Dog Photography BTS
Here is a short behind the scenes slide show video giving an idea of what its like to take a beautiful portrait of a puppy Boxer dog. The photograph I was creating was of Moose looking dwarfed by the dark atmospheric trees and a little lost. My aim with dog photography is to always get an image that will look stunning as a piece of wall art. Moose is an absolute bundle of energy and curiosity. He loves chasing birds and squirrels, literally anything that moves, so yes we had our work cut out..
In woodland like this I am usually looking for a spot that offers a great background with enough distance from my subject that so that it becomes blurred out. this helps to create separation and depth to the image.
Every subject needs light so I place them in a spot that has some open shade and is facing into the light. Then its just a case of having lots of treats and lots of patience. The final image was created when Moose was distracted by a noise he heard in the woods. He stood for just enough time for me to capture this look away into the distance which was exactly what I was waiting for. The fact that he is so easily distracted actually helped to get this final image.
It sometimes looks from a final image that a dog has been highly trained to pose for these types of pictures and that is generally not the case. Dogs can remain on leads throughout my shoots and if we can get a shot like this with a very energetic Boxer pup then anything is possible.