This week's pet photography theme is 'get close' so I decided to grab my macro lens and take some close up photographs showing just part of a dog. I started looking at Jimbo - he's my old soul in a dog body - I've always thought that way about him.  He came to us about 5 1/2 years ago and both Jim and I looked at him soon after he was settled in and thought the same thing.  A rough life before he came to us, but now he has it much easier - just has to put up with all the critters I keep bringing into our home.  Anyway, here's a few closeups of Jimbo.

The nose, it went white many years ago - a good portion of his face is white now - but regardless of all the white fur that now covers most of his face - he is still our big gentle boy.

The eye lashes - Jimbo has always had very visible eye lashes and often we were asked if he was a girl.  He has a nick just below this eye, he came to us with several 'battle wounds' that had healed - I'm sure there is a story behind each of them that only he knows.

The tail - on Jimbo's tail there is a little bit of black fur - no where else does he have black - should he ever get separated from us, that is definitely one of his identifying traits.  If Jimbo is 'happy', his tail will curl - it's one of the ways I can tell what his mood is.  When I talk with him if I say the right word(s), the amount of tail wag I get tells me when I have said the correct word.  Course, when I say snack (others call it cookie or treat), Jimbo will go into a happy dance - a lot more is moving than his tail.

Curled brown dog tailJimbo's brown dog tail curling

If your curious what a 'dead stare' looks like from Jimbo - here it is!  This close up was taken focusing on his eyes with a shallow depth of field.  He does have a long nose - and it's long enough to be blurred in this portrait.

As for Abby, she is a cute hound mix and has spots in various places - here she is gazing off while I am working on getting closeup photographs of the dogs.

I think one of Abby's most unique features (other than the big white spot on the back of her head) are the little black spots on her paws.  I have to say, I have never really looked at the detail in a dog's toe pads until I took this photograph.

Dog pawDog paw - a close up

In this photo of Abby's eye, I see two little specs of darker color on the bottom right of her left eye.  I've never noticed it looking at her, but it definitely shows up in this close up.

My thoughts to you are - what makes your pet unique such that if you had to pick them from a lineup of similar looking dogs - would you be able to do it?  Have you noticed the little details on your dog, cat, rabbit, etc that make them unique from every other animal?  Take a few minutes to do that - you never know when you may need that information.

For more pet photographers sharing their take on this theme, head over to visit Tracy Allard of Penny Whistle Photography fetching family portraits in Coppell, Texas and surrounding communities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and then head around the rest of the blog circle.

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