My pet portrait fundraiser

Well, it was interesting. It was chaotic and it was tiring. I truly had a great time. I think about 100 animals went through. Cats, dogs, and ferrets! I had a couple of big groups and amazingly got great shots of them.

I am only going to put two in this post, as, I will link some of my favorites if you care to click. These two for some reason speak to me. Both these animals are dying. The dog of cancer and I am not sure what the cat has. I felt honored to do these portraits.





Here are the rest of them

favorite portraits

Hey wow those all turned out great! You definately got it down to a science. I hope you don't mind but I might also use some of your christmas backdrop ideas for christmas shoots I'm about to start. I was going to do something a little more trendy, so here's the idea I had, but I'm going to use some others too.

My idea was to get a red brick backdrop and a small childrens leather couch I found, and put the christmas tree with presents underneath beside the chair, and use reindeer or santa hats on the pets, but I might get some other stuff to have more options available to me. I like the "Merry Christmas" letters.

Julie they are all great and some are superb! Really proud of you if that is appropriate - your perseverance has paid off brilliantly. You must be more than pleased (and relieved). Hope as a fund-raiser it works well, and also that you get some good continuing work out of it as a Julie fund-raiser.

Do we get to see the rest of them somewhere when ready? Also interested in how the ferrets look.

You just do not understand how much I winged it on this one. My Friday people got jipped. The person in charge of it was barking at me, my assistant got delayed, and I just did a crappy job setting up my lights. I was too stressed to *think*.

My friend who helped me some, called me at midnight Friday and we did a bit of brainstorming. We went in early, before everyone got there and redid the place. We moved tables, put up a screen and made it less distracting for the animals.

This weekend, my best lesson I learned was to take control. By Sunday, I was able to bring the volunteers together, give them instruction on what I needed them to do and NOT to do. I had to actually get after the head of it, as she kept bringing the animals and owners next in line over past the screen. Which, just caused issues as the animals on the table immediately became distracted and wouldn't look at me.

Matt, use any ideas you want. Even if you had the exact same stuff, you would put your ideas on it and it wouldn't be the same. I got the Merry Christmas sign at Target. Bought that Thursday. I would love to see a photo of your idea, sounds awesome

The ferrets were really tough as if they got loose, it would have been *bad*. Too many dogs and too big a place. I am working on them to remove hands.

I will put all of these up in proof galleries as soon as I get the prints fufilled. THAT is going to take all week. I am not complaining, as this is the most I have made on one job by far!

I had many people say they wanted private shoots in a studio. I can rent time in a friend's studio. Which will be great

Thanks! I should have all the stuff together by the end of this week.

I also had an idea for a small sleigh, but I'm having trouble finding one before I start taking shots. If you know where I can find one in a store that would be great. Most of the pet photography I do is small dogs, I've been doing it for 3 or 4 months and I still have yet to do anything bigger than a regular sized schnauzer (lucky, I know) but I already got two appointments for bull mastifs and a great dane (YIKES) I'm a little nervous on those... I actually haven't had anyone come in for cat pictures either.

Great Danes and Mastiffs are not difficult to shoot, as they tend to be pretty laid back. The small dogs are either super easy(like the chihuahua and the shi tzu pictured) or so difficult you pray for a couple of good shots.

With the big dogs, you just need longer backdrops or a different place to sit. My table was made for St Bernards, but, not all large dogs are comfortable on a table. I did have full sized collies(100+lbs) on my table, but, they were trained to a grooming table.

Julie, Ive watched your growth from the begining, I think you did a great job. I'm no expert and may even be a bit critical at times, but as a casual onlooker, and not a pet photographer – I’ve owned big and small animals all my life and raised Australian Cattle Dogs (they were working dogs) since I was a wee-small boy – I’d have to say you did a great job overall.

I think you did a great job considering the difficulties you had with your team, and all the different situations and pets and people and angles and on and on. I think you’re a heck a good person for doing what you do, keep it up!

I have a question, why do people get just their pest photographed? I understand show shots for sales etc, but I did not realize that people just go to get their pets seasonally photographed. Do people return to have just their pets photographed year after year?

I have a few constructive comments. First, I prefer to see the dogs in natural positions, mostly like you’ve done, but do not like to see the frontal, face on penis shot like the one on your opening page. Sure it’s natural, but it’s very in your face. Really, it’s a great shot, but for me, it’s just a little too much. Like I said, I own horses, cattle and small animals, but to me those shots are only appealing to “serious” dog people, and their owners. That’s your audience, so my comments are from an outsider, looking in. Even a little angle on that shot would give it a more appealing appearance.

Second, I think you should try to take a few photo journalistic, or candid type shots of the pet and the owner interacting with one another. Just shoot it while you’re prepping them for the strict pose. Some of your shots are a bit too posed and too static. I know it’s tough to shoot animals, I do horses all the time, but, I think you could be a little quicker on shutter, and try to catch that occasional face to face, or emotional shot between the animal and the owner. I also think you could dial down the lights a bit, or put a bit more angle on them and drop down the back lighting for a more dramatic light.

Have you read any good portrait lighting books? I think you should try some more directional light, your stuff, while technically correct in many ways, is kind of flat, and I think that’s because of the lack of shadows (in the right places) and too much straight on light. A more personal mood would make your shots really stand out!!!

That said, I’m very impressed that you could do so well with the family shots and all those dogs and kids!!!!!!!! I really think you did a great job on the white background shot with all those kids, dogs, and parents…. I never could pull that off!!!!!

You must have to tape the heck out of your power cords etc! You must be glad you got better light stands; I know I’d be real nervous about a dog bumping the light stands. Don’t you wish you could mount them on tracks!!!! That would be awesome!!

Keep it up. I think you’re doing great.

Most people just want their pet photographed around here. It's not as uncommon as you think. I have my dog all around my apartment without me being in a single shot with him. I've only gotten requests to do portrait/pets just a few times.

I had 6 minutes per client. The room was full of cats, dogs, and I had an annoyingly bossy and counterproductive person running the show. She would bring the next clients into my area as I was shooting

It was good to get ears and the animal to stay still. PJ style wasn't an option. Most owners had no desire to be in the shots. They wanted pet photos only.

If I had a relaxed atmosphere and plenty of time, I would have done things differently. What I did have was a gymnasium full of animals, a pit bull fight, cats so freaked they peed themselves and helpers who did their best, but really didn't know how to help.

If it is a male, its got a penis, in a 6 min span with owners wanting 2 to 3 backdrops, you get what you can get. Hard to get really good lighting when you don't have time to adjust it. Well, Friday my lighting was just *bad*. Flat is ok with me, as long as it isn't BAD.

I am not used to working under these conditions. I really probably bit off more than I should have tried to chew. People seemed happy and all went pretty well considering.

It was a great experience and I learned quite a bit in many areas this weekend. Though, I have to kinda laugh at trying to get PJ style shots under those conditions. The dogs were very very stressed. I don't know what was making them so keyed up, but not a one wasn't panting. It wasn't hot in there either.

Just trying to be an objective onlooker. Takem' or leavem' . . .

Well I've learned alot just by reading about your experience. I suppose it's good to setup a number of how many you can handle before you can call it a day. That way you can schedule out the ammount each animal would take and put that into a number, then only take that ammount of people. If they still want it done, tell them you can do studio work somewhere else.

I should have my pics up later tonight for you guys to see. I got the chair in today, so now I just have to go buy more brick. I used up all I had on a fireplace display for the pet shop. I should be able to get that this week. But the first setup is basically complete. I'll probably pick up the letters like you said and probably the bucket. That's actually funny you got a bucket from Target that's where I get all of them from. I get the exact size as that one except I have them in blue, green, and orange. They seem to put some out for every season so I always end up buying more, although I missed out on dark green, white, red and black so I'm hoping they have them for christmas. I'm starting to have a stack. I actually found out that Target and Michaels are the only two stores that carry those buckets as well. I'm betting Hobby Lobby might, but I haven't checked there yet.

I wouldn't worry about having "flat" lighting conditions to much. It's usually the conditions I have in my studio because it's such an enclosed area, and my studio lights aren't the best, but all my clients have been happy thus far, so I haven't let myself worry about it too much.

There are some portraits I think are so bad, I may ask the people if they want a private session time without the insanity.

I did not do the scheduling, the charity did. I voiced my feelings on the matter and they said there would be plenty of help. The volunteers tried their best, but, I am used to a much lower stress, all the time in the world time. 6 minutes is not enough. Not for me at least

Very very few people wanted to be in the photos with their pets. It was much easier when they were.

I enjoy a more interactive candid style portraiture, but that is not what people came to this for. They wanted pictures of their pets. I did *many* things wrong. Flat lighting was the least of them. I can forgive myself for that.

I have a long ways to go before being "good". I was mostly proficient this weekend. Well, Saturday and Sunday. Friday I was just bad

OK here's what I got for test shots today. I didn't have my computer with me so I couldn't really tell where my shadows were. Obviously it needs some work. I should have probably used my external flash to bounce off the ceiling if I wanted to get rid of ALL the shadows, but I'll work with it to get some shadows in it.

Oh and the setup isn't complete. I still have to work on the tree, and wrap some more similar presents like the red and green ones. I'm also contemplating adding "snow". I just used the others as an example. Remember these are TEST shots. Not actual finished studio settings.

Oh and NO I didn't "pose" my dog. He's a natural when it comes to letting me take pics of him. All the poses you see was just me putting him up on the chair and him getting in a comfortable position. I just told him when to sit.







I didn't have enough brick to do a wider angle, so I just uploaded pic of a close up to give you an idea of what it would look like with enough brick behind it. thoughts/ideas/help would be nice. I'm open to anything.

Oh and I also did some test shots on a red backdrop but I hated it. There's too much going on in one picture with a colored back drop. That's why I like the brick so much it's a darker red, and it looks like it belongs in with the setting.

Julie you have certainly learned a great deal this year. So many lessons tossed at you, especially this fundraiser. I just finished my shows for the year and some were just as hectic as you described. Those are the ones that will be teaching me the most.

Good luck on the next adventures and I hope you will continue to do the fundraiser under your control!

Unfortunately, my personality seems to learn best in situations that are truly beyond my skill level. Not sensible or smart, but, it does the best job teaching. I did the same when I was riding. I always seemed to pick the horse that I couldn't ride, that was well above my skill level. I came back in tears many times and was thrown even more than that. Usually within a few months my skills caught up with the horse.

At least the camera won't throw me in the dirt. By Sunday, I had much more control over my light. I feel like I did a month's worth of improvement in a weekend. I feel bad for those that came Friday though. In my stress and panic I just didn't think. Lighting is still my biggest issue. I have a mental block with it.

Matt, I love the chair. The brick is cool too. That chair would look great with the brown backdrop I pictured

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I had 6 minutes per client. The room was full of cats, dogs, and I had an annoyingly bossy and counterproductive person running the show. She would bring the next clients into my area as I was shooting

It was good to get ears and the animal to stay still. PJ style wasn't an option. Most owners had no desire to be in the shots. They wanted pet photos only.

If I had a relaxed atmosphere and plenty of time, I would have done things differently. What I did have was a gymnasium full of animals, a pit bull fight, cats so freaked they peed themselves and helpers who did their best, but really didn't know how to help.

If it is a male, its got a penis, in a 6 min span with owners wanting 2 to 3 backdrops, you get what you can get. Hard to get really good lighting when you don't have time to adjust it.

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Julie, first off you did a great job under the circumstances. When I did school photography, I had 15 to 30 seconds to get a photo and that was with the choice of 6 backgrounds. What I used for 6 backgrounds was ONE dark gray background with some texture to it (canvas). My background light had gel holder in it. When I went to get a kid, I would ask on the way to the poser what color background they wanted it. As the kid got into the poser, I would insert the correct gel into the background light. It takes all of 10 seconds to walk to the background light and change gels. Under these circumstances, I would offer 1 choice instead of 2 or 3. With the luxury of 6 minutes, with this setup it wouldn't take any time to change gels for 2 or 3 background choices. Also I will share a secret to getting the attention of any dog, cat, ferret or any other predator. Use an electronic game call along with the varmit calling SD card. You will get the immediate attention of any predator. I prefer the rabbit call myself. put the speaker behind you at low volume and they will look into the camera with the utmost attention (perfect pose). DO NOT USE THIS METHOD WITH RABBITS OR ANY OTHER PREY ANIMAL TYPE OF PET.