An Outdoor Pet Photo Shoot for A Shih Poo Dog

How do you get great photos of a dog?

Have you ever tried photographing your dog in the garden and weren't sure where to start? I thought I would explain what I do on a pet photo shoot when I am photographing on location.

I was recently commissioned to create some photographs of Winnie, a very cute Shih Poo dog, as a birthday gift for Winnie’s owner. The photos were to be taken at Winnie’s home near Cockermouth. It was about an hour and a half's drive from my photo studio in Kendal so with all my camera gear packed I set off early for the appointment. The weather forecast for the day was fair, not sunny but no rain either :-) so all good.
I always like to take a look around when I arrive somewhere new to take photographs. I am looking for locations that will help me to create great photos and I wanted to show Winnie in her home environment as I wanted it to be a meaningful gift for Winnie's owner. Winnie's home had a large garden at the front which extended to the side and gave lots of opportunities for a variety of photos. There was plenty of space for some action shots of Winnie running so I got a few of these before moving onto other photos.

There were plenty of intersting and colourful trees, bushes and flowers in the side garden. The photo here of Winnie sitting amongst these lovely, bright pink flowers is one of my favourites from the collection. Some breeds of dog have fur that seems to attract and retain leaves, buds, grass seeds and other foliage and this happened to Winnie so I had to make sure that I removed these in between photos.
Winnie was patiently sitting and gazing around the garden while I took another set of photographs and you can see that something has caught her eye in the next image.

There was an interesting forked tree in the middle of the lawn so I created a few photos of Winnie looking through and some of her sitting to one side. It was one of these that Winnie's owner chose to have framed. I was asked to pick a frame to suit the photo (something I often get asked to do) and I selected a modern, frame with a beautiful wood grain to match the outdoor colours and to blend in with the decor. Here's the image Winnie's owner chose for the frame.

You can see more examples of my outdoor pet photography here.

If you have great photographs of your own pet, these can always be printed on a variety of items such as canvas wall art or small jigsaws. Contact the studio for more information if this is of interest or if you would like to arrange a professional photo shoot portrait for your pet please get in touch.