Working in the Studio
When you have the opportunity to photograph any dog you need to think about the location, be it out in a field or in the studio. For a shoot I conducted this September I got the opportunity to photograph three pedigree Irish Setters, mother and her two daughters, so I took the opportunity to photograph them in the studio.
When I first got in the studio I let the dogs have a play so that they could get used to the place, as I don't want them to get frightened while I'm taking my photographs. I started off with a white background when photographing Lola (mother) as I felt it would bring out the bright red colour of her coat. So for these photographs I used two three different lights, one to light up the background and the other two to light the dog, one on the left the other on the right.
I focused on sitting shots, wide angle to get all of the dog in or close up to just get head shots. I prefer close up shots as the emotions and charcters can be seen better through the dogs eyes.
Above is another photograph I took while conducting this shoot, this is of on of the daughters, who was 8 months old at the time. for this photograph I turned off the back light and then put a bored behind both of the front lights so I could darken the background. I love this photograph as the light brings out highlights of the dogs coat and the eye connection of the dog.
This is another photograph taken on the shoot. This time we tried something different as the puppies were getting a bit agitated. So we got them to run around and even jump up for their treats. I ended up with this final photograph showing the dog jumping, which shows a fun side of the breed. I had to do a bit of photoshop afterwards, due to having pert of the owners hand in the top right hand corner.
So when you are photographing any dog in the studio think about the background and make sure the dog stands out. Also don't just do sitting, standing or head shots try something different even if its just to give the dog a break, you never know if you will get a great photograph out of it.
