting to tame him and bring him back to planet earth. I showed Sam this photo and he said “Oh my gosh do not put that in the book.” So naturally, I had to put it in the book.

Regardless of what method you use to get your action shots, always put safety first. If you’re struggling to get the perfect shot, keep in mind that you’re asking your dog (and sometimes your assistant) to do a lot of physical activity. Be sure to give plenty of breaks, lots of water, and try not to overwork your dog. If your action shots don’t work out the first time around, give it another go toward the end of the session!

PUSH YOUR LIMITS Now you have the perfect gear, camera settings, direction of light, location, angle, and fancy new method for capturing action. You’re well on your way to capturing truly spectacular action photos. So what’s left? Well, the things that are left can be somewhat intangible. What’s left is your creativity and your drive to create one-of-akind images. If you’re looking for some suggestions to help jump-start that creativity, allow me to offer a few more things to experiment with. If you’ve mastered photographing dogs running toward you, give panning a shot. Use the same methods listed above, but capture the scene from the side instead of head-on. This can result in some gorgeous photos that can really showcase the athleticism of your dog model. Instead of a ball, try using a toy with a less-predictable trajectory. When a toy bounces in an unexpected direction, your dog will give you some unexpected results, twisting their bodies and expressing themselves in new ways, often times creating hilarious, memorable moments. For more athletic dogs, try having them jump straight up to grab onto a favorite toy or stick. The dog’s vertical jump, coupled with your low angle, should give you some truly gravity-defying shots.

Ask if your dog model has any particular quirks that you could capture. For example, does your dog bounce like he’s on a pogo stick whenever a rock splashes in the water? You’ll often be surprised with the unique shots that come from asking this one simple question.

9.22 F/2.8, 1/800 sec., ISO 1250, 70–200mm

9.23a F/2.8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 1250, 70–200mm

9.23b F/3.2, 1/1600 sec., ISO 640, 70–200mm

9.24 F/3.5, 1/1000 sec., ISO 1000, 70–200mm FIGURE 9.24 Think photographing one action dog is fun? Try two. If you’re shooting with a shallow depth of field, you may not capture both dogs in focus, but that’s ok—as long as the dog closer to the camera is in focus, and there is some sort of interaction between the two pups, I’d call it a successful shot.

9.25 F/2.8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 800, 70–200mm FIGURE 9.25 Don’t let that sweet grey muzzle fool you. Darcy was still very

much up for blasting around like she was powered by rocket fuel at her photo shoot. Bouncing through the water at top speed was simply all in a day’s work for her!

And remember, not every dog is going to be an action star. And that’s okay! Some dogs, due to age, health, breed, personality type, or weather factors, will just not be inclined to run or jump at their shoots. I find that if I have a dog like this at a shoot, I’ll simply take the time I had allotted for action and apply it to a new, unique, and creative portrait idea instead. Maybe try a shot that caters a bit more to their low-energy nature, or asks less of the dog physically. Oppositely, give your dog model the chance to surprise you. Don’t just skip this part of the shoot based on presumptions about age or health, and miss giving your dog a chance to rock and roll because you think he’s likely not an action dog. I always give every dog a chance, because you may find that some dogs unexpectedly turn out absolute brilliance in this department. I’ve had owners, blown away by surprise, cry onlocation when seeing their slow senior Lab with his gorgeous greying muzzle suddenly begin flying through the air with the same trademark joy he had when he was a youthful, wild puppy. Now, those tear-inducing moments of pure, unadulterated joy are frozen in time—captured forever for that owner to hold onto. I’d say that’s a job well done!

9.26 F/2.8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 2500, 70–200mm

CHAPTER

GROUP PHOTO TECHNIQUES WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU ENCOUNTER A GAGGLE OF WILD CORGIS.

Ah, I see. You didn’t think photographing one dog was hard enough? Now you want to graduate to two? Three? Four?! What are you, some kind of masochist? Forget dogs, at this point you might as well be photographing three dozen circus monkeys swinging off a technicolor jungle gym while wearing tiny hats. Oh, don’t worry. I’m kidding (mostly).

10.1 FIGURE 10.1 And yes! These group photo techniques can apply to friends of the feline variety, too! (I know what you’re thinking. This book is called Dogtography, isn’t it?! No one told me there’d be cats! Outrage! I demand to speak to a manager!)

Photographing multiple dogs together is most definitely a tough nut to crack, and likely one that will test all your saintly, dogloving patience, but it’s by no means impossible. In fact, there’s nothing quite as rewarding as the feeling you get when you really nail an incredible group shot of a beautiful family of dogs. Take one wiggling, waggling, constantly moving fur ball and multiply that sucker. Maybe it’s two dogs together, maybe it’s four. (Shoot, you wanna go double black diamond? Maybe it’s two dogs and a cat!) No matter the exact group situation, the one guarantee is that these types of shots will give you the

challenge of your life—but I’m here to help you conquer those ambitious shots with a few tried-and-true techniques that have lead me to success time and time again.

TAMING TWOSOMES WITH YOUR TRUSTY TETHER Don’t let the fun alliteration fool you, this technique is great for groups of nearly any size. For the purposes of our example, let’s say we’re photographing two Dachshunds. And to keep things interesting, let’s name them Booper and Beeper. It’s probably safe to say that, ideally, you’d like a photo where both dogs are in focus. In order to capture an image where both Booper and Beeper are in focus, you’ll need to get the two of them on the same focal plane. This means getting them standing (or sitting, or lying) shoulder to shoulder. Booper shouldn’t be in front of Beeper, or vice versa. This becomes especially important when shooting with a shallow depth of field, say around f/2.8. Now, some dogs are well-trained enough to do this on their own with minimal commands from their owner. However, those dogs are the rarest of unicorns, and we’re here to talk about the vast majority of dogs you’ll encounter. This is where our trusty in-ground stake once again saves the day. We’ve already covered how to use this for a single dog, but trust me when I say that this small metal accessory is an absolute godsend when photographing groups of dogs.

The key to this whole technique is simple: Both dogs should have the same length leash. It’s as easy as that. All it takes is a little communication with the dogs’ owner before your photo shoot. “Hey, could you make sure Booper and Beeper both have the same length leash? Thanks!” Of course, if you’ve failed to communicate this before the shoot, you could always cram two identical leashes into your bag and bring them along yourself for emergency backup. Once your dogs are tethered, they’re both very likely to walk to the ends of their leashes and stay there (especially if you’re there to greet them with a delicious treat). Beeper and Booper will be standing shoulder to shoulder, and you can utilize the same techniques you would when photographing a single dog, using lots of positive reinforcement to make their tethered experience a happy one!

10.2 FIGURE 10.2 Brandy and Moose were perfect candidates for this “two dog tether” technique. Since they had the same length leashes, it was easy to tie them onto the stake and have them step forward until those leashes were taut, ensuring that they were standing side by side for their photo, both on the same focal plane (or at least pretty darn close to it!).

BEHIND THE SHOT: A STINKY SURPRISE Here’s a group shot with one of the greatest making-of stories of all time. We photographed these four gorgeous

rescue dogs for a client who wanted a special shot of her whole pack together to celebrate their special bond. To start, we worked with one dog at a time while the other three ran around playing, swimming, and splashing in the shallow ocean water. Next it was time to capture our epic group shot. We only had one stake with us on-location that day, so we quickly realized tethering this group back to get them in place for their photo was out of the question. We knew that four strong dogs all clipped onto one stake feebly twisted into an underwater rocky substrate wasn’t going to hold for long, and therefore would not work out for us. The next question we arrived at was: what the heck could we put in the water behind them that would be waterproof and strong enough to tie them back to? We were perplexed. Then, a lightbulb burst above my head! As far as I could see it, we only had one option: a human. That’s right. We needed a hero. Since our human clients were dressed beautifully for their photo shoot, and Sam and I are always fully prepared with water appropriate shoes and attire, it was either him or me. And since I needed to be the one actually shooting the images, we were only left with one option. Enter Sam. Somebody put a cape on this man and cue the epic, inspirational rock ballad! Sam took all four leashes, trudged through the saltwater with our gorgeous pack of dog models, and helped get them lined up and ready to go. Next, he did his best to get as small as humanly

possible in order to make himself easier to Photoshop out later. Sam figured that, in order to hide as efficiently as possible, he would crouch and hide behind the biggest dog (our friend Jack the Doberman, the big boy on the left).

10.3a FIGURE 10.3A Here’s a little look behind the scenes at the “before” shot, where you may be able to spot Sam’s excellent hiding abilities. If you search hard enough, you’ll see him holding all four of the dogs’ leashes, hiding in the water behind the dog all the way on the right.

As the dogs jockeyed for positions, they ended up in slightly different spots within the group shot then where they started. Since the biggest dog had moved away from where Sam had crouched, and he didn’t want to disturb the group by moving, Sam decided he would settle for crouching behind the next biggest dog. Mere seconds after our friend Jack moved his brown, velveteen bum away from Sam’s face, he let loose a high-flying, gravity-defying,

projectile squirt of epic dog diarrhea. I stood there, wideeyed, as I watched it whizz past Sam’s head. I’m telling you, it was so close to his face that I could see his hair blow back. It all unfolded in front of me as if it were a slowmotion montage. Sam rolled through the water and dodged the projectile stream like an action star flying through the air after an epic stunt. Unbeknownst to us, poor sweet Jack had spent his earlier off-camera time splashing in the ocean and inadvertently consuming some salt water, and his belly was a bit upset. The good news is that after a small bout of diarrhea, Jack was 100% okay, and not even remotely bothered that his projectile poops had been caught on camera. We’ve learned to always be sure to supervise dogs around salt water and make absolutely certain that they do not drink it, and Sam now has a little extra caution in his step when he’s eye level with the back end of a dog.

10.3b

FIGURE 10.3B And here’s the “after” version—voila! No leashes, no Sam, and not a single shred of proof that diarrhea had just blasted through the sky in a straight shot at about 56 mph from the back of sweet, smiling Jack.

10.4 FIGURE 10.4 Envy, Trek, and Zain might as well have had rainbow horns growing out of their foreheads because they are three of those rare unicorn dogs that will pose for you on command. If only it were always so easy.

PUTTING PUPS ON PEDESTALS

As we discussed earlier in this book, sometimes placing your dog model up on something—perhaps a rock, a stump, or a bench—is the perfect way to get them to stay in one general area. This is just as true when working with multiple dogs. The difficulty lies with finding objects that are both large enough for multiple dogs to fit on, and more importantly, safe enough should they decide to leap off. While it’s more difficult to find suitable objects to place multiple dogs on, it’s not to say they don’t exist. It’s just up to you to keep an eye out for them, and to unlock their potential as it relates to dog photography. Take this shot of Knox, Harper, and Bear for example. One day while out for a walk by the ocean I found a dock that, during low tide, sat fully on dry land. The dock stood about three feet off the ground, and I thought to myself (as only someone obsessed with dog photography would), “Hey, this would be perfect for putting dogs on!” The dock was wide enough to easily accommodate multiple dogs. More importantly, it was the perfect height. It was tall enough to make potential dog models think twice about jumping off, but short enough so there was a nearly 0% chance of injury if they did. And wouldn’t you know it, when we popped Knox, Harper, and Bear up on the dock, they all strolled right to the end, where their owner and I were waiting with lots of treats (and, a camera, of course).

10.5 FIGURE 10.5 How do you get six constantly moving puppies to stay in one spot? A conveniently placed hay bale, of course.

10.6 FIGURE 10.6 (on the following page) This dock was the perfect size to fit these three pups, and in case you’re wondering, the surrounding water is about six inches deep. Safety first my friends!

FABULOUS FOCUSING FIXES Sometimes you’ve tried your darnedest to get your dogs all on the same focal plane, but it’s simply not working out. We’ve all been there, but hey, I’ve got your back with an amazing technique to use for just this occasion.

Say, instead of Booper and Beeper, we’re photographing Booper and Steve, in which Booper is a tiny Dachshund and Steve is a Golden Retriever. These two dogs, while both the same species, are wildly different shapes and sizes. Even when they’re tethered back to a stake on the same length leash, the simple biology that makes them such different sizes also makes it extremely difficult for both of their faces to wind up on the same focal plane. Now, there are multiple solutions to such a problem. Perhaps it’s as easy as stopping down your aperture until both dogs are in focus. This could be your answer, but what if stopping down your aperture comprises your artistic vision? What if your dream shot is an image with the shallow depth of field and the type of beautiful bokeh you can only achieve at a wide-open aperture like f/2.8. Do you give up on your dream shot, dial in f/7.1, and call it a day? I wouldn’t. Instead, I’ve had great success with a technique that just requires a little patience, and a simple extra step later in Photoshop. If you’re photographing your dogs using a single autofocus point (and I highly recommend you do), you’ll want to simply alternate that focus point between your dog models. Take a few shots focusing on Booper, take a few shots focusing on Steve. Take a few shots focusing on Booper, take a few shots focusing on Steve. Just repeat this process a few times and you’re sure to wind up with lots of photos where Booper is sharp, and lots of photos where Steve is sharp. Once you’ve unloaded your photos onto your computer, you can

select a favorite image of each pup, layer them on top of one another in Photoshop, and use a simple layer mask to replace one dog’s head. This will result in a final image where both dogs are in focus, and your shallow depth of field remains intact! “WAH!! But what if I don’t have a tripod?!” you ask. No sweat. Just make sure your base shots are created using the same camera settings, and that neither you or your dog models move around too much. Give yourself lots of options in terms of the amount of images you take. There’s a good chance you’ll have plenty of options to choose from that you can blend together pretty close to seamlessly. If you’re interested in learning more on this technique, I’ve got some great tips later on in the chapter on post processing.

10.7a

10.7b

10.7c

CAPTURING CANINE KISSES Nothing quite captures the bond between two animals like a shot of them “kissing.” I put that word in quotations because, of course, they’re not really kissing. But hey, if it conveys a message of love and bonding to our human brains, it’s ok in my book. I must preface this section with a disclaimer. This method should only be tried with dogs from the same household. Make sure to check with your dog’s owner before attempting this to

be certain that neither dog has a history of resource guarding, or similar behavior. As long as the two dogs are best buds, and you’ve done your due diligence by checking with their owner, give this a shot! It all comes back to one of my favorite items from the treat bag: Good ol’ PB. That’s right, peanut butter saves the day again! If peanut butter is not suitable for your dog model’s diet, you can try another easily lickable substance, like cream cheese or canned pumpkin. Gear-wise, I’ve found this shot more suitable for wider-angle lenses, since it allows me to work with the dogs up close. If you’re shooting with a longer lens, you’ll want the dog’s owner or an assistant to lend you a hand. Take your peanut butter (or other lickable) and hold it out in front of you. Allow both dogs to lick from it at the same time. The messier they get the better! In fact, if they’re not getting messy enough, you can cheat by using your finger to place a small dab on the outside of their mouths. After a moment of this, pull your almost-certainly gross peanut butter hand back, and take a few shots. More often than not, once the actual container of peanut butter is out of the picture, your dog models will resort to licking the remaining peanut butter off of each other’s faces, mouths, and even tongues. If you haven’t figured it out yet, this is when you shoot. While you’re doing this, you’re of course reading their body language, making sure that each dog seems comfortable and happy with the

experience. As long as you’ve done your job of gathering information from the owner beforehand you should be left with two pups that are happy to just kiss and kiss and kiss while your camera captures every glorious moment.

10.8 FIGURE 10.8 A serious question for all of you: What in this world is better than two dogs kissing? That’s a rhetorical question because, of course, the answer is nothing.

10.9

10.10

CHAPTER

THE CANINE VARIETY POWER HOUR TRIED AND TRUE SHOT IDEAS FOR EVERY SHOOT!

So this chapter is pretty cool because this is where I throw you a bone (pun very much intended). Are you heading out on your first dog photo shoot and you fear you might not know what exactly to shoot when you get there? Well, never fear! This is the chapter where I give you some insider hints on some of the most tried and true dog portrait ideas that have resonated very well with my clients and seem to sell time after time after time.

50MM OVERHEAD PUPPY-EYES PORTRAIT This is it—the number one charmer in pet photography, hands down, and also one of the simplest shots to make on location.

This is given that your dog model is comfortable with you and you’ve gone through all the necessary steps to get to know them and manage their energy brilliantly throughout the shoot. Otherwise, this type of shot can be intimidating for a fearful or unbalanced dog. For this shot, all you need is a simple prime lens—typically either a 50mm or 35mm. Set it to somewhere around f/2.0 (wide, wide open!), stand above your dog model with a delicious treat or very exciting toy, look directly down on their big, gorgeous puppy-dog eyes, and snap away. Quick tips for this type of shot: Make sure to hunt around your location for an awesome swath of ground. That’s right! The ground is essentially going to be your background for this shot, so look for cool textures and colors that would look interesting slightly blurred and out of focus. Try for colorful leaves or bright green grass. Rocks and pebbles make awesome backgrounds too! Or, if you’re really looking to knock it out of the park, pull off this shot in a patch of flowers and you’re really on fire! Pay close attention to light conditions and be sure to create this type of shot in super even light. If it’s a sunny day, find the nice, even shade of a tree. If it’s a cloudy day, you’re in luck because this shot will work almost anywhere! (Yay for clouds! A softbox comin’ atcha straight from the Heavens!)

Try to keep some open sky or source of indirect natural light to your back so when the dog looks up at you, they get gorgeous, delicious and gooey catchlights in their eyes to make them really sparkle and shine. Use a 50mm lens for a small dog, and a 35mm lens for a taller dog. Think 50mm for a Corgi or Yorkie, or 35mm for a Lab or German Shepherd—you’ll need the extra breathing room that the 35mm will give you if you’ve got a taller dog and you’re trying this from standing height, especially if you’re on the shorter side, like me!

11.1 FIGURE 11.1 Here I am, shooting the overhead 50mm puppy-eyes portrait of my gorgeous little model, Merrick, out in the Poconos region of Pennsylvania, in a bed of flowers (that I think are technically actually very beautiful weeds) in the Spring.

If you have a super tall dog and you feel you can’t get high enough or far enough away, trying searching for a rock, stump, or bench to stand up on so you can really get the effect of looking down on the dog. Be aware that towering or leaning over a dog from human standing height can be very intimidating, in terms of body language. Add in the fact that you’ll likely be covering up your face with your clicky black box, effectively turning yourself into a monster-machine thingamajiig, and this shot can throw off the energy off the day if you try it out too early. Always be sure your dog is confident and comfortable with you before attempting this shot.

11.2a

11.2b FIGURE 11.2 Finding an interesting swath of ground to put behind the dog for the puppy-eyes shot can make all the difference in the final impact of the image. Here are two examples of two very different ground types—Daisy is in a bed of purple, springtime flowers; and Lucy is standing amongst the fallen autumn leaves. Always hunt for eye-catching colors and textures on the ground throughout the course of your shoot so you can pull off this shot in the most intriguing way possible.

11.3a

11.3b FIGURE 11.3 Both Ginger and Rocky, the two larger-breed dogs pictured here, were too tall for me to pull off the puppy-eyes shot using the traditional 50mm lens. In both of their cases, I switched to a wider prime option, the 35mm at f/1.4, and found just the right amount of breathing room to accommodate for their eye level from my standing height.

ACTION: RUNNING Got a super active dog model that might need to get a little wild energy out? Have a dog model that’s an agility star? This type of image will likely be high on the owner’s bucket list, so it’s a brilliant solution for getting in some much-needed energy expulsion at the beginning of the shoot while also nailing those high-flying moments that are hugely popular with the owners. Quick tips for this type of shot: Always be at 1/1000th of a second or faster Set your camera’s focus mode to AI Servo

Face your dog model into the source of light, so that when he runs at you, your camera can focus on his face with the aid of the sun. If your dog model is fetch-inclined, motivate him to run toward you by having either the owner or your assistant throw a tennis ball or toy directly at your camera. (I’ve been bonked off the head by more stuffed animals than I can count. Occupational Hazard.) If your dog model is not interested in fetch but has a solid sit-stay command, you can place him in a sit about 50 or so feet back and have his owner stand over you while you lay on the ground on your stomach. Then, when you’re ready, have his owner recall the dog toward you. Get very excited when the dog starts to run in your direction. The dog is less likely to veer off his path due to some other very intriguing distraction if you can keep his energy up and his focus on you during the entire course of the action sequence. This energy and excitement goes for owners as well—you must get them on your team and have them go wild as the dog runs toward you both. The owner’s energy will do 10 times the work of yours, since the dog is more emotionally connected to their owner’s voice and excitement.

11.4

11.5

ACTION: JUMP! ANTI-GRAVITY DOGS If your dog model is not much of a fetcher, but is built like a pogo stick and spends quite a bit of time defying gravity (I’m looking at you Jack Russell Terriers!), try to get a shot of him jumping vertically, rather than running toward you. These moments can be absolutely epic when frozen mid-air, and I find that they delight the owner every single time. Quick tips for this type of shot: You can get away with a much shallower depth of field for this type of shot, since your subject should be jumping straight up and down, rather than coming toward you. This up-and-down action will keep him on mostly the same plane of focus the entire time. By shooting nice and wide open (say, f/2.8 or wider), you have the ability to really separate your heroic, highflying subject from a dreamy, creamy out-of-focus background quite dramatically, which really helps isolate the magic and intensity of his action. Have the owner use something very high value, like a delicious treat or favorite toy to promote the dog to jump upward. Due to the body position that the owner has to be in to snag a shot like this, you may have to pull some postprocessing magic to make it look like the dog is alone in

the frame. Once you nail the jump shot that you want, set your lens to manual focus, have your owner and dog step out of the frame, and take a shot of the background while it’s absolutely clear. Then, later in Photoshop, you can layer this file on top of your choice photo to quickly and easily remove the owner from the frame. PRO TIP

Don’t forget to click your lens back onto

Autofocus or else the rest of your shoot will be a wash! Try nailing this shot with a 200mm lens for ultimate compression and gorgeous background bokeh. As with all action-type shots, always be at 1/1000th of a second or higher. Try to keep the ground in the frame for at least some of these types of shots; that really helps anchor the perspective and gives a dramatic sense of height to the dog’s jump and increases the impact and agility in the photo. Get low to the ground for this type of shot. The lower you are, the more epic and impactful the height on your dog model’s jump is going to look.

11.6

11.7a

11.7b FIGURE 11.7 Trying to capture Zailey in all of her anti-gravity glory was a fun challenge. The photo on the left is a good example of how weird the perspective can get when you don’t get low enough while you’re taking this type of shot. Because I am photographing her in this frame from standing height, her high-flying body doesn’t come across as that high-flying at all, and her feet merge with the horizon line in a way that might be confusing to the viewer’s eye. In the shot on the right, I took the time to get down low and correct my shooting angle. Here, it is easy to see that Zailey is in fact jumping, and that she’s got a real shot at going pro with the Dallas Mavericks.

11.8 FIGURE 11.8 Photographing Bahlue at 200mm while he was pogo-sticking his way through his session was a beautiful way to keep him separated from the busier, tree-filled background while pulling all of the visual focus directly onto his very own production of the “Big Green Ball Ballet.” 5 Stars. I highly recommend.

PLAYING WITH A FAVORITE TOY OR BALL Typically, about halfway through the session, just to break up any intensity of the day, I like to ask the dog’s owner to give them something absolutely brilliant that they love and enjoy at home. Most times, the dog will take that delicious treat, toy, or favorite ball and go find somewhere quiet to enjoy it. If you’re able to hunker back for a bit and watch your dog model direct their attention to their favorite ball or toy, you’re almost guaranteed to reset the energy of the shoot day into a warm and comfortable place for the dog,

and get some amazing candid imagery that captures the magic of the dog happily enjoying something he loves. This is when I’ll pull out a long lens and give the dog lots of breathing room to just relax and do his thing, unaware that I’m stalking him from some nearby bush or from way ahead on the path. A lot of times, these are going to be the most authentic shots of the day—the ones where the dog owners see everything they love and are familiar with about the dog all wrapped up into one photo. They may not be the most exciting shots of all time for us photographers to take, but including some of these in the gallery has always historically been a win for me. Quick Tips for this type of shot: Stay back so as not to impede upon the unaware, natural joy and energy of the moment. Try shooting at 200mm. Ask the dog owners not to talk to the dog or interfere with the moment, as well. While you cannot 100% control this (and by god if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that dogs don’t care about good light), try to place the dog and his favorite toy, stick, or treat in good light, and face him initially in the direction you’d prefer he be facing. The dog will very likely twist and turn and change his position as he naturally moves and

plays, but at least this starting point will give you a better chance of creating imagery that really rocks. Be super aware that this is a situation where there’s a chance your dog model may become possessive or protective over his very good thing, whatever stick, treat, or toy that thing may be. So always communicate with the owners on any resource guarding concerns and respect the dog’s space with a longer lens while he’s enjoying his coveted treasure.

11.9

11.10 FIGURE 11.10 This is my own delicious doofus, Joshua, the dog I share my life with. He makes a brilliant model for me because he’s so exceptionally happy, expressive, and patient. Because Joshua is unendingly tolerant when it comes to all things having to do with a camera, I’m usually quite up in his personal bubble, trying out new techniques and ideas. In this rare moment, I decided to step far back from him and throw a 200mm lens on my camera to non-invasively allow him to enjoy his ball and see what might happen naturally. I delight in the candor of this happy moment, which reminded me how brilliant and rewarding it truly is to just let dogs be dogs at their photo shoots.

11.11

DOG WITH OWNERS I know, I know. Please take a moment to insert your sigh here if you’re anything like me. This is a no judgement zone and I support you. I say that because you likely became (or aspire to become) a dog photographer because, frankly, you’re not a huge fan of photographing people. When I first started out as a photographer, I would take any job at all just to make ends meet. I found out very quickly, however, that any creative directive that included me having to photograph a human was

one that bummed me out and made me dread it in the days leading up to it more than any other. To speak frankly and simply, photographing human beings is not what I’m passionate about. What I’m passionate about is photographing dogs. For a long time, when a human became involved as the subject of any of my shots, the task of capturing an image immediately became “work” to me. That said, including the dog’s owner in photos never used to be something I would immediately jump to as an option at my shoots unless it was explicitly requested. Fast forward to today, and I’m happy to say that my feeling on all that has shifted a bit. Here’s why: If you’re in the business of photographing dogs, then the chances are pretty good that you know what it’s like to love a dog. If you do, in fact, share your life with a dog, then you may also know exactly what it’s like to have a bond so deep, so beautiful, and so pure that it’s hard to capture in words. Dogs like to do this sneaky thing where they come into our lives, change everything we ever knew about love, and then leave us (far too soon) as better and more beautiful people. Over the past 10 years of photographing dogs, I started to realize that if I make imagery with that consideration in mind and aim to capture the genuine and inimitable bond between dog and human, then I could come around to loving photographing humans as they relate to the dogs I love so much. What I love more than anything is the individual and unique connection that each dog owner has with their dog, and the tiny nuances of the

authentic connection that I have the ability—no, the privilege— to capture through my lens. I think what helped me most with this was changing my perspective on the way I approached shooting dog-owner photos. I used to fuss about getting the humans organized perfectly alongside their dogs and then worry about posing their bodies in flattering ways. On top of that, of course, came the obsession about sharpness, the need to have the correct aperture to fit multiple subjects into the frame, trying to be sure white balances were good for skin tones, and making sure all sources of light were even and flattering. That stuff used to really stress me out.

11.12 FIGURE 11.12 One day, long after these sweet and special furry souls have made their great adventure into the stars and away from the life they knew on earth, these owner-and-dog photos in particular are going to be some of the single most special things the owners will have to honor their once-in-a-

lifetime dog’s memories. Once I began to see the kind of magic I was able to capture in these photos, I slowly started to look forward to that moment in the photo shoot where I got to capture the dog-owner bond.

After shooting loads of dog-family portraits that checked all the technical boxes and were considered good or even great, I started to loosen up a little bit about what I considered a successful dog-owner portrait to be. I started throwing the perfectly-polished-technique stuff out the window in favor of genuine interaction. To begin, I’ll say to the owner, “Let’s nail those posed family portraits and get them right out of the way so that we can move onto the fun stuff. The real stuff.” I’ve gotten a really good reaction from clients on that front. They typically agree that while they may want one or two posed and polished portraits for Grandma and Grandpa’s mantle, they too are more excited about the genuine moments of silliness and connection that are so authentic to their unique connection with their dog. It’s about relaxing into the process together, and gently coaxing out the gold. The good stuff. The magic stuff.

11.13

11.14

Let me show you an example of these two different types of portraits. Here’s what I would consider a “good” family portrait that nails all the technical boxes and can stand on its own two feet on a mantle somewhere next to the antique brass clock or fancy

scented candle (Figure 11.13). Great, nailed it. Check. Now, here’s the photo that means something. Here’s the real stuff that life is made out of. The in-between. The love. The indescribable joy of truly knowing the heart of a dog (Figure 11.14). This is the kind of photo—the kind of moment—that turned me around and made me excited about photographing the dogowner bond for the first time in, well, ever. Quick tips for this type of shot: Try using a long lens (200mm or so) to expand your plane of focus while still keeping a gorgeous, shallow depth of field. This means that if you have two or more subjects, you have a much more forgiving plane of focus to work with zoomed in at 200mm when you’re farther away than you would using, for example, a 50mm, and much closer to your subjects. The long lens also gives you the ability to back up and gift your photo subjects with some space, which is usually helpful in reducing inhibitions. For people who may feel insecure about having their photo taken, try including them in the frame somewhere slightly behind the dog and shooting at a wide-open aperture. This approach achieves two things: You have the gorgeous, airy, and ethereal type of image that f/1.4

tends to magic into even the most basic of shots; and you are being sensitive to your human client’s aesthetic insecurities while still artistically capturing the spirit of their bond with their dog. This technique gives the “idea” of the person in the frame without making them the highlight of the shot. The dog will be in clear focus while the presence of their human remains in the shot. I have to tell you, shots like these are a hit with my clients every time. In order to provoke silliness between owner and dog, try having the owners get licks or kisses from their pup. This action almost always elicits laughter from the human, and if you shoot strategically at moments when the dog’s tongue isn’t flapping around somewhere inside their owner’s mouth (ha ha, gross), then you typically get exceptionally moments of connection.

genuine

and

beautiful

As a rule for both photographer and dog owner—don’t ever force a dog to give physical affection to their owner for a photo. If a dog isn’t willingly giving up snuggles or kisses, any forced into interaction is going to be disrespectful to the dog and risks disrupting their comfortability in the overall session. It also comes across in the final images as forced. Instead, if your dog model isn’t into the cuddling thing, try scenarios where the dog and owner are naturally and organically

interacting together, like walking down a path together or playing fetch. Photos that involve human beings work best when said human being is comfortable with the person beepbopping around behind the lens. That’s you. Based on this, I find it works out best to attempt to do any photos that include the owners more toward the end of the session, once you’ve already had ample time together to interact, laugh, adventure through the day and build rapport. Additionally, be sensitive to the human need for feedback. You probably won’t spend the entire session yelling niceties at your dog model from behind the lens (unless you’re me on 85% of my shoots where I get too excited to control myself even though I know for certain the dog I’m working with doesn’t speak English), but make sure you shift your mindset the moment a human being steps in front of your lens. Give feedback to your new human model as you move throughout their portion of the shoot. Most times, they’re not going to be professional models and are likely going to be feeling very vulnerable and awkward with the lens of a big, clunky DSLR pointed at them. So be kind. Be sure to talk, interact and reassure them that they’re doing awesome and looking fantastic. If they don’t look fantastic, gently direct them to help them do better. I can’t tell you the number of shoots I’ve been on with other photographers who are giving zero feedback to their human clients when they’re behind the lens. It

blows my mind that people work like this. The amount of secondhand anxiety it gives me for the very confused and uncomfortable-looking client is hard to describe. Communication is the single most important skill one can master in life; you cannot leave this behind just because you primarily deal with non-speaking animals for a living.

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11.18 FIGURE 11.18 Here is a good example of a compelling and storytelling photograph that includes Ruby’s owners and their meaningful role in her life, but does not star them or put the focus directly onto them. This is great for owners who want an image that captures their bond with the dog while not wanting to appear too prominently in any photographs.

SILHOUETTES I very regularly forget that silhouette shots exist, and it’s only after the session is done and dusted that I have photographer’s remorse (20/20 hindsight?) and think “Damn! I so should have taken a silhouette shot of this dog!.” Silhouette shots are timeless and magical. I’ve found that they are also universally loved by all dog owners. In a silhouette

shot, you’re capturing an idea. An icon. A moment that exists in a space where there are no signs of age or poor health. There are no grey hairs on a dog’s sweet time-tested muzzle, there are no tumors or cloudy-eye cataracts or missing teeth. There is only the fairytale of the moment and the simple and beautiful shape of the dog that is branded so familiarly and so deeply into that owner’s heart. The shape is ageless and the shape is timeless. It could exist in a million galaxies all at once. It can tell a thousand different stories. That is what makes the silhouette shot so special. If you’re asking what exactly is a silhouette, first, you should know that technically, the very essence of a silhouette shot is a gross and unapologetic breaking of one of the many “rules” of photography. (Rules that I very passionately believe should be learned, but not always followed.) A true silhouette shot is an underexposure of your subject that aims to make them true black against a brighter background. Typically, having no detail or technical information in the dark parts (shadows) of your images is a big no-no and has been dubbed with the term “clipping.” But in the case of a silhouette shot, this clipping technique is actually what you’re aiming for. In order to achieve a silhouette, you need to put your subject against a background that is many stops brighter than it is. This way you can effectively reduce the exposure on the foreground subject until it’s nothing but an outline. When you adjust your exposure to compensate for the brightness of the background, anything in the foreground should turn to pure black. The magic comes in when you’ve got your subject positioned in such a way that

you can see their perfect outline against the background, usually the sky. Considering the typical shape of a dog’s body, you’re almost always better off with your dog position sideways to the camera, rather than facing straight into it. Since the silhouette will only represent one plane of focus, if your dog is facing you, their head, shoulders, back, butt, and tail are all going to squish into one indistinguishable blob that may or may not be representative of a dog. For a sure bet at a successful and recognizable silhouette, turn your dog to the side to see the outline of his body. (Shout out to all the Poodles, Greyhounds, and Viszlas of the earth for their world-class, rockstar sillhouettes! These breeds are perfect candidates for this type of shot, thanks to their beautiful elongated bodies and long, lanky legs!) Silhouettes work best when you have a very clean outline of your subject. That means you need to be able to get your subject up against almost 100% sky, rather than having the lines of their shape run into other dark elements that might be in the frame. For silhouette shots, you’re going to need to be shooting from the absolute lowest perspective point possible, which virtually always means that you are going to have to nab this type of shot by either putting your camera to the ground to shoot blind, or lying on your stomach looking through the viewfinder. In order to help you gain the best perspective for a silhouette shot, it’s super helpful if you can find an element onlocation that will help you raise your dog model up as high into

the sky as possible. A rock, log, or even park bench will help raise your dog to this perspective. Or, if none of these location features are available, try finding a natural hill or even just a slight incline in the landscape and place your subject on the highest ground possible. Once you have them up there, go to the lowest point of depression and lie there to pull off the angle you’ll need for a successful silhouette. Be sure to pay attention to every element of your dog’s silhouette, from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. If you have the dog’s feet connecting with the ground in such a way that you lose the outline of their ankles and paws and they simply merge into the ground, then you aren’t shooting from low enough. Time of day: technically, you can make silhouettes at almost any time of day outdoors, but you’ll likely agree that the majority of the most impactful silhouette shots you’ll see are going to be ones that are taken at sunset or twilight. Either just before sunrise or just after sunset are going to be the times of day that you should be focusing on to create beautiful and effective silhouette shots. Extra points for an amazing sunset sky that’s swirling with vibrant color. Of course, Mother Nature is a fickle friend, and she’ll never guarantee you a remarkable, color-splashed sky, but if you put yourself in the right place at the right moment enough times, eventually you’re bound to hit a winner of a night and really knock it out of the park with a once-in-a-lifetime silhouette shot.

Including owners in a silhouette shot is a clever, artistic and truly beautiful way to include humans in images who may be just a bit more self-conscious about being in a properly exposed photo. If someone is insecure but loves the idea of having an impactful image that shows their bond with the dog, I always offer a silhouette as the perfect option. If you choose to capture your owner and dog duo (or heck! Entire family!) in this way, be super aware of the sensitivities of creating a successful silhouette. Make sure that every part of your subjects in the photo has a clear and distinct separation. Make sure there are no body parts overlapping or “merging” into each other. You want as many angles in body parts as possible to create a compelling shape that will translate to the overall story of the image. Typically, I tell any humans who want to be a part of my photos that they need to be as close together as possible, because spaces between people and dogs in photos look huge and disjointed. This is the only time that I flip that rule and tell them I need them spaced cleanly and appropriately. Here are some photo examples.

11.19 F/2.8, 1/2000 sec., ISO 125, 70–200mm

11.20a F/5.0, 1/160 sec., ISO 100, 16–35mm

11.20b F/5.0, 1/160 sec., ISO 100, 16–35mm FIGURE 11.21 In the silhouette attempt on the left, I made the mistake of not getting low enough to ensure that the dog model was completely silhouetted against the sky. Below, you can see that, due to my perspective, the dog’s feet visually merge with the ground and blend into black, making the dog look very short. Once I noticed on the back of my camera that I had not made a successful silhouette on my first attempt, I then laid down on the ground on my stomach, getting as low as possible, in order to cleanly place the model (and all his limbs! hallelujah!) against the illuminated sky. Oh, and I asked his owner to move the heck out of the shot, too.

11.21 F/4.0, 1/80 sec., ISO 2500, 12–24mm FIGURE 11.21 One of my favorite silhouette shots of all time: this is Trooper the Pit Bull and Moe the French Bulldog. Silhouetted against the vibrant California sky in the magical shades of twilight, these two friends and their lasting legacy were captured. My two favorite parts about this photo are as follows: There is one very enthusiastic tongue “mlem” happening here, and there are only seven legs between the two dogs. The culprit of these impossible crimes of cute might just be pointing to one little guy in particular, but I’ll never say which!

11.22 F/2.8, 1/200 Sec., ISO 1250, 70–200mm

PLAY! Throughout your session, your dog model is going to do lots of endearing and sweet little things that are naturally and quintessentially dog. In fact, you know you’re doing a really good job with the flow of your adventure together if the dog is in a relaxed and comfortable mindset that allows him to be carefree and do all those candid dog-centric things. Things like finding cool sticks and carrying them along, digging fabulous holes, rolling in the sand, sniffing delicious stinky scents,

peeing on cool treasures that have, by the almighty law of dog, now become theirs. If you see any or all of these things happening on the day of your shoot, you know you’re rocking and rolling at an awesome pace and that your dog model is offering you photographic gems without even noticing. Don’t idly let these moments pass you by. These unscripted moments are full of magic, and they’re the exact reason why this dog owner hired you—to have the ability to know what’s important and what’s worth photographing. You can’t ask a dog to do whatever candid dog-task he did ten minutes ago again, but in better light. Nope. If there’s anything I’ve learned from all my experiences in this line of slobber-covered work, it’s that dogs don’t appreciate good light quite like we do. They also do not concern themselves with shutter speeds, ISOs, or the general quality of your photograph. That’s the magic of this job. It’s defying every single odd and standing up in the face of impossible challenges and making it happen anyway.

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FIGURE 11.23 Rolling on their back.

11.24 FIGURE 11.24 Digging holes.

11.25 FIGURE 11.25 Carrying a stick.

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So, pay attention. Watch your dog model like a hawk. Anticipate his behavior, revel in his joy. And photograph those candid moments that come with a no do-over clause. These tiny moments of play and quick and unscripted expressions of joy have, time and time again, made the very best photographs I have ever been lucky (and prepared) enough to take. Let me share with you some moments of unscripted candor that, despite trying a few hundred times, I’ve not successfully been able to get a dog to comply with my request for a do-over. Keep in mind that these are just the candid moments I’ve been

able to snag over the years—forget about the hundreds I’ve probably missed while beeping around with the settings on the back of my camera or being otherwise distracted trying too hard to plan the next shot.

11.27 FIGURE 11.27 Licking.

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FIGURE 11.28 Jumping off a rock, log, or dock.

11.29 FIGURE 11.29 Shaking water off.

11.30 FIGURE 11.30 Splashing.

COMICAL, WIDE ANGLE If you really want to dial in some fun and humor to your images, try stepping outside of your normal lens comfort zone and popping on an ultra wide angle. If you photograph your pup’s face quite close to the camera at say, 16mm, you’ll get the impossibly cute “bobblehead” look that bowls over most human beings. The distortion of the lens renders the dog’s head quite large, while making his body, which is further back in the

frame, appear much smaller. The combination of these two elements injects whimsy and silliness into the imagery and is the perfect prescription for any cold human heart the world over.

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FIGURES 11.31–11.33 Comical and Wide Angle. ‘Nuff said.

COMPRESSED PORTRAIT WITH BOKEH OR BACKGROUND BLUR If you find yourself spending a lot of time with a more standard or traditional lens type plunked onto the end of your camera, change it up a bit and try out a zoom lens. Use 200mm, for example, and step way, way back. Place your pup model in front of a really beautiful, backlit swath of grass or greenery, and see what happens when you photograph him at 200mm. You should find that the whole scene compresses into a bit of

fairytale magic, and so long as your focus point is nailing the dog’s eye, you’re going to end up with a pretty special portrait that dog owners desperately trying to capture their dog in iPhone’s portrait mode could only dream about! (See! Screw you, ever-advancing mobile technology! Us pro photographers are still good for something!)

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DETAIL SHOTS There are a thousand tiny little pieces of magic that make up the dogs that we love so much. Try to remember to capture even these smallest of characteristics and physical attributes at your photo shoot. Tails, paws, snouts, bums (especially those glorious, hairy Corgi pantaloons, if you know what I’m talking about!). Detail shots are especially brilliant if you know you are shooting to fill an album that your client will want printed after the shoot. Tight, macro type close-ups on all the little parts that

make up the overall dog are absolutely beautiful puzzle pieces to weave into albums to really make the shoot feel intimate and special. I always try to remember to shoot the details—those little bits of magic that we love so much about our Bassett Hound’s slightly turned out feet, or our German Shepherd’s perfect, swooshing masterpiece of a tail. It’s our job as artists to decide what’s important and what’s worth showcasing in a single still image. Most times, the dog’s owner won’t even realize you’re taking them when you’re there together on location, so they become a huge, delightful surprise at the time of the image premiere or first peek at the session gallery.

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CHAPTER

ILLUMINATION NATION FLASHBULBS BURSTING LIKE THE FOURTH OF JULY.

Ah, lighting. Nothing simultaneously inspires you and makes you want to put your camera away forever quite like off-camera lighting. The potential that using additional lighting unlocks in creating unforgettable imagery is infinite, but along with that potential comes an additional layer of complication that is quick to overwhelm and discourage beginners. Therefore, while I think this topic is important to have an understanding of, I will also preface this chapter with a few words of wisdom: Don’t worry! You don’t have to add additional lighting to your imagery just for the sake of adding it if it’s really not your personal flavor. There are many natural-light only dog photographers at the tippity top of this industry that have found mountains of success simply by the light of the sun.

On the other hand, if you do want to try and incorporate

artificial lighting into your shoots, I have one major word of advice: Do not get too caught up in the happenings of this particular chapter until you have mastered everything else in this book. (Happen to notice that this chapter has come toward the end of the book? Ahh, that’s some purposeful placement, my friends!) That means get a solid and confident handle on interpreting dog body language, working with dogs on location, choosing the best location, and camera settings for natural light, first. All of this knowledge should be ingrained in you so deeply that it is autonomic, like breathing. Adding additional lighting should serve to further your image’s story in a meaningful way. It shouldn’t, however, be thrown carelessly into the mix as an additive just because you feel like maybe you’re “supposed to” use it. For me personally, I didn’t begin to add additional lighting into my work until I had been shooting regularly for almost two years. Everyone’s timeline for when (or if) they feel ready to start adding additional sources of light into their work will be different. But know that you should walk before you can run. Flap your wings before you can fly. Gas up the ol’ vehicle before you can hop on the freeway and blast across the contiguous United States. You get it. To get them out of the way, let’s address two of the most major challenges you’ll likely face when working with additional lighting in the context of dog photography. There’s a real risk in attempting shots with off-camera lighting before truly understanding how to work with dogs. You may master the settings, angles, and intensities of your external

light sources and feel confident to incorporate them into your photo shoots. But, no matter how lovely and nuanced you can proudly sculpt your light, when it comes to application in dog photography, a nicely lit photo of a terrified dog is, at the end of the day, still a photo of a terrified dog. Make sure you’re an absolute pro when it comes to making your dog model comfortable on your shoot before attempting to bring out any additional lighting gear, whether it’s as simple as a single reflector or as complicated as a multi-strobe set-up with 72” parabolic modifiers blowing in the wind. When it comes to camera settings, you’re already thinking about aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. Adding in a flash or a strobe limits certain camera settings and adds the fourth variable of the flash power. These settings will be something you’ll want to have a handle on quickly and seamlessly in order to be able to move your dog model in and out of a potentially high-stress situation as efficiently and successfully as possible. So, my advice is that you work hard at being a master of your camera and how to handle many various natural light scenarios before attempting to add in this extra complication. Otherwise, you risk overwhelming yourself and just saying, “This is too hard.” When it comes to artificial lighting and the general sampling of photographers’ opinions on it, I typically find that there’re two camps, with two varying points of view. Camp #1 is full of people who consider themselves natural-light-only photographers. Some people have tried all styles of

photography and decided that they greatly prefer the look of natural light—and that’s 100% fine! Camp #2 thinks that it’s impossible to make a professional-looking photo without the use of additional lighting. My vein of thinking is somewhere in the middle. Having an understanding of many different lighting types and scenarios is brilliant, but knowing when to use them and when not to use them is the key to creating great photography in any situation. Let’s start by covering four basics types of additional lighting. We’ll chat about some pros and cons, as well as some of my favorite ways to use each type of lighting.

12.1 F/1.8, 1/200 sec., ISO 400, 35mm FIGURE 12.1 I shot this image for one of the greatest organizations I’ve ever been lucky enough to work with: the Southeastern Guide Dogs based in Palmetto, Florida. For this image, we headed to an urban downtown area, where we waited until the dim of twilight to settle in in order to capture the city lights as they began to sparkle and shine. Our guide dog model stood amidst the LED-lit water fountains, and I shot as they cycled through the color spectrum. Using artificial light allowed me to capture this image, which otherwise would have been too dark to be worth anything.

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12.2b F/2.8, 1/125 sec., ISO 500, 16–35mm FIGURE 12.2 We had six sets of hands behind the scenes to photograph PJ the Chihuahua in New York City. Here’s a pull-back of our shoot starring this pint-sized hero, which took place at 1 a.m. in the midst of the sparkle of Times Square’s iconic glow.

12.3 F/2.0, 1/125 Sec., ISO 500, 50mm FIGURE 12.3 I love me a good alleyway. Luckily, I’m based in Boston, and we have lots of gorgeous, charming little alleyways winding throughout the city’s historical streets. One of my favorite techniques for shooting in a long alleyway is to light my subjects from behind with a small, optically triggered speedlight. In a tight alleyway toward dusk, this backlight achieves two things: it gives my furry subjects a beautiful, defining rim light, and it bounces off the walls of the buildings framing the alleyway, lighting the delicate details and intricacies of all the interesting urban textures in the scene. I find shooting in alleyway locations preferable to working at them in daylight. I love the moodiness and grit of a city scene.

REFLECTORS

Good ol’ reflectors—the perfect place to start when it comes to adding additional light to (or maybe more like modifying existing light in) your photos. The awesome thing about reflectors is that they’re incredibly cheap. Anywhere between $30 to $60 is going to get you an excellent reflector. They come in all different sizes and in a variety of colors, but I find myself most often using a 42” silver reflector. This is a great size for bouncing a lot of light, while also collapsing small enough to cram in the front of a camera bag. Reflectors can be used in many different ways when taming and redirecting natural light. True to their name, their reflective surfaces catch and bounce light back in any given direction, depending on angle and position. For my purposes in dog photography, I’ve found that using a reflector can work wonders for filling in shadows on photos that are backlit (when the source of light is coming in behind your dog model). Simply position the sun behind your subject, look for the light, and hold the reflector opposite your dog model. Tilt it just slightly until you catch the sun and see it reflected back onto your subject. If it’s not powerful enough, move the reflector in as far as possible without being in the photo. If the sunlight is too powerful, move back or change the angle of the reflector so that you aren’t slamming a direct beam of harsh light right into the innocent eyes of your unsuspecting dog model. If there is simply too much light being redirected onto your subject, tilt the reflector away from the scene until just the edge of the light gently grazes or “kisses” your subject. If a silver (or gold)

reflector is too powerful, try using white. A white reflector will produce a much softer and less pointed quality of light for a more subtle lighting effect.

12.4a

12.4b F/2.0, 1/200 sec., ISO 200, 35mm FIGURE 12.4 As I began photographing Daphne in front of this sparkly backlit swath of forest, I checked out the exposure on the back of my camera and realized she could use just a little pop of light on the front of her to help even out the exposure. Left: No Reflector; Right: A silver reflector was added.

A wonderful benefit of working with reflectors is that you don’t have to change any camera settings. You’re not limited by sync speed. They are simply a What You See Is What You Get (or WYSIWYG) light source. When using a reflector, simply shoot as you would any other natural light photo, and control the power and positioning of the reflector to your liking. Best case scenario, you’ll have an assistant hold the reflector

for you on your shoot. If working alone, see if the dog’s owner is willing to help—they often love to have a job, and this is one great solution to keep them from doing that incessant squeaking thing we talked about way back in chapter 4!) Without someone to hold the reflector, you can always clip it to a stand. It’s a feasible idea in concept, but in practice, lugging around a stand, clips, and probably a few sandbags to keep the whole contraption upright during your shoot is likely going to be a bit more than you bargained for. Worst case scenario, and trust me, I’ve been there, is to balance the reflector yourself while simultaneously shooting. I can usually work out how to lean it on my knee as I’m crouched down, camera to my face. Do you risk looking like a fool doing it this way? Heck ya! But when has that ever stopped you before?! The down side about using reflectors is that you’re going to frequently find yourself in situations where it turns out to be quite unusable. This includes but is not limited to shooting on cloudy or overcast days, shooting at night, or shooting indoors (unless of course, you find some sweet window light to bounce). But hey, if it rains on location, at least you can pop it open and hide under it for shelter!

PRO TIP

Reflectors tend to “pop” open once you remove them

from their little case, and doing so can easily scare the proverbial hairpants off of your dog model. The small poofy explosion of an enthusiastically unfurling reflector is enough to knock your dog model’s energy off course to a place where you

may not be able to pull him back from. Make sure to open your reflector slowly, and allow the dog to sniff it once it’s made its full transformation. If the dog seems unsure, lay the reflector flat on the ground and place a few treats on it to help your dog understand that the reflector is their friend!

CONTINUOUS LIGHTING If you haven’t inferred it based on the name, the wonderful thing about continuous lighting is that it’s always on. I think of Continuous LED lighting quite often when I watch movies. Sometimes, when I find the light to be absolutely stunning in a given scene, I close my eyes and imagine the camera pulling back in a slow reveal, exposing all the glorious lights and gels and snoots and general lighting sorcery, all positioned just off camera past the actor’s shoulder. Since video and cinema lighting has to light a scene or a subject for an extended period of moving film, rather than a single, still moment, there can’t be any sudden flashes or changes in the lighting conditions. Those lighting conditions must remain constant. Due to their unchanging, un-flashing nature, they can be a great solution for adding light when photographing a skittish dog who may otherwise get blown off the face of the planet by the sudden pop of a high-powered strobe. Like a reflector, continuous lights do not need to be synced with your camera in any way, meaning setup and use is a breeze. Unlike a reflector, they produce their own light, so they

can be a perfect solution for shooting on cloudy or overcast days, during evening hours, or indoors—all the areas where reflectors fall short. One of the best things about using a continuous light is that you can actually see its results in real time. You don’t have to wait for a flash, and then fumble to check the back of your camera to see if your light is too bright or if it’s positioned correctly. Since you can see how the light is hitting your dog model’s face as it’s actually happening, it’s much easier for you to experiment with different looks by changing the position, angle, and light power. Watch how the highlights and shadows change the shape of your subject’s face or carve the outline of their body in the scene, then make decisions on how you want said light to feel in your photograph. Voila! My go-to continuous light is the Westcott Ice Light. It’s a battery powered LED light, which means it lasts an impressively long time (up to 60 minutes of constant use on full power), doesn’t get hot like traditional indoor studio lights can, and puts out a gorgeous quality of light. It’s brilliantly easy to use one-handed and without an assistant, especially when your other hand is busy dialing in camera setting or doling out delicious treats. These nifty light-saber-looking contraptions are daylight balanced, and can add a very natural look to your photos. They come with clips that allow you to pop a colored gel onto them super easily if you want to alter the color temperature to suit a non-daylight scene. They’re also super portable, and easy to hold by either an assistant, the owner, or by yourself.

12.5a F/2.8, 1/100 sec., ISO 500, 35mm

12.5b FIGURE 12.5 You can see the light saber-esque reflection in this sweet pup’s eyes; that’s a tell-tale sign I used an Ice Light to light this shot. I was photographing this adoptable dog at sunset in Costa Rica, and the Ice Light gave me a nice pop of light to be able to expose for both the gorgeous purple sunset as well as my sweet dog model. This sucker is such a portable light that I was able to carry it for miles with no consequence through Costa Rican rainforest just in case I needed access to quick and

easy supplemental light. In the behind-the-scenes shot, you can see Sam holding the light for me as I shoot.

Continuous lights are excellent, but as a head’s up—you’ll find that they’re going to fall short in situations where there is an abundance of ambient light. For example, if you wanted to shoot outside on a sunny afternoon, your continuous light is simply not going to be strong enough to overpower the sun and effect your photo in any meaningful way. Think of turning a flashlight on in your Dad’s backyard in the middle of a summer mid-day barbecue and pointing it at the nearest tree. No chance you’re going to be able to find that beam of light. The magnitude of existing, bright, available light in the atmosphere is going to effectively drown it out. Same idea with an Ice Light or other comparable constant light. They’re best used in dimlight situations, including shooting indoors, shooting outside at twilight or dusk, or shooting in very deep shade. So while the Ice Light is not always the perfect lighting solution in any given situation, the amount of times that it is make it worth its weight in gold. Its coveted space real estate in my tightly packed camera bag is well earned.

ON-CAMERA FLASH I’m going to keep this one brief, because on-camera flash is— what’s a delicate word for absolutely miserable? Let’s go with “not preferred.” Some of you may have a camera with a little pop-up flash built in. If you click your camera into Auto mode, when light conditions get low enough, this little sucker has a

tendency to pop up like an excited groundhog a few weeks before Spring, blasting a sudden and blinding nuclear burst of light into the atmosphere. It’s a last resort, a last-ditch effort for the camera’s brain to try to make something out of nothing. When it comes to dogs, this type of direct, hard light is a killer. The main reason has to do with a very cool anatomical feature of the canine eye. Dogs have a reflective layer of tissue that sits just beneath their retina called the tapetum lucidum. It’s an amazing biological characteristic that allows them, and other mammals that share this trait, to see exceptionally well in the dark. Since it works as a tiny retro-reflector, reflecting visible light back through the retina to aid the photoreceptors, it’s highly reactive to flash. This layer reflects back to the camera as a bright green demon-like glow when hit directly with a flash. Due to the type of direct, harsh light they put out, on-camera flashes are the biggest perpetrator when it comes to bringing out this literal deer-in-the-headlights look. So while you might feel like Fluffy is akin to a little demon when he steals your slipper for the 15th time, it’s best if we don’t literally turn him into one when we photograph him. On-camera flash serves a very basic function. It is passable enough as a utility effort to pop in some light for your casual vacation snapshots, but it’s traditionally considered a less-thanideal look among pro photographers (and that’s being gentle). Aside from the dog’s eyes glowing like the creature from Spawn, here’s the quick scoop as to why on-camera flash is generally an untamable beast all it’s own. There are two major

factors at play when it comes to on-camera flash—especially the pop up kind that you might find built into your camera body: size and angle. SIZE

The pop-up flash on a camera is small. Tiny, even. The

source of light is pointed, direct, and harsh. It comes from a little plastic-covered bulb whose surface is typically less than a square inch in area. Compare that to, say, a 48” Octabox, which is a favorite choice for photographers who want to work with soft, gorgeous, wrapping light. Now, you might get a sense into the relative size difference of those two light sources, and what that difference ultimately means when translated aesthetically. Always keep this simple formula in mind when it comes to all things lighting: Smaller = Harder; Bigger = Softer. Are there times where photographers specifically seek out harder, punchier, and more pointed light as a distinct style choice? Absolutely! However, using on-camera flash is traditionally not the way they go about it. ANGLE

Since you can’t remove the built-in flash from where it

sits on the top of your camera, you get only one single angle choice when using it to light your subject. It’s going to point exactly wherever your camera is pointing. That’s right, deadon, unflattering and aggressive, straight at your subject. Are you using a speedlight attached into the hot shoe of your camera instead of the pop up flash? Better (still not great, but a

one-step-up improvement). Speedlights are designed to have swiveling heads, so even though they sit stagnant, mounted directly onto the top of your camera in the same location a popup flash would be, you have quite a bit more control over the angle and direction you’re able to point it. You can potentially find something to bounce your flash off of to effectively make your light source indirect and much more flattering to your subject. If you’re shooting indoors, you can aim the flash straight up and bounce it off the ceiling, or aim the flash at a white wall. This will provide a nicer quality of light than simply pointing the flash directly at your dog model. Speedlights or external flash units also have a few more options when it comes to power settings and potential light modifiers that could be used in tandem with them to help sculpt the quality of the light. Diffusers can be anything from small plastic hoods that click onto the top of the flash to help with light diffusion to larger and more complicated softbox-type contraptions that do a world of good in changing the quality of the light it puts out. Ultimately, shooting with any sort of on-camera flash is not something I’d recommend. You’ll want to find a way to get that flash off of your camera, be it a sync cable or a wireless transmitter—really anything that gives you more freedom in positioning the light at a more flattering angle. Naturally, that leads us into…

OFF-CAMERA FLASH Ahh, now here’s where we get into the really good stuff. Once

you’re able to get your light source the heck off of the top of your camera, you’re (literally) pointing yourself in the right direction! When it comes to using off-camera flash, there are endless options of using it to paint your own unique story. You may want to use lighting to subtly fill in the shadows, or you might want to use light to re-illustrate your entire scene. You may want soft, wrapping, elegant light that so effortlessly mimics the late afternoon sun that the viewer would swear you used no light at all. You may want strong, punchy, in-your-face light that makes no apologies for it’s dazzling existence. You may want colored light. Side light. Back light. Split light. Short Light. The point is, technology has allowed us the incredible opportunity to carry photons around in our pockets. It is up to us to turn those photons into magic. I began using off-camera flash on my outdoor work with dogs about ten years ago, and knew immediately that this was a part of the way I wanted to portray dogs. Ever since I was a little girl, running wildly across the sidewalk to any passing pup, dogs have been my passion. Since those early moments of spending my summers lying in the grass, sharing fairytales with my Golden Retriever, Ginger, I’ve seen dogs as larger than life. As Kings and Queens of their dominions. As superheroes. As mythical, magical creatures from a place so beautiful it can’t be real. The way that I capture dogs is through the very specific lens of

that wide-eyed, five-year-old girl inside of me. Lighting has become a part of helping me tell those stories. I spent endless days belly down in the mud, testing out every conceivable type of light, angle, and modifier, in every conceivable type of location, with as many different dogs as I could get my hands on. It took me lots of grueling years of blood, sweat, and tears to develop my very particular Dog Breath-y style of imagery that you see today. I wanted to offer the dog photography world something unseen. A style that was uniquely mine, born inside my complicated and colorful heart, and a style that allowed me to truly express the way I feel about dogs. The thing that I love most about photography, though, is that the potential for creativity is endless. Lighting expands your ability to paint your images to life. There are many, many different ways to implement off-camera flash so here are some “a-ha moments” I had while learning and experimenting. Let’s start with things to consider when looking for the right offcamera lighting solution for you: If you want your lights to be as portable as possible, for both indoor and outdoor use, you’ll want to look at lighting solutions with battery power. Since you won’t be able to plug into the nearest electrical outlet if you’re shooting in the middle of the forest, having a battery-powered unit will be key. Depending on the size and output capabilities of your light unit, you’ll find numerous different portable power options out there, from small speedlights that take simple AA

batteries, to compact lights that have batteries built in, to large monolights that require you to carry around an extra, girthy battery pack, and everything in between. If you’re looking for indoor-only lighting, either to supplement natural window light in an organic indoor environment or to use as part of a studio setup, then the good news is you’ve got lots and lots of options. Since you’ll simply be able to plug your light into the nearest electrical outlet in whatever indoor environment you might be shooting in, you can forgo the premium price tag that comes along with portable, batterypowered light solutions. This is going to mean you’re looking at an excellent value—this bang for the buck will allow you to get high-powered lights with great flash recycling times for reasonable prices.

12.6 F/2.8, 1/125 sec., ISO 100, 63mm FIGURE 12.6 Adding lighting to this image allowed me to fill in the shadows on the front of Trooper and Moe, while still being able to expose properly for

the sunset behind them. This particular image has the added magic of being shot very wide open, at f/2.8, so the sunset light blurs into a magical, ethereal, ooeygooey masterpiece. (Although let’s be honest, the real work of art here is Moe’s delightful little tongue!)

12.7 F/5.0, 1/200 sec., ISO 100, 35mm LIGHTWEIGHT AND DURABLE

If you’re planning to schlep one or

two of these babies around to all your shoots with you, it’s going to be important that you put priority on the weight and portability of the unit. Remember, you’ll need to bring your light, modifier, and battery pack in addition to your regular camera bag

and

your

“crazy

dog

photographer”

bag

full

of

supplemental (and delicious!) accessories that you’ll need for the shoot. Durability comes to mind when I think of all the times I’ve slipped in mud or bounced down a couple of mossy rocks while holding all my gear. In addition to accidental drops, you’re going to be putting this baby out there in the natural elements quite a bit if you plan to take it outdoors. A sturdy build that can hold up to dirt, moisture, and light rain is extremely important. RECYCLE RATE

This is the time, after a flash is fired, that it

takes the light to reach full power again. Naturally, when photographing dogs, you’re going to want to work as quickly as possible, so having a fast recycle rate is preferable. Otherwise, you might find yourself pulling your hair out with frustration as you miss amazing moments while waiting out those grueling seconds in between shots before you can fire again.

12.8 F/11, 1/100 sec., ISO 320, 11–24mm FIGURE 12.8 I photographed Master inside an 11th-century chapel in the south of France. While there was ample, gorgeous natural light streaming in through the windows of one of the small hallways, I decided to get creative and try to add a bit of supplemental light to jazz up the scene a bit. In this scenario, I have one small flash pointed directly up the wall behind Master’s bum to accentuate the texture, and a strobe with a small softbox lighting Master himself from the front left. (If you look really hard past Master’s elbow, you’ll actually see the flash unit there because I just realized that I forgot to remove it during post-processing!)

DURATION OF FLASH

A flash duration for any strobe or flash is

technically the length of time that the flash tube emits light for a single burst. The faster the flash duration, the easier it will be to stop or freeze motion—a huge plus for photographing live, constantly moving animals. The general rule is, the more premium the light, the faster the flash duration. BATTERY LIFE

This one is self-explanatory! You need a good,

solid battery that can get you through an entire two-to-threehour shoot with no issues. I highly suggest purchasing a backup battery as well, in case your first battery flounders unexpectedly on location. Batteries can be sensitive to the

elements of the great outdoors—namely temperature— especially when you push them for long periods. I find that the lithium ion batteries that power my strobes perform for shorter periods of time before petering out on exceptionally hot or exceptionally cold days. Be prepared for this situation with a backup battery! FLASH POWER

This is a measure of the level of light you’re

going to be able to pump out into a scene at any given time. Flash power is measured in the wattseconds. Battery powered, portable strobes can run anywhere from 100 to 1000 Ws. The higher the wattage, the more powerful and intense the flash. As a reference point, one of my go-to strobes, the ProFoto B1, hits a top power of 500 wattseconds. As technology advances, more and more excellent lighting solutions are arriving on the market every year. If you’re new to the world of lighting and want some solid advice, I suggest heading to your local camera store and finding a great rep. It’s important to physically see, hold and demo all the available lighting options before choosing the one that would be best for you. Brands like Hensel, Elinchrom, Profoto, Godox, Westcott, and Paul C. Buff all offer excellent battery-powered monolight solutions in different price ranges. I have shot with a large number of strobes over the years, including Paul C. Buff’s Einstein 640s, Profoto B1 and B2s, and ProMaster’s Unplugged TTL 600. All have worked brilliantly well for me.

12.9 F/14, 1/100 Sec., ISO 100, 50mm FIGURE 12.9 Light has an incredible ability to accentuate texture when positioned appropriately. There is nothing quite like the defined texture of the fur of a dog. In this case, when photographing Ruby on this stump in front of the Boston skyline, I worked on carefully positioning the light above and to the left of her for maximum mood and texture.

12.10 F/7.1, 1/200 sec., ISO 100, 12–24mm

12.11a F/7.1, 1/80 sec., ISO 1250, 16–35mm

12.11b F/5.0, 1/100 sec., ISO 1600, 11–24mm

12.11c F/14, 1/100 sec., ISO 1000, 11–24mm

12.11d F/1.4, 1/100 sec., ISO 800, 50mm FIGURE 12.11 Using off-camera lighting allows me to really let my creativity run wild! I love to experiment with colored gels on-location, transporting scenery into a hyperreal world full of color and whimsy. I often use small flashes behind my subjects to light the scenery and tell a unique story.

12.12 F/3.2, 1/200 sec., ISO 100, 50mm FIGURE 12.12 Lulu the Mini Australian Shepherd was so kind as to humor me as I played with small flashes in an alleyway at her photo shoot in Salem, Massachusetts. I delight in letting my creativity run wild when it comes to adding artificial light into a shot once the dark of night starts to creep in. I use cheap, totally non-fancy, off-brand flashes as my background lights. I have them out in the harsh elements and rain quite often, so I figure, better save the fancy gear for inside. And this way, if I lose a flash to a rainstorm or (heaven forbid) accidentally leave it behind in an alleyway somewhere, no major harm. The ones I use are less than $80 a piece on Amazon, and I’ve invested in about 10 of them so I have a backup collection on hand all the time.

DIAL IN THOSE SETTINGS Start by dialing in camera settings for the background of your image before you ever put a dog in the frame. Keep in mind that with any flash unit, your camera has a maximum “sync speed” that you’ll need to stay under in order for your flash to function properly. Most cameras use what’s known as a “focal plane shutter”; a shutter that is opened and then closed by two different shutter blades. If you choose a shutter speed faster than your camera’s maximum sync speed, the second shutter blade will actually close before the full duration of your flash has worn off. So, what happens if you ignore this rule, and shoot faster than your maximum sync speed? Surely there are consequences! Enter the “black line of death” (cue spooky music). This is my term for the line that appears toward the bottom of your frame when your shutter has won the race against your flash duration. Is it an image killer? Not

necessarily. The “black line of death” will grow larger as you raise your shutter speed higher and higher above your camera’s maximum sync speed. If you’re just slightly above your camera’s maximum sync speed, you could potentially crop out the black line of death. However, if you accidentally shoot at a significantly higher shutter speed, the black line of death could consume your entire image. The specific maximum sync speed differs from camera to camera, but they’re all within the same general range. For Canon and Nikon, stick to shutter speeds of 1/200th or slower. Alternately, my Fuji has a sync speed of 1/125th of a second. For other camera brands, a quick Google search will yield the sync speed for whatever model you’re shooting with. Once you’ve found your camera’s maximum sync speed, set your shutter speed to that number and leave it there. Keep in mind that there are flashes and strobes on the market that allow you to shoot with a technique that is called high speed sync. This allows you to shoot with added lighting at shutter speeds that are faster than your traditional ~1/200th of a second. If the light unit you’re working with has a high speed sync mode, it’s because the flash is pulsing rather than going through one full traditional flash cycle. Flash or strobe units that allow for this mode are typically premium brands that come at premium costs. I do happen to have a lighting unit that offers a high speed sync mode, so I’ve experimented with it in the studio, as well as with dogs in action on location. So far, I’ve not utilized high speed sync regularly in my day to day work,

but I plan to continue experimenting and creating! Unless you’re shooting late in the evening, or in a dark indoor space, keep your ISO as low as possible. Since I tend to shoot outside with lots of sunlight, I’m nearly always at ISO 100. We’ve got our shutter speed locked in and our ISO locked in, meaning the only technical setting we have to concern ourselves with is our aperture. Dial in your aperture so that the background of your image looks good to you, and once it’s set, leave it (if possible). Having your camera settings locked down means you can turn your attention to your off-camera flash.

12.13 F/4.5 1/320 sec., ISO 125, 16–35mm FIGURE 12.13 Here is an outtake from Cooper’s session that showcases the dreaded black line of death. I mistakenly began photographing him with a synced strobe at a shutter speed of 1/320th of a second. This is well past the max sync speed of 1/200th of second, leaving me with this dark shadowy line across the bottom of the frame. Sometimes you can save

these mistakes by cropping if the line is minor, but in this case, there’s no chance we can save this image of Cooper since we’d have to say goodbye to one very important element: his little foot!

12.14 F/16, 1/200 sec., ISO 100, 35mm FIGURE 12.14 When shooting a commercial assignment for a dog apparel company, the project’s creative director asked us to shoot indoors in a gorgeous New England estate. As an outdoor photographer at heart, I’m very used to relying on natural sunlight as a major element in my images. Shooting inside the interior of a historical, dark estate meant I had to build the lighting from the ground up, keeping in mind the sense of mood we wanted the shots to embody. Add in mirrors, and oh boy, you’ve got yourself a proper adventure! For this shot, I used a 48” softbox on an Einstein 640 up and camera left.

12.15 F/10, 1/200 sec., ISO 100, 11–24mm FIGURE 12.15 When photographing these gorgeous seeing-eye dogs for the Southeastern Guide Dogs Annual Calendar project, we needed to tame some seriously bright, midday Florida sun. Having portable light with me was a lifesaver on this project. As an example, around noon under the beating sun we needed to find a suitable place to make a gorgeous shot, despite the hard light. We found this amazing mural on the side of a Sarasota-based skateboard shop and got their permission to shoot against it. (Shout out to Compound Board Shop!) Luckily, the building itself was throwing this back exterior wall into dark, even shade. Having lighting with me meant that I had the ability to expose for the wall, and then get the dogs in there and add light only onto them to even out the overall exposure.

12.16 F/6.3, 1/125 sec., ISO 200, 11–24mm FIGURE 12.16 This photo was created on a dreary, rainy, and dull evening, so I turned my attention away from the natural world and focused on the man-made bits of history all around us. We found this doorway to what used to be an old cinema in the center of the city and used it as a backdrop for this sweet Border Collie’s photo. This one is lit a bit more simply, with no backlight. Just one light in front with a pop-up Westcott Rapid Box modifier.

At this point bring in your dog model. You’ll need your subject in the frame when determining the exact power of your flash. I hate to tell you that in this case, a stand-in won’t do. If you’re hoping to have a human pop into the frame and hold the place of your dog model in order to save his energy while you work your settings out, I’m going to be a dream crusher and tell you

that this won’t work. Dog fur absorbs and reflects light in a very unique and nuanced way, and a human being wearing colorful clothing with lots of smooth and shiny surfaces just won’t be an accurate representation of how that same light might embellish the surface of a dog. Further, a smooth-coated Pit Bull, for example will take the light in a much different way than a curlycoated Poodle. Add into this mix that dogs are all different shapes, sizes, and colors—no stand-in is going to work for you unless it happens to be your dog model Bingo’s identical twin, Ringo. This is why it’s extra important that you know how to work efficiently, calmly, and quickly. If you need ample periods of time to practice this, I suggest using your own dog who is very comfortable tolerating your specific brand of shenanigans, or calling upon a friend who has a bomb-proof dog fully equipped with the patience of a furry saint. (In my case, this is my muse, Dobby the Poodle.) Many strobes have intelligent TTL (through the lens) metering modes. This is basically the flash equivalent of your camera’s Auto mode. It can certainly work wonders, but I prefer to have the control of manual settings for my light. On manual, I simply have to turn the light’s power up or down, and check the back of my camera to see how my image is looking. To summarize, get your background settings in camera first before bringing in your light and model. That’s really all there is to it from a technical, camera-settings perspective. I like to say it’s not rocket science, just more of a three-ring circus.

When checking the exposure of your light on the back of the camera, be careful of highlights and shadows on multi-colored dogs. A black dog with a white stripe can be difficult to find the right power setting for but I would prioritize making sure my image’s highlights are properly exposed, knowing that I can pull detail from the black fur later in post. There’s that power of RAW files coming back to kick us in the mouths once again. There are tons of different modifiers to attach to your flash or strobe, and each will have its own unique look. Umbrellas, softboxes, parabolics, beauty dishes, snoots, gridded reflectors —it all sounds like something out of a world custom built by Dr. Seuss! Each modifier has its own characteristics, and it’s up to you to figure out which look you prefer.

12.17 F/11, 1/200 sec., ISO 100, 11–24mm FIGURE 12.17 Envy and Zain joyfully gave me quite the exposure challenge when I attempted to light them for this photo. Black and white dogs together in one frame can be a tough exposure to nail. Even harder

than this is when black and white is built into one dog!

12.18 F/18, 1/200 sec., ISO 100, 12–24mm FIGURE 12.18 Here’s my friend Nav, saying Hello from Tekapo, New Zealand! Difficult to light, easy to love.

MODIFIERS When it comes to the look of your lit photos, consider this when choosing your modifier and deciding where to place it: The larger the light source, the softer the light. A huge, 60” Octabox will give a very soft light, and a small 18” beauty dish will give a harder light. The closer to your subject the modifier is, the softer the light. So that 18” beauty dish placed two feet away from your subject may actually have the same softness as

a huge 60” Octa placed 10 feet away. I’ve experimented with many different modifiers over the years. My 48” Octabox and 20” beauty dish are my personal triedand-true favorites! I suggest getting out there and trying out as many as you can until you find the light shaper of your dreams!

12.19 F/7.1, 1/200 sec., ISO 100, 11–24mm FIGURE 12.19 I photographed Bobby on a very dark and rainy day in Bruges, Belgium. Since the natural light atmosphere of the day was quite dull, dreary, and generally uninspiring, I knew I had to look for interesting colors and textures that could give a sense of place and atmosphere. I love a good opportunity to get creative with lighting, and this scenario was the perfect chance. We found this red door on a centuries-old medieval church that sat forlornly in the middle of a soggy square. I used two cheap speedlights at the base of the door on either side, pointed up to accentuate

its delicious, gritty texture. I added a strobe with a beauty dish to the top left to light Bobby from the front against the red door. See those two small, bent iron poles at the bottom of either side of the door? Those were two speedlights—Photoshopped out!

PRO TIP

When looking at lit images that inspire you, zoom into

the subject’s eyes as close as you can, and you will often see the reflections of the lighting setup that was used. Squares or octagons typically indicate softboxes, and circles with a darkened center will be visible if the photographer used a beauty dish. You can even see where the light was placed, and if multiple lights were used!

PLACEMENT As far as exactly where to place your light goes, this varies quite a bit based on the situation and direction of natural light you’re supplementing, as well as the dog’s position in the frame. The angle of light will play a large role in the overall telling of your specific creative story. It has the ability to carve out shapes and textures, to highlight certain features, and to add mystery into deliberately placed shadows, you name it. It’s an important decision and one that should be made intentionally. I should mention that while you certainly can place your light on a stand, the non-moving aspect of things will present quite a challenge as your dog model wiggles, waggles, and generally beep-bops around within the frame. I prefer to have a moveable light stand whenever possible (in other words, an

actual human being). I gravitate toward lighting across from the direction of where the dog’s eyes are pointing. That means if the dog is looking left, the light comes from the left. If the dog is looking up and right, the light comes from top right. Since my living, breathing human assistant is holding my light for me, it’s usually a matter of quick conversation between us and fast decisions, as he actively follows the dog’s gaze with the light. That said, there is something absolutely magical about more dramatic side or Rembrandt lighting on the face of a beautiful dog. This is the fun part! This is where your creativity comes into play and you get to explore the options to find what you love best. I urge you to explore, experiment, and try new things.

12.20 F/5.0, 1/200 sec., ISO 250, 70–200mm FIGURE 12.20 In this shot, I’ve created what I refer to as a “light sandwich.” The main source of natural light is blasting in from the deep orange sunset

behind Stanley, and my strobe and softbox are positioned directly opposite that sun. This makes Stanley the delicious egg-and-cheese middle, and the light sources the bagel on the outsides. (Mmmm…bagels!)

12.21 F/9.0, 1/200 sec., ISO 100, 16–35mm FIGURE 12.21 In this photo the added lighting is coming in from the top left of the frame. This angle and direction helps add to the “epic-ness” of this scene. It helps carve out all that gorgeous curly texture in Jessa’s wet fur as well as that delicious texture of the glittering, watery sand. The added lighting helps enhance the already warm and adventurous mood of the overall scene, adding a touch of magic to the already amazing yellow light of sunset.

12.22 F/10, 1/125 sec., ISO 100, 16–35mm FIGURE 12.22 First and foremost, this might be the single most delicious curly bum I’ve ever seen my life. Second, you can sleuth out the angle of the added light in this shot by looking at Dobby’s subtle shadow on the dock. Just a gentle kiss of light was enough to do exactly what we needed here, a nice carving out of Dobby’s slender, gazelle-like frame.

PRO TIP

When it comes to gear, the brand of light isn’t super

important. After all, light is light. What matters is how you use it. If you only have a few hundred dollars, go grab some Alien Bees and a battery pack. If money’s not a concern, go all in with a Hensel strobe. Half of the lit work in my portfolio was created with an inexpensive strobe, and the other half with a very high-end strobe. Can you tell the difference? (I didn’t think so.)

GO SLOW Working with big, powerful lights with massive softboxes can be a ton of fun, but keep in mind that this presents an extra layer of challenge when working with a thinking, feeling live animal. Your dog model might be fine with a camera thrust in his face, but once you bring in a huge, flashing, popping, beeping contraption into the mix, things can easily become too stressful. From my experience, I’d say about 60% of dogs have been completely fine with the strobe after a nice, solid introduction. About 30% couldn’t handle it at first, but came around to allowing me to shoot with it an hour plus into their shoots, and the remaining 10% could not handle dealing with off-camera flash whatsoever. I’ll always try to introduce any lighting gear a few different times if it doesn’t fly the first time around. If, however, after two or three attempts my dog model is still uncomfortable with it, their shoots then graduate to being 100% natural light only, and that’s okay! So please, if using lights with dogs, go extra slow when it comes to introducing the gear and give lots of positive reinforcement whenever that big weird flash goes off.

SEEKING INSPIRATION One last piece of advice when it comes to off-camera flash—be open to inspiration everywhere! Look outside of the dog photography industry; admire the creativity of fashion photographers and wedding photographers. Then, look outside

of the photography industry in general, to cinema, music videos, Broadway, and architecture. Light is everywhere! Intentional lighting design that exists to elicit a feeling or a mood is encountered each and every day in one capacity or another. The possibilities for what you can bring to your photo with the addition of off-camera lighting are endless, so I encourage you to get out there and let your imagination run wild. Experiment until you come up with a look that has never been seen before—something that is truly unique to your own artistic vision! And if off-camera lighting is not for you and you prefer to stick with that gorgeous glowing orb of light that exists naturally, right there in the sky above you, then that’s okay too! It’s most important that you shoot what you love. What moves you. What inspires you. What sets your soul on fire. And most importantly, what serves to tell your own unique and original story.

12.23 F/3.5, 1/200 sec., ISO 200, 70–200mm

CHAPTER

POST-PROCESSING MAKE ‘EM SPARKLE, MAKE ‘EM SHINE!

Alright, let’s address the elephant in the room before we even start. There are so many kinds of different photographers out there. That’s the beauty that makes the world go round, and there’s room for all of us. Some of these photographers might be what you could call “purists.” These are the types of folks who might look down on the use of Photoshop, claiming that the best images are captured entirely in camera, and anything that requires editing or enhancing is “cheating.” While I do agree that you should absolutely make the best possible images in-camera, I honestly believe that every working photographer should have at least a basic understanding of all the tools available to them in order to be able to bring their unique creative visions to life—Photoshop included. So if you happen to be one of those super duper downand-dirty no-post-processing purists, then that’s okay! But may I suggest that you skip past this chapter like it never

even happened, and meet me at the next one. This way, we can still be friends in the end. Deal?

13.1a

13.1b FIGURE 13.1 Here’s a look at an entire post-processing evolution: from the RAW file straight out the camera to the sparkling and shining ultimate final image. This photo of Danke the Chihuahua was taken in Lucerne, Switzerland. I was completely taken by the beauty of this gorgeous old building, and I knew there was no chance I could pass it by without taking a shot of Danke in front of it. Now, from start to finish, this is a bit of an extenuating situation that required a decent amount of Photoshop, and I pondered how to best shoot it as I stood there on location. I anticipated that this would need a bit of extra post-processing magic to pull off. Due to the fact that this was a busy, high tourist area in the middle of the day, it was virtually impossible for me to get a shot with no people in the background. Another challenge I faced was the combination of shooting with my wideangle lens with Danke, who needed to be on leash, and a lack of anything in the environment that I could tie him back to. That means his leash had to be handheld. His owner did a great job helping out—standing as far away as she possibly could while holding the leash taut. But, because I shot this image at 16mm, she’s still there on the edge. Since I knew there would be no way for me to remove her without having the pixel information of what

the building should look like behind her, I had to rely on using the method of taking a separate background plate. Once I knew I had nailed the shot that I wanted of Danke, I asked his owner to pick him up and take him out of the frame. Then, I locked my focus where it had been on Danke, and shot four or five background plates of the scene, making sure to pause in between shots so that people in the background were moving from place to place, intermittently covering and revealing different parts of the building’s intricate facade. I shot until I felt confident that I had visual data for every part of the building across all the frames I had taken. Once I got this image into Photoshop, I then layered multiple background plates onto the base shot of Danke, and was able to reveal the information that was hidden behind the two women standing in the frame blocking those parts of the background.

13.2a

13.2b FIGURE 13.2 Thanks to Photoshop, I was able to keep this sweet shelter dog, Ronin the German Shepherd, secure and safe for his adoption photos in a lovely field behind the National Mill Dog Rescue in Colorado Springs, Colorado. A helpful shelter volunteer assisted me on this shoot by holding Ronin’s leash(es) for me. This is a great example of what you might find your average shot of a leashed dog might look like. While you must always try your best to have your assistant stand outside of the frame when you’re composing your image on location, sometimes, in order to put safety firmly first, it’s just not possible to get your handler entirely out of the shot. This is where the magic of Photoshop comes in, where we can do a quick content aware fill and get rid of our helper and leash, leaving only the dog to shine on his own. This is a true straight-out-of-camera-exactly-as-I-shot-it “before” RAW file, and the final, fully processed “after” shot (yep. Crooked horizon and all, my friends. Sometimes when I lie on my stomach and shoot upward toward the dog, I really lose my sense of equilibrium and forget how to make things straight. Thanks goodness for a little Photoshop pixie dust to make the world right-side up again!)

One last bit of preface before we get to the good stuff. It should

be noted that prior to bringing my images into Photoshop for editing, I adjust my RAW files in Lightroom’s develop module. Harkening back to the power of RAW that we talked about many moons ago in this book, adjusting the file in Lightroom allows me to unlock all the data from my file that I know is hiding there within. I use the basic sliders to tweak things like white balance, shadows, highlights, and contrast. I’m not looking for perfection at this step, but simply a good jumping-off point. If you don’t have Lightroom, you can use Adobe Camera Raw, Capture One, or any other RAW processing software to adjust your file to your specific taste and get it prepped for Photoshop.

PHOTOSHOP When it comes to photographing dogs specifically, Photoshop is invaluable because it allows you to work safely and effectively during your shoot. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you plan to be a professional, working dog photographer, it’s not acceptable to put your dog model’s safety at risk when on location because you haven’t learned Photoshop. Some dogs simply cannot be off leash at any time during their photo shoot, and that’s okay! People’s ability to have their dog’s legacy captured in an image that will serve to preserve their spirit forever should be an equal opportunity. It should be open to everyone who knows the love of a dog of any kind—not just the perfectly behaved

ones. Thanks to Photoshop, we can make our dog photography magic happen for dogs of all shapes, sizes, temperaments, and training levels. The dog’s safety should always be the first priority, and sometimes it takes things like leashes, stakes, helpful owners, or toys in order to get the shot in a safe and effective manner. Being able to clean up your photo of any and all distractions using Photoshop is going to be a key element to your success as a dog photographer. A big question a lot of people have is, where do I begin? Photoshop is a massive program with almost limitless possibilities when it comes to photo manipulation, and simply knowing where to start can be daunting. To help, I like to break up my editing into two sections. First, there are the things that must be done. Then, there are the things that I can do to bring out my own artistic voice. The things that must be done are easier to articulate. They are edits of utility and necessity. Things like removing leashes, taking out distracting background elements, sharpening, fixing white balance, or possibly even swapping one dog’s head in a group shot. This is the grunt work of Photoshop that, while not particularly fun, is a necessary place to start. Once you’ve completed all of the things that must be done, there are other, more intangible things. These are the things that you as an artist must decide for yourself, like the addition of color filters and effects. I could give the same image to 10

different people to edit and each of them would finish it off in their own way, with their own style. This portion of the process could be as simple as one or two steps, or as complicated as a hundred steps—it’s all up to your artistic vision. One piece of advice I could give you when it comes to editing is to save your image once you’ve done all of the necessary grunt work, and do your color work and final processing on a second copy of the image. That way, if you look back at your image the following day and say, “What the heck was I thinking?” you won’t have to start back at square one to re-edit. In this chapter, we’ll break down some of the top processes that every dog photographer should know when it comes to Photoshop. These are the situations you are going to run into most, and the techniques that you will find most useful to have in your bag of tricks. These will mostly fall under the “must do” category of editing. Before we get started, it’s important to understand that there are many different solutions to problems when it comes to Photoshop. So, while I’ll present you with a few of my favorite methods, know that some photos may require you to get creative with your editing and use a combination of the techniques listed here, and possibly others. OK, let’s get to it!

LEASH REMOVAL This process right here is going to be your number one most

important and most needed skill in Photoshop as a dog photographer. I strongly suggest that if you commit to learning only one thing from this chapter, this sucker right here should be it, no question. You’re going to find that the process of removing a leash can run from super simple to extremely complicated. The level of difficulty that you’ll find yourself facing in Photoshop when it comes to removing the leash is all going to come back to how well you managed the leash in your shot on location. It can take a lot of patience and care to get it right, but I guarantee you’ll be thanking the pants off your past self if you managed the leash like a rockstar when you were shooting the image. If I know that I’ll have to remove a dog’s leash later in Photoshop, I’ll always make a conscious effort at my shoot to have the owner or assistant hold the leash out for me, taking extreme care to be sure it does not lay across the dog’s body, wrap around a paw, tuck into an armpit, or curl onto the ground. Any of the aforementioned leash position scenarios will take your removal process from easy to expert level before you can say “holy bananas.” Taking a few seconds to manage the leash well at my shoot can save me precious minutes (or more likely, hours!) during the editing process. In this example (Figure 13.3a and 13.3b) featuring gorgeous Chester photographed in an orchard in Cromwell, New Zealand, I’ll go over the steps for a typical leash removal. Since I was careful to have his owner hold his leash outward and away from his body as I was photographing him on location, it

should be nice and easy! First create a duplicate layer by pressing COMMAND-J (CRTLJ on the PC). Next, select your patch tool from your toolbar.

A QUICK NOTE

The patch tool has two different modes, “normal”

and “content aware.” I’ll typically use the “normal” mode for the majority of the leash removal, and then the “content aware” mode just for the complicated bit where the leash meets the dog’s collar. Check your options bar to make sure your patch tool is set to normal. Using the patch tool, draw a selection around a large chunk from the middle of the leash. No need to make your selection super-specific, just do a nice quick job. Look for a close by area that has something you’d like to replace the leash with, and click and drag your selection to that area. Photoshop will actually give you a preview of what the leash will be replaced with. Repeat this step for any remaining bits of leash you’d like to remove. There’s a good possibility it won’t be absolutely perfect right off the bat, and that’s fine. Use the patch tool (or if you’d prefer, the clone stamp tool) to fix any spots that aren’t perfect. When you get close to the dog’s collar, body, or any spot where

the leash might connect with the edge of another object, you’ll almost certainly have better results from the patch tool set to Content Aware. You can even try different combinations of numbers from the Structure and Color dropdown menus in the options bar until the patch tool gives you a result you like. Alternatively, leash removals can be done using the clone stamp tool, Content Aware fill, or by using “plates,” which we’ll get into next!

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13.4b FIGURE 13.4 And you’re done! Not bad, right?

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13.5b FIGURE 13.5 Top: Before; Bottom: After

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13.6b

SHOOTING FOR LEASH REMOVAL Let me help make your life a little easier and share some top tips for when you know you are going to have to face

removing a dog’s leash in Photoshop after your shoot. Your absolute best-case scenario is to have the leash pulled outward and away from the dog, cutting straight through the air. Have your assistant, handler, or dog’s owner put enough tension on the leash to keep it going through the air, but be sure that it is not pulled overly taut. Too much tension on a leash will inadvertently tug on the dog’s collar, leaving you with a phenomenon that I refer to as “ghost collar” when you do eventually remove the leash in the post-processing stage. The tension on the collar that comes from nowhere will look very wrong and is exceptionally difficult to fix. You want to make sure that the collar is still resting on the dog’s neck nice and naturally, just as it would be if he were in fact sitting there peacefully off-leash. It’s also essential to be sure that the leash is not making contact with any part of the dog’s body, aside from the single spot where it clips in to the ring on his collar. You get extra bonus points if you can manage to turn the dog’s collar backwards, so that the ring is spun to be behind the dog’s head. This makes it so that the point of connection is hidden from your lens—one less complicated visual element to have to approach in Photoshop. If you do it right, it will appear that the leash is coming, as a single line, straight from behind the back or side of the dog’s head, in the case of a straight on portrait. Equally important is to be sure that the leash does not curl up on the ground, wrap around the dog’s paws, or go

under the crook of their armpit and out towards the back. These scenarios can pretty much guarantee that you’re going to need a triple black espresso to get through any given night of leash-centric Photoshop editing, because they can take hours and hours to correct. (That’s if they are even correctable at all. I’ve had to throw away some gorgeous shots due to poor leash positioning, and I’ve got to tell ya, it’s enough to make a grown woman cry.) The photo on the left (Figure 13.6a) represents a “nightmare” leash scenario. In this shot of Abby on a dock on the Charles River in Boston, her leash not only wraps underneath her, obscuring a part of her paw, but also curls around on the dock itself, making contact in many places with the intricate texture of the wood, which will be an awful challenge to deal with in Photoshop. To make matters worse, due to the angle of the lovely lateafternoon sun, the leash is also casting shadows that will be need to be removed with equal difficulty. And of course Murphy’s Law says that these are always the shots that the client wants blown up to a massive 36x48” acrylic wall piece. Not my finest hour. The photo on the right (Figure 13.6b) is an example of an absolutely perfect leash removal scenario. This right here is as good as it gets. It’s a simple, thin leash, positioned to be coming out from behind the dog’s head. It’s got as few contact points of leash to body as possible. And an extra shout out to this sweetheart for the angle of her head—its

downward tilt toward my lens works out to obscure her collar entirely! This gives the perception that she’s fully “nude” and there’s nothing better than an au natural pup in the midst of a natural world! This leash removal will be an approximately 10-second job in Photoshop, versus the other scenario, which is more likely a 30-minute job. So work carefully when shooting with a lens and then give yourself an ice cream cone later when you wrap up your Photoshop work in record time!

REMOVING PEOPLE Removing a helpful owner or assistant from your photos can be one of the most challenging tasks a dog photographer will encounter in Photoshop. Say instead of photographing a dog, you were photographing a senior portrait. If someone were to accidentally step into the frame, you could say, “Hey, would you mind taking a small step that way? Thanks!” which would effectively remove them from your photo with zero Photoshop work later. Ah. Isn’t that the dream? Well, it’s not always that simple at a dog photoshoot. Sometimes the only way to get a shot is to have the owner very close to your dog model. This is especially true in cases where the dog is highly owner-focused and is nervous or fearful in their absence. This occurs frequently for safety reasons, and

that’s a-okay, because again, our dog model’s safety always comes first! That being said, the last thing you want is to get home and think to yourself “The owner is in every shot and I have no idea what to do. I screwed up!” Well, never fear, for in this section I’ll present three of the best ways to remove people (or any other large, distracting elements) from your photo. Having these Photoshop skills will help assure that you can work safely and effectively while on location. Let’s start with the easiest method, and work our way up!

Person Removal Method 1: Content Aware In an ideal situation, Content Aware Fill will take care of our problem. 1. Start by creating a duplicate layer by pressing COMMAND-J (CRTL-J on a PC). Next, select the lasso tool from the toolbar. Use it to draw a loose selection around the person you’re trying to remove. 2. Head to EDIT > CONTENT AWARE FILL. A new window will appear showing your selection along with the rest of your image on the left side of the screen.

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By default it will also be overlayed with a green color. On the right side of the screen, you’ll see a preview of the result that Content Aware Fill will give you. If Photoshop is attempting to replace your selection with anything weird (say like, a floating dog head, or somebody’s foot), simply select the subtraction tool from the options bar and erase the green overlay from any part of the image you would like Content Aware not to sample

from. Click OK, and you should be done! If it’s not perfect, fix any funky looking areas with either the patch tool, the clone stamp, or the spot healing brush (dealer’s choice!).

PRO TIP

Make sure to test out different combinations from the

Color Adaptation and Rotation Adaptation menus on the right side of the screen until Content Aware Fill gives you the best possible result.

13.8 FIGURE 13.8 Content Aware did a pretty good job with this one. Not perfect, but a huge step in the right direction!

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13.9b FIGURE 13.9 Left: Before; Right: After

Person Removal Method 2: The Background Stretch Often times your dog model’s owner will appear at the edge of your photos, doing their very best to stay out of the frame while

still holding the dog’s leash. If you wind up with a photo like this, I have a great method for you to try out! As a note, this method can be magic for a photo shot in a natural setting, where things like trees, greenery, and sky fill up a good portion of your background. However, this will be a tougher technique to use if your background is full of more manmade-type elements, with telltale line and shapes (like buildings, billboards, or architecture). In order to try this method out, be sure to start by selecting a photo that’s a good candidate, like this one of Mowgli the Mastiff sitting amongst the dune grass. 1.

First,

create

a

duplicate

layer

by

pressing

COMMAND-J (CRTL-J on a PC). Then, follow the steps described in the previous section to remove just the dog’s leash. 2. With the leash removed, use the marquee tool to make a large, rectangular selection on your background, being careful to not accidentally select any of your dog model or owner. Hit COMMAND-J (CRTL-J on a PC) to put your rectangular background selection on it’s own layer. 3. Press COMMAND-T (CRTL-T on a PC) to open Free Transform. Hold the SHIFT key and stretch your selection from the handle on the side of your bounding box until your new stretched background covers the owner. Voila!

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13.11 FIGURE 13.11 The more background content you can select, the better. For this photo, I could also have chosen to include the owner’s hand in my selection, allowing me to grab more background content. I would have to remove the hand as an extra step, but it’s an easy job for something like Content Aware Fill.

13.12 FIGURE 13.12 Certain backgrounds are more forgiving with this technique. You can only push it so far before things start to look strange, but this technique buys you a little extra edge allowance that could be enough to save the shot!

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13.13b FIGURE 13.13 Left: Before; Right: After

Person Removal Method 3: Using Plates OK. This one is a doozy, but I figured it’s super important to include here because this method has saved my red-headed butt countless times. It requires forethought on your part while actually at your photo shoot, but the more you use this method the more it will become second nature. While on your shoot, you may wind up with a photo where your dog model looks great, but the owner dominates a huge part of the background, or the leash intersects with all sorts of complicated objects. Basically, if you know it’s going to be a helluva time removing stuff in Photoshop, keep reading! Once you’ve got your shot, kindly ask the owner to step out of the scene and take the dog out with them. What you’re looking for is a clean background with zero subjects in it, to take a

photo of. Explain to the owner exactly what you’re doing because often times it can be a confusing concept from their end. I briefly explain that I need a plain background, completely devoid of any subject in it, for editing reasons. This is usually preferable to saying, “OK, please go away now” as they stare at you with a confused and slightly rejected pain in their eyes. It’s important that you move as little as possible while you’re moving the owner out and then taking your background plate shot. If you were lying on your stomach while photographing your dog model, stay on your stomach for the next steps. Do your best not to move your camera from the position you had it in while photographing the scene with the dog in it. (This is why it’s best to clearly explain to the owner what you plan to do beforehand, so you’re not bobbling around trying to explain this complicated process when it’s really imperative that you not shake or move too much.) It’s not necessary to use a tripod for this method—Photoshop has some great features to help us out. It’s equally important that your camera does not refocus so the depth of field remains consistent. To lock your focus, flip the switch on your lens from Auto-Focus to Manual-Focus. Next, grab a few shots of your clean background. These shots are commonly referred to as “plates,” and they’re going to be your saving grace in Photoshop. 1. Once home from your shoot and in editing mode, you’ll want to open up your dog image, along with

your background image (or “plate”) together in Photoshop. If you’re using Lightroom, you can actually select both images, right-click, and choose EDIT IN > OPEN AS LAYERS IN PHOTOSHOP. If you’re not using Lightroom, you can open both images in Photoshop, and copy and paste one image onto the other. Either way, you should wind up with your dog image and your background plate stacked as layers in a single Photoshop document.

13.14 FIGURE 13.14 My background plate.

13.15 FIGURE 13.15 As you can see, these two shots don’t line up perfectly, but as long as my focus hasn’t changed between the two shots, they should be close enough to get the job done in Photoshop.

PRO TIP

Don’t forget to switch your lens back to Auto-Focus

when you’re done. If you’re using back-button focus on your camera, you won’t have to touch the switch on your lens—just don’t press your dedicated focus button while taking this background shot.

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13.16b FIGURE 13.16 Don’t let the funky shape and transparent pixels freak you out. We’ll tackle that later with the crop tool!

2. Head to your Layers panel and (if necessary) click and drag to rearrange your layers so that your background plate is on top. Hold SHIFT and click to select both layers. Next, head to EDIT > AUTO ALIGN LAYERS. There are all sorts of different options here, but just choose Auto—it almost always does an excellent job. Photoshop will automatically align the layers for you, making the next step super easy. 3. With the top layer selected, hold your OPTION key (ALT on a PC) and click the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of your Layers panel. This will create a black layer mask and completely hide your background plate.

4. Select your brush tool and set the color to white. Make sure the black layer mask of your top layer is selected, then simply brush away any distracting elements from your image. Magic! You’ll probably be left with some transparent pixels surrounding your document, so just grab your crop tool and crop out anything that doesn’t belong. Again, this method requires a lot more steps than the others, and forethought during your shoot, but if I were you I’d get comfortable with it because one day it’s going to save your cute little behind!

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13.20b FIGURE 13.20 Top: Before; Bottom: After

DIGITAL GROOMING If we’re doing our job as dog photographers correctly, we’re

probably going to get dirty during our on-location shoots. We’ll be rolling around on the ground, running through mud, climbing trees—whatever it takes. It’s pretty much a guarantee that our dog models are going to get a little dirty too, and it’s up to you to shine those puppies to perfection using the power of Photoshop. This is going to include removing dust or dirt, tear stains, eye boogies, shaved spots, or anything else that doesn’t belong on our dog model.

Dirt, Dust, and Dander Sometimes this process can seem daunting, since certain dogs seem to pick up thousands of spots of dirt, dust, or dander. Black dogs specifically tend to show dust and dander quite dramatically compared to their lighter-colored counterparts. However, it’s not always necessary to remove every possible speck from your photo. A method I’ve used for years is to zoom in to 100% magnification, do some editing, then zoom out so the whole image is visible and see if anything catches my eye. Brighter specs tend to be the most distracting to the overall image, so I’m constantly on the lookout for those. I’ll repeat the process of zooming in, working, then zooming out and checking until I feel the image is clean. Try to not spend too long on this step if you’re editing hundreds of photos, but really take your time here if you’re editing for a particularly important job or an image that’s destined to be a giant wall-art piece. For this step of the editing process I’m generally using the Spot Healing Brush set to Content Aware (always on a duplicate

layer, of course). I’ve found that the Spot Healing Brush is generally the fastest tool for removing small spots. Simply click on or brush over the speck you’re looking to remove. Photoshop will fill in the area with content sampled from close by. This really works perfectly about 99% of the time. If I need something more heavy duty, I’ll switch to either the clone stamp tool or the patch tool.

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13.21b FIGURE 13.21 Top: Before; Bottom: After. It’s tedious, but with practice this type of Photoshop work should only take a few minutes.

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13.22b FIGURE 13.22 Top: Before; Bottom: After

Tear Stains, Eye Boogies, and Shaved Spots Removing larger distractions such as tear stains, eye boogies, or shaved spots generally requires the use of several different Photoshop tools. I’ve found a lot of people will attempt to stick to just one tool to do work like this, which can often be like trying to cut down a tree with a butter knife when you know there’s a circular saw somewhere in your shed. Don’t be afraid to begin working with one tool, make some progress, then switch to a different tool to finish it off. For example, when removing a shaved spot from a dog’s leg, I may start with the patch tool set to Content Aware. I’ll draw a selection around the shaved area, then drag my selection and attempt to replace it with another part of the dog’s leg.

Photoshop might not do a perfect job, but chances are it will move me in the right direction. Then I could perhaps switch to the clone stamp tool to finish the job’s finer details. When removing these larger distracting areas, it’s also extremely important to pay attention to the dog’s fur, as well as your image’s depth of field. For example, I may want to remove a dog’s tear stain with the clone stamp tool. I’ll have to be extremely careful where I sample from so that the patterns of fur don’t suddenly change and give my edit away. Or, if I’m removing eye boogies with the patch tool, and my dog’s eyes are very sharp (which they should be), I wouldn’t want to attempt to replace those areas with information from a different part of the dog that may be less in focus.

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Making Eyes Sparkle Since little doggy eyes are the windows to little doggy souls, you’ll want to make sure to give the eyes in your images a little extra TLC. There are hundreds of different methods you could use when it comes to eye enhancements, so I’ll just stick to the techniques that I use on a daily basis. During the editing process, you’ll want to make two different types of adjustments. First sharpening, then brightening. Let’s begin!

Personally, I love the look of High Pass Sharpening for eyes. The steps are a little funky, but I promise it’s worth it! 1.

First, create a duplicate layer by pressing COMMAND-J (CRTL-J on a PC). In the Layers panel, change the blend mode of your top layer from Normal to Overlay.

2. Head to FILTER > OTHER > HIGH PASS. Luckily, there’s only one simple slider to mess with in the High Pass filter window, the radius slider. In order to get the best results, you’ll want to click on one of your dog’s eyes so that the preview window shows you the area you’ll be working in. I can’t give you the exact number to plug in here, but you’ll most likely wind up somewhere between 1-4 pixels (for this particular image, I selected 3 pixels). You’ll know if you’ve gone too far if color starts seeping into the otherwise grey preview image. If the high pass filter preview shows any color, bring the radius slider down until you’re left with what looks like a line drawing, then hit OK! 3. You should see an extremely sharp-looking version of your image, one that’s probably too sharp. But that’s ok, we’re going to selectively apply this effect to the eyes only by holding down the OPTION key (ALT on a PC) and clicking on the layer mask icon at the bottom of the layer’s panel.

Then, simply grab your brush tool, set your color to white, and paint the effect into the eyes. Paint over the iris and the pupil only, leaving any white areas untouched. Zoom out and see if the effect looks good. If it’s too heavy handed, just grab the Opacity slider in the Layers panel and drag it down until you achieve the desired result. Nice! Now onto brightening!

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4. I like to do my brightening by using a curves adjustment layer. To get started, click on the adjustment layer icon at the bottom of your Layers panel and choose Curves. If you’ve never used Curves before, don’t worry, we’re only going to make one simple adjustment. In the Curves properties window you’ll see a diagonal line that goes from the lower left to the upper right of a somewhat intimidating-looking graph. Simply click once at the line’s center point, and drag it diagonally up and to the left just a little. If you see the top of your curved line start to flatten out, you’ve gone too far. Drag it back a little until you’re left with a smooth-looking curve. 5. In the Layers panel, notice that your curve is automatically on its own layer. Pretty sweet, right?

Make sure the white layer mask icon is selected on your Curves Adjustment layer, then press COMMAND-I (CRTL-I on a PC). The layer mask should invert from white to black, hiding the effect from your image. Grab the brush tool again. With your color set to white, paint this effect into only the iris of the eye. If you can see the sky or any lights reflected in your dog’s eye, paint this effect there as well, but do not paint over the black parts of the pupil or the whites of the eyes.

13.27

13.28 FIGURE 13.28 Zoom out and check your results. If the eyes are too bright, grab the Opacity slider in the Layers panel and drag it down until you achieve the desired result. Voila!

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CHAPTER

GIVING BACK BE A VOICE FOR THE VOICELESS.

A single image has the power to give a voice to an abandoned dog who has no way to speak for himself. It has the power to change the entire trajectory of the life of an innocent animal who has been lost or left behind. Waiting patiently behind the bars of their cages, hoping one day their stories might be told—one lucky image holds the power to grant them the second chance that every dog deserves. If that is not actual magic, then I don’t know what is. As we grasp our cameras, that power translates like electric light through our fingers and into our palms, and winds up sitting squarely in the center of our two small hands.

If you know anything about me, you know that this is the very concept that I am most passionate about of all. I got my start at the shelter. I got my start while creating beneath the power of

second chances. That is an indescribable kind of magic that molded me into the photographer I am today. And no matter how far I go, I will never forget where I began. In this day and age, we have 75,000 tiny pieces of stimuli vying for our attention in any given second. It’s a world where each and every person you pass has a tiny computer slid into their pocket (or more likely, actively in their hands) that’s capable of sending signals into space and all the way back again to gather any piece of information that they desire in a single instant. It’s a world of non-stop news tickers, buzzing notifications, flashing advertisements, and endless blinking, scrolling, epilepsyinducing, in-your-face media madness. It is also, unfortunately, in this same plane of existence where dogs with no homes have a tiny flicker of an opportunity to have their faces seen, and their voices heard. The problem is, they’re competing with everything else. Like the reticent decibel of the wind off a butterfly’s wing beneath the deafening explosion of a rocket blast. A tiny thumbnail photo is oftentimes all they get, and it might be the only thing that stands between them and their second chance at life. This is why it’s more important now than ever to use our power as artists to create mind-blowing imagery as a conduit to share these dogs’ stories. It’s up to us to make people stop in their tracks, to pause their scrolling. The images need to open their eyes, if only even for a tiny fraction of a second, to really see the face of a forgotten dog who’s silently pleading for someone to come and change their fate. That, my friends, is where you and I come in. And when we arrive, we’re armed with cameras and compassion. This is

precisely the moment where we can reach out and change a life forever. There are a million incredible reasons why photographing dogs at your local shelter is a good idea. The most compelling of those reasons is, of course, also the most obvious: the opportunity to give something selfless to the world and leave someone changed in your wake. I’m not sure exactly why we’ve been put here on planet Earth, but I can pretty much guarantee you that truly giving of yourself for someone else is one of those reasons. Aside from the part where you get to make a tangible difference in the world, volunteering at the shelter is an unequaled opportunity to gain experience photographing dogs. And not only will you gain experience with dogs, but you’ll have to employ quite a bit of creativity to make magic in tight quarters and (generally) uninspiring spaces.

14.1 FIGURE 14.1 Taking a break from a photo shoot for a snuggle in an early

photo from my adventures volunteering at the MSPCA at Nevins Farm in Methuen, MA.

14.2

If you’re interested in volunteering your time to photograph the adoptable dogs at your local shelter, start by doing your research. Learn about several shelters in your area and determine which one will be a good fit for you. In turn, also try and consider if you’ll be a good fit for it. Shelter-photographer relationships work best when there is a partnership, and each party works together with the animal’s best interests in mind. From both ends, the efforts should be entirely altruistic. It’s not about branding out all the photos with your watermark as a way of marketing yourself to the community. Nor is it about the shelter undervaluing your work or your efforts as an artist. Understand that shelters are busy places, often overwhelmed and understaffed, and be patient in your communications if there are small hiatuses in between responses. When choosing a shelter to reach out to, look for one that could really

use your help. I often hear photographer’s venting frustrations about shelters who have turned down their services, an instead of moving on to the next possible opportunity, they get angry with the process and give up. I grieve the loss of exposure that takes from the dogs who need them in some overlooked shelter somewhere. Persist in your passion. Keep in mind that some of the shelters you’ll be reaching out to might already have a photographer (or two, or three!). That’s great! The more people working on this photographic forefront to capture and share imagery of dogs in need, the better. Stick with it until you find a shelter that needs and appreciates you and the unique gift that you have to offer.

EXPERIENCE Little did I know it at the time, but my humble beginnings of photographing adoptable dogs at my local shelter was like a masterclass in dog photography. I couldn’t have paid for that kind of rich, extensive education at any university in the world. Over my years of going into the shelter multiple times per week and photographing eight or ten dogs in a given day, I inadvertently gained the experience of working with thousands of dogs. The thing about doing your work in a shelter environment is that you get what you’re given, in terms of subjects. You don’t get to request dogs of a certain breed, a certain color, or a certain temperament type. You don’t get to start on the “easy” mode by cherry picking dogs based on their behavioral skills or extensive knowledge of “sit.” And that’s

exactly what’s so beautiful about it. At the shelter, you’ll get all types of dogs. Big dogs, small dogs, scared dogs, confident dogs, agile dogs, elderly dogs, young dogs, black dogs, white dogs, speckled dogs, skittish dogs, aggressive dogs; you name it. The list goes on and on and on.

14.3 FIGURE 14.3 I photographed sweet, adoptable Poindexter at the Garden of the Gods just outside of Colorado Springs, CO. Poindexter had been adopted and returned to the National Mill Dog Rescue multiple times, and we were really hoping that this time would be the one that stuck. In order to do our best job to give him the greatest chance possible, we traveled to one of the most beautiful places in the state and hiked to the top of this ridge to make an adoption photo that wouldn’t soon be forgotten.

You’ll also have another level of difficulty built right in—a factor that comes inherent with the fact that you’re photographing dogs who have no homes. Aside from the volunteers and staff who give as much of their hearts to as many dogs as they can,

these dogs come solo. They don’t come with an owner to help you at their shoot. They don’t have the stability of a secure home and the love of a family behind them. They don’t often have the confidence that a regular, family dog might have. In fact, they are likely going through the most overwhelming, strange, and confusing stage of their life at the very moment your journeys collide. That’s exactly why they need you so much. You will need to face the challenge of photographing dogs who may be very hard to deal with. Lonely dogs who spend the majority of their days behind the bars of a cage. Frustrated dogs who feel pent up, or stressed out by life in a long hallway of kennels. It’s up to you to ease their pain, their fears, and their anxieties while still making an image that has that magical power to save their lives. It’s a hard job. It’s a big and overwhelming responsibility to carry on your human shoulders. But, the moment that you experience the unprecedented joy of the wagging tail of a dog who just got his ticket to a new life, you’ll know that every single challenge leading up to that moment was worth it. Photographing shelter dogs is a unique outlet for experiencing four-legged souls from all walks of life and will undoubtedly make you a better, more well-rounded dog photographer who can face any challenge.

BEFORE AND AFTER It’s no secret that shelter and rescue volunteers have hearts of liquid gold. It takes a strong and selfless person to stand up for animals and dedicate their time to make a positive difference in

the life of an animal who has no way to say the words “thank you.” It’s no doubt that when these same volunteers snap photos of dogs for their adoption profiles, that they’re doing it with only the best and most beautiful intentions. These kinds of well-intentioned snapshots are often taken with a cell phone, in poor light, without much time for thought about expression or location. Sometimes, as a matter of efficiency, these photos are even taken through the bars of the cage. As you and I both know, these aren’t ideal circumstances to showcase a dog in his best light. These aren’t the circumstances in which it’s easy (or even possible) to capture his true, glittering, one-of-a-kind personality.

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14.4b FIGURE 14.4 The world of difference a good photo can make for a dog who is stuck behind the bars of his cage in an overcrowded shelter is immeasurable. Every dog deserves this same chance to shine.

These photos might depict him as scared, aggressive, sad, or generally just unapproachable. Tiny, on-camera phone flashes cause “demon eyes” and hard light creates a subtle mood of despair. This is not how these dogs deserve to be displayed to the world. This is not good enough for their one chance at being noticed. These reasons are precisely why us dog photographers are so invaluable to the work that shelters do. We bring a very unique skill set that allows us to set a dog up for success in capturing the most life-changing photo we can possibly make for him, from knowing and interpreting his body language, to placing him in fairytale light, to capturing his best expression, to editing out his leash. We can master the many tiny details and nuances that go into capturing a photo that has the power to share a story in a single glance. That’s what makes it so important for us to lend our hopeful magic to a dog

who may have trouble finding hope of his own.

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14.5b FIGURE 14.5 Sir Didymus’ adoption photo was not doing him any justice, so we gave him a special grooming and took him out to the front parking lot of the shelter to give him a better shot at being noticed through colorful and compelling photography.

MAKE THE BEST OF WHAT YOU’VE GOT Let’s face it. Most shelters are pretty tough locations to make pretty pictures within. Dark, cramped, small, and busy are just a few adjectives that come to mind when I think of the average, small-town shelter. Shelter grounds can be exceptionally challenging places to hold a photo shoot. I got pretty lucky with the shelter I started at: the MSPCA at Nevins Farm here in Massachusetts happens to have beautiful, sprawling grounds, lots of open grassy areas, big gorgeous oak trees for shade, and even some lovely walking trails strewn throughout the shelter property. That said, I have photographed at shelters all around the world since then, and I’ve found that the MSPCA is most definitely the exception rather than the rule. I’ve volunteered at many, many shelters across the United States, Costa Rica, Canada, Australia, and Belgium, and the majority of shelter setups are pretty modest, and the location opportunities are pretty limited. So it falls to us to harness our creativity and imagination, hurdle the obstacles, and make gorgeous photos come out on the other end regardless. Here’s a few of my best tips for trying to make lemonade out of some pretty subpar lemons when it comes to shooting within the confines of a limited shelter environment: Simplicity is your best friend. Try to see through the busy, visual chaos to small patches of location that are simple. By that, I mean solid-colored walls, swaths of

uniform ground, or the far end of a play yard with a simple wooden fence. Look for movable elements in the environment. Is there a great wooden bench or a nice-looking stump somewhere on the grounds outside? With proper permission and the help of another volunteer, move some things around to accommodate your shots while you’re working with your adoptable dog. As long as you’re always sure to put everything back where you found it when you’re done shooting, this should be a technique you can revisit and repurpose time and time again.

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14.6b FIGURE 14.6 The hardest shelter photo shoot I’ve ever done was in the heat of early July in South Central LA at Los Angeles Animal Services. To say that the aesthetics of the shelter environment for photography purposes were less than ideal would be an exceptionally gentle understatement. With little more to work with than a tiny, six-car parking lot, we decide to cross the street and explore the neighborhood a bit. We were advised to take a very street savvy volunteer with us for safety and were grateful when one kindly obliged to come along. We walked a few blocks away to try and find a local park. On our way there, we happened to walk by this city school bus depot that I initially didn’t notice as being much of anything interesting. After discovering the park we were planning to go had been turned into an impromptu camp for the local homeless population, we were stuck for ideas. I remembered the bus depot and we moseyed on back with our sweet multiyear shelter resident, Cashew, in tow. Upon looking at this gritty spot

through a different and more artistic lens, I decided it would be a perfect place to capture Cashew’s story in a single moment. And here, you have it, the original photo that Cashew had representing him before his shoot, and his new, colorful, eye-catching update.

Be aware of light. It’s very easy to forget the importance of good light when you’re otherwise caught up in the anxieties of shooting in “survival mode.” You may be internally freaking out about how limited the shelter environment is for you while scrambling to find somewhere passable to shoot, but don’t forget the impact that light can have on your final image. Make light your first priority, and then the overall look of the background your second. Good light can make even the most mundane of locations look magical. On the other hand, bad light can destroy what might otherwise be a gorgeous spot. Focus on tight, close-up personality shots. Since there’s a pretty good chance your shooting locations aren’t going to be visual masterpieces anyway, get in close and cut out the background! This will serve two purposes: It will keep your shot clean, simple and easy to read while cutting out the distracting background clutter and it will let the dog’s soulful eyes and expression do the talking. There’s nothing better to capture someone’s unfocused attention than a shot with an ultra joyful dog face featured nice and big in the frame, anyway.

If possible, go off-site. If you have a great relationship with your shelter’s staff and director, and they trust you implicitly with their precious adoptable cargo, you may inquire about the opportunity of taking dogs out and about. If you’re able to coordinate a small team of reliable volunteers, try for a plan of taking two or three dogs off-site to somewhere exceptionally beautiful. Go for an afternoon adventure to the beach, a garden, a state park—the opportunities are endless! Maybe you choose a dog who has been there the longest, who needs the greatest advantage he can get in his adoption photo. This will be an incredible opportunity for the dog to get out, stretch his legs, and get some realworld interaction on a fun adventure, as well as get you a stellar, unbeatably beautiful location to knock your adoptable dog’s photos out of the park and into the sky.

14.7 FIGURE 14.7 I photographed sweet adoptable Bear the Pit Bull at my home shelter—an organization that is one of the nearest and dearest to me in the world: the MSPCA at Nevins Farm in Methuen, Massachusettes. You can see that, in terms of location aesthetics, I have things pretty good at the Nevins Farm property. Rolling hills, green grassy pastures, and big wideopen skies. It is a photographer’s dream shelter, but certainly not a common phenomenon in the cases of shelters across the world.

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14.8c FIGURE 14.8 As you can see in Figure 14.8a, this busy play yard at a shelter in Tampa, Florida had some exceptionally challenging dappled light and a first-class view right out into their busy parking lot. I knew that in order to conquer the space I had to focus past all the chaos and onto something more simple. I spotted this simple wooden bench from across the yard and went to investigate what it might look like as a background in a shot. After I checked it out with a very high tech test photo of my sneakers, I was able to pop my dog model up on it and voila! There’s nothing else to worry about here except puppy eyes that will melt your soul right out of your body.

14.9 FIGURE 14.9 In this tight and cluttered play yard with artificial turf, there were precious few options for getting a great shot of this litter of adoptable puppies. We found a bench in the corner that wasn’t bolted down and dragged it out onto an extreme end of the fenced-in area so we could put the subjects in better light as well as separate them from the background. The bench also served as a good place to put the puppies up to keep from them all the wonderful delicious distractions on the ground. That increased my chances for getting them all together, and with a few surprise squeaks of a toy, all eyes were on me, if only for a few coveted milliseconds.

14.10 FIGURE 14.10 Tight. Close. Simple. Impactful. This type of shot lets the dog’s personality shine while keeping the distracting shelter environment at bay. Turns out some artificial turf and a few scattered leaves make a great backdrop! This dog was adopted the same day that her photo was put online, and I’ve gotta say—it’s easy to see why!

14.11 FIGURE 14.11 I had the incredible opportunity to take a number of adoptable dogs from the Utah Humane Society out to the fairytale expanses of the Bonneville Salt Flats. Holding their photo shoot at a place so unique was a great way to get eyes on their images after the fact. Shelter dog photography is simply marketing at its most meaningful!

14.12 FIGURE 14.12 Axel was available for adoption at the Pet Pal Animal Shelter in St. Petersburg, Florida. While visiting the area, I thought it’d be wonderful to lend a hand and do some adoption photos. Just across the street from the shelter was this old, mostly abandoned industrial brick building that I thought was a lovely and visually interesting relic. With help from another volunteer photographer (shout out to my dear friend Sarah Wood!) we had Axel jump up on this low, round concrete table and the 1635mm lens helped me capture him in all his true, goofy glory.

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MAKE A DIFFERENCE Having the opportunity to be a medium through which a forgotten dog can share his story is the greatest privilege in the world. It’s a responsibility that I don’t take lightly, and one that has shaped me to my very core. Of all the amazing adventures I’ve been lucky enough to go on in my lifetime, my work with shelter dogs is hands down the most important thing I’ve ever done. And no matter how many workshops I get to teach, shows I get to film, or books I get to write, it will always be the most important thing I’ll ever do. Each and every dog I’ve ever met is ingrained in me. They will always be a part of my story, and I hope, in some

small way, I’ll always be a part of theirs. There is nothing that I would love more than for you to stand up and join me in a crusade to join our creative hearts together and let our cameras share the magic of second chances. Together, we can tell the stories of the ones who have been abandoned and left behind. We can shine light in every dark corner of every shelter cage in the world, illuminating every wagging miracle who waits so patiently from within. With nothing but a camera and a little bit of courage, we can rewrite the endings to their stories.

’TIL NEXT TIME Whew. So there you have it. That’s it. The entire contents of my brain. Well, save for the stuff I’ve got squirreled away in that other compartment which includes my childhood phone number, my Nana’s recipe for banana bread, and the lyrics to “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Boy, do I feel lighter. I’ll leave you with the following thoughts: While I can tell you about apertures, shutter speeds, body language, lighting, and how to use a long leash for action shots, it is left to you to bring this knowledge to life through your imagery. Now it’s time to get out into the world and find your own adventure. Discover the beauty. Revel in the way the sun paints the edges of your dog’s golden fur, or the way the sky glitters in his colored iris. Remember what you learned here but don’t forget to uncover new things. You hold in your hand a tool that gives you the ability to tell

stories. Those stories can change lives, save lives, build lives, celebrate lives or memorialize them. You hold the power to alter the course of existence for a dog who has no voice to speak for himself. You hold the power to gift memories to those who have to face saying the hardest kind of goodbye. You hold the power to freeze, in one single instant, a moment that could serve to heal someone’s broken heart one day. It’s up to you to use it. The long and short of it is, dogs are a blessing. They are proper miracles walking around on planet earth on four paws, spreading light and love as far as they can reach. I have to wonder what it is that we ever did to deserve them. Our job is about sharing the joy that is so uniquely canine; the magic in those unscripted moments of dog. We’re lucky enough to be photographers that point our lenses towards the greatest models of all—furry little masterpieces that are not concerned with their hair, makeup, or how they look on any given day. They have no “bad sides” because every side is a good side, and every day is a good day. Whether it’s a lonely dog at the shelter, the legacy of a dog whose about to earn his angel wings on his trip into the stars, or the dog who is the loyal beating heart at your own feet, you have the lucky privilege of pointing your camera

at the most magical creature on earth. I hope this book has given you the knowledge and the tools that you need to make photos of dogs so beautiful that they melt your heart into a puddle at your feet. More importantly, I hope it gives you the confidence and the courage you’ve been looking for to go out there and chase down your own dream. Thank you for coming on this very big adventure with me. Go forth, make photos, and conquer, my friends. And tell the dogs I sent ya.

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