She's not the most cooperative model in the world and I lay no claim to being a pet photographer, but here's today's attempt at making a portrait of our English Springer Spaniel at five months of age.

Bob,
Nice shots. I like the lighting. How did you set this up?

If I were to nick pick, I'd lose the collar in the 2nd image. And I know it's the groomer in me, I would have also trimmed the feet prior to shooting. It would have given a much cleaner look, especially the bottom of the feet so you could see the cute pink pads.

She's a beautiful dog.

Doug

Thanks Doug. The lighting set-up was an 18" beauty dish with diffusing sock (Canon 580 EXII) on camera right, a 30" white relfector with a lower powered 580 EX bouncing off it for some fill on camera left. The shot with the collar was a test shot when I was setting things up and made it somewhat easier to contorl an excitable puppy. I liked her pose and expression so I worked it up anyway.

Agree on the need for a trim. She's a couple weeks past her last grooming. I'll spruce her up to do a six month portrait. My first wife and I had a grooming buissnes so I understand your thoughts on that. That was a lot of years ago and I had to do some serious brain straining when I got the clippers out to groom her.

One thing for certain, if I were going to shoot dogs on a black background a lot I'd invest in some seamless paper. My goodness all the white hairs that turned up on that cloth was a pain to try and brush off/clone out! Thanks for your thoughts. Appreciated.

Hi Bob,

These are lovely photos! Very nicely done.

James

Thank you very much, James. Much appreciated.

Love these... lighting and back groud are perfect for this Springer. Well done.

I agree, I love this lighting and its perfect for this dog. Very nicely done!