A photographic portrait of a pet can make a fantastic gift and that is exactly what Liz from Lindford contacted me about a couple of weeks ago.Liz wanted to give her daughter, Clare, a wonderful portrait of Clare's Boxer Dog, Rufus, for Christmas and I went along to Liz's home last week to meet her and Rufus and carry out the shoot.
I was told that Rufus could sometimes be a bit nervous around things he was unsure of and I didn't want to use my studio lighting if it was going to upset him, after all who wants a picture of their dog looking unhappy! So I used natural lighting for all the shots.
Rufus was a great dog and it didn't take him very long to get used to me and having a camera pointed at him. After a couple of minutes he relaxed and his character started to shine through.
The session lasted about an hour which was a confortable time for Rufus. We took a few photos inside as Liz's lounge had plently of natural light, and then moved out into the garden.
It was easy to keep Rufus interested in the session by letting him do his own thing and playing with him. This really brought out a natural look to the image rather than a posed one and let Rufus' character show through into the images.
You get a much more individual pet portrait by just observing and photographing the animal doing their own thing rather than trying to pose them which most of the time will just leave you with a stressed out pet and that will show in the photographs.
They say never work with children or animals but Rufus was a real delight to spend time with, observe and photograph.
If you are interested in have your pet photographed, or would like to give a pet portrait as a gift then please visit our main website at http://www.samcarterphotography.com/ or contact us on 07943 953009 or enquiries@samcarterphotography.com
