wud
Senior Member
I dont know if anyone are interested, but I read so many of your tips and tutorials, so wanna give something back. And well, I do dogs...
First, I mail the owner and explains a little about what we'll be doing. Here I tell them, to let me know if their dog needs a break, as they of course nows it better than me. Also I tell them, that the first 5-10 minutes, I'll just be talking to the dog, playing - petting - feeding goodies, what ever the dog likes. This makes a huge difference for the images, as the dog suddenly sees me as a friend, and will most likely offer eye contact to me during the shoot.
I also ask, what they normally do for fun with the dog, training, playing etc. Last I ask if the dog are afraid of something specific, most are not but sometimes one writes 'other dogs', 'trucks', something. Then I arrange that we meet up somewhere where there would be a small chance meeting this.
I do have dogs myself, so I know some about their language.
Stuff I pay close attention to while photographing: calming signals. This can mean the dog is stressed, and if so, I can be pretty sure I will find a lot of stressed out eyes when returning home seeing the images big on the computer. Not a good picture!
Signals (amongst others) can be:
yawning/panting if not hot or just been running
looking away
showing the white in the eyes
humping - either me or the owner (clear stress signal)
sniffing when called in/asked to do something (yes its true! not always of course, see what else the dog signals)
keeps turning the back on me (friendly signal, maybe I'm being to forward)
If the dogs continuously do some of the above, I rearrange the shoot. What ever tricks this, I can do later or not at all, doesn't matter, we'll get other images. So if we were throwing a ball, we stop and either just walks for a bit or we feed the dog some goodies, saying its a good dog whenever it acts calm.
I never force any dogs to anything and I wont see the owner doing it. I can try to lure it into something but if it wont do it, it doesn't matter.
I feed tons of goodies during a session. I praise the dog for whatever it does, even the things that does not mean anything, lol. Doesn't matter, I just want the dog to think its doing something amazing, this also shows in the pictures.
Next step. Guessing what the dog will do.
This is also what I use the first 5-10 minutes to figure out. I am looking at the dog - does it avoid me if I talk to loud, what does it find funny and interesting and so on. Does it move fast, slow, jump etc.
And then we start walking, to get to the first place where we will be shooting.
Here I get the owner to do something with the dog - this can be anything he/she knows the dog likes. Mostly playing with a ball or a toy, to get some of the positive stress of being a new and funny place out. It will make the head portraits much easier, if the dog are just a tiny bit tired
And from here, I just sees what the dog does. I look at it running first time after the ball, after this I prepare to shoot the next time it runs after the ball.
Last, but not least
It matters if the dog are trained to do something specific - sitting, laying, standing, tricks and so on. One of my dogs can sit/lay in a position for a long time and I can move away, take the picture, return and give a treat. My other dog can't (he will follow me instantly), so with him I will either have to have a helper giving goodies while I move away, or I will have to use a lens which allows me to be close to him.
This is the same with other peoples dogs, some prefer the owner close, some dont. I change the lens, according to this. I get the owner to stand, where they wont be in the picture.
Its all about what the dog are used to.
Most of the dogs I've been out with can do 1, maybe 1,5 hour of shooting (including walking, pauses etc). But they are TIRED when I leave them.
Only 1 time (so far) I had a really stressing dog, the shoot took more than 2 hours, as we had to take a lot of breaks just sitting relaxing with it. We had a good time though and the pictures turned out great
If any question, let me know. I hope someone will get any use out of this!
Dog a little uncomfortable (left side):
Dogs having fun, not minding running directly at the camera:
First, I mail the owner and explains a little about what we'll be doing. Here I tell them, to let me know if their dog needs a break, as they of course nows it better than me. Also I tell them, that the first 5-10 minutes, I'll just be talking to the dog, playing - petting - feeding goodies, what ever the dog likes. This makes a huge difference for the images, as the dog suddenly sees me as a friend, and will most likely offer eye contact to me during the shoot.
I also ask, what they normally do for fun with the dog, training, playing etc. Last I ask if the dog are afraid of something specific, most are not but sometimes one writes 'other dogs', 'trucks', something. Then I arrange that we meet up somewhere where there would be a small chance meeting this.
I do have dogs myself, so I know some about their language.
Stuff I pay close attention to while photographing: calming signals. This can mean the dog is stressed, and if so, I can be pretty sure I will find a lot of stressed out eyes when returning home seeing the images big on the computer. Not a good picture!
Signals (amongst others) can be:
yawning/panting if not hot or just been running
looking away
showing the white in the eyes
humping - either me or the owner (clear stress signal)
sniffing when called in/asked to do something (yes its true! not always of course, see what else the dog signals)
keeps turning the back on me (friendly signal, maybe I'm being to forward)
If the dogs continuously do some of the above, I rearrange the shoot. What ever tricks this, I can do later or not at all, doesn't matter, we'll get other images. So if we were throwing a ball, we stop and either just walks for a bit or we feed the dog some goodies, saying its a good dog whenever it acts calm.
I never force any dogs to anything and I wont see the owner doing it. I can try to lure it into something but if it wont do it, it doesn't matter.
I feed tons of goodies during a session. I praise the dog for whatever it does, even the things that does not mean anything, lol. Doesn't matter, I just want the dog to think its doing something amazing, this also shows in the pictures.
Next step. Guessing what the dog will do.
This is also what I use the first 5-10 minutes to figure out. I am looking at the dog - does it avoid me if I talk to loud, what does it find funny and interesting and so on. Does it move fast, slow, jump etc.
And then we start walking, to get to the first place where we will be shooting.
Here I get the owner to do something with the dog - this can be anything he/she knows the dog likes. Mostly playing with a ball or a toy, to get some of the positive stress of being a new and funny place out. It will make the head portraits much easier, if the dog are just a tiny bit tired
And from here, I just sees what the dog does. I look at it running first time after the ball, after this I prepare to shoot the next time it runs after the ball.
Last, but not least
It matters if the dog are trained to do something specific - sitting, laying, standing, tricks and so on. One of my dogs can sit/lay in a position for a long time and I can move away, take the picture, return and give a treat. My other dog can't (he will follow me instantly), so with him I will either have to have a helper giving goodies while I move away, or I will have to use a lens which allows me to be close to him.
This is the same with other peoples dogs, some prefer the owner close, some dont. I change the lens, according to this. I get the owner to stand, where they wont be in the picture.
Its all about what the dog are used to.
Most of the dogs I've been out with can do 1, maybe 1,5 hour of shooting (including walking, pauses etc). But they are TIRED when I leave them.
Only 1 time (so far) I had a really stressing dog, the shoot took more than 2 hours, as we had to take a lot of breaks just sitting relaxing with it. We had a good time though and the pictures turned out great
If any question, let me know. I hope someone will get any use out of this!
Dog a little uncomfortable (left side):
Dogs having fun, not minding running directly at the camera:
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