This week's Pet Photography theme is 'Emotion'.  Dogs show emotion in many different ways from the ears, tail, mouth and other body parts.  As I've done more photography of dogs for the rescue, I'm become more familiar with the types of emotions that I don't want to capture and share with hopes of finding a rescue dog it's future home.  If a dog has it's tail tucked under instead of a relaxed state, it often means they are scared which isn't what I prefer to portray.  Another important cue, is the ears - are they perked up? back against the head? Depending on what the ears are doing, can make a big difference on how the dog comes across in a photograph.

In this photograph of Rue, she is curious - we have someone actually playing with her below the chair bottom and she is trying to determine what it is.  Her nose is pushed into the cushion in hopes of getting a good scent.

In this photograph, Flower is all about happy and joy!  She managed to get away from our assistant for just a minute and run around in a circle when this photograph was captured. I'm happy to report that Flower was adopted shortly after we took her into our home as a foster and is enjoying life with her new family.

Flower - female - Adopted

Curious and caring - Rue and her little mate, Ollie (short for Olive) share a tender moment together during our photography session.

This little dog was very fearful of the camera and eventually hid entirely within it's blanket with just the face poking out.  Often these are the more challenging dogs to capture photographs of but time and patience are often your best options while working with a pet to capture a photograph.

Tyson - adopted

A sign of stress or anxiety is yawning or licking their mouth with their tongue - either one can tell you they are not comfortable with the current environment or situation.  Sometimes the camera itself is the source of stress and I have on occasion put my camera down, put a treat on the camera lens and waited for the dog to come over and take it.  After doing this a few times, they seem a little more comfortable and we continue our photography session.

Just remember - when you are photographing any animal, they will pick up on your energy.  If you are nervous, upset, hiped up, calm, relaxed - whatever your are feeling, they will know and if you're calm and relaxed you'll have much greater success in getting some great photographs of your animal or pet.

For more 'emotion' pet photographs head over to visit Kim with BARKography based in Charlotte NC and then head around the rest of the blog circle until you end up back here.

If you would like to book a custom pet portrait session, send an email to [email protected] or give us a call at 813-610-2671 in the Tampa Bay area (Florida).