This week's theme for Pet Photography is 'portraits'.  If I google the 'official' definition of the word portrait, this is what it says: "a painting, drawing, photograph, or engraving of a person, especially one depicting only the face or head and shoulders".  A portrait is defined as essentially being the head and shoulders.  A head portrait for a dog will usually include to just below the collar or maybe a little more/less depending on your individual preference.

For the 'techies' out there here's a little information on the studio setup used for this portrait.  The background is a fluffy white blanket hanging from a couple of background stands.  The lighting on my left (the dog's right) is provided by an AD200 strobe inside of a 34" beauty dish (both purchased at Adorama).  I also have a gold/silver reflector on my right (the dog's left) to fill in some of the shadows by bouncing some of the light back into the dog.

Same lighting as above, just allowing the left side of Ollie's face to be more in shadow.

In my household, when Ollie decides she will do the modeling job, Rue (her sister) always gets jealous.  Rue is a hard one to get good photographs of - she was like that the day I met her at about 10 weeks old and she is just a few months shy of 2 years old now - same little girl with a mind of her own.  Rue did finally listen and 'stay' allowing this photograph to be captured.  This isn't true to the definition of a 'portrait'.

However, cropping this photograph to be 'just a head portrait' doesn't look as good (to me) because her hind legs are still partially in the photograph. Perhaps you have some thoughts?

For more pet photographers sharing their take on this theme, head over to visit Terri J Photography, Creating images that capture the unique spirit and personality of your pets and the people that love them, serving Toronto and Southeast Florida 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).