Dogs Portraits - Tamryn Lowe Photography

Dog Shoot / 31 Aug 2020

Dogs Portraits

Why you should have your dogs portraits taken:

Are you considering dogs portrait taken?

I am a seriously dog obsessed person. Like someone who would rather stay home than go out and leave her dogs alone. So of course I take my dogs portraits often. But I think you should too!

Here’s a quick list why:

Your pets are part of your family, so just as you would take family portraits, you should too take dog portraits.
Your dogs will love you for the adventure (and if not, they will definitely love you for the treats they get during their shoot)
They make for great pieces of wall art
It’s an great way to look back and see just how much your dog has grown (in character as well as age)
Our family pets leave the earth before they leave our hearts, and having great portraits to look back on is something special.

Some tips on how to get the most out of your dogs portrait session:

I think the most important thing is to be prepared for your shoot to take some time. The most important thing is that your dog has fun. If that means taking some time to wait while he/she calms down, that is what we do.
A great way to get rid of some of your dogs excess energy is to do something exciting before hand. Take them for a short walk, or do a mental enrichment activity.
Food driven dogs are always much easier to manage. If your dog isn’t usually very food driven you can help them be a bit more food driven by skipping feeding them breakfast and then bringing their food along to the shoot instead (if the shoot is in the morning.). Another trick that always works is to bring their favourite treats and toys with you and use them to get your dogs attention.
You also have the option of having your dogs portraits taken in the comfort of your own home. This is a brilliant option for some dogs, here are some of the pros and cons of each:

Dogs Portraits at home

Pros

Your dogs are more likely to be relaxed, especially if they are a nervous dog.
This goes hand in hand with the above mentioned point. If your dog relaxes quicker, the shoot will happen quicker and the whole shoot will not take so long.
We can work with the dogs off lead without any worries.

Cons

Finding a wide variety of great locations could be problem. This isn’t however a big problem. There are ways to take stunning images in any location, but it does limit the variety of shots you might receive.

Dogs Portraits at a park

Pros

The large space at dog parks offers the ideal location for a wide variety of shots. It also means we can hunt for the perfect background that also has the perfect lighting.
Parks offer the great opportunity to get some candid shots of your dogs. Whether its your dog playing in some water or sprinting in the open space, these make for great pictures.
When taking pictures of your dogs at home, they often wonder off to their safe space when they get bored. This can be a bed or a kennel or under a desk. Not the most flattering spaces. Whereas at a park, they tend to go to their owners when they are ‘over it’ which can be the perfect opportunity for some pictures together.

Cons

If you have a nervous dog, parks really aren’t going to be too fun for them
Parks often have a whole ton of distractions that are way more exciting than sitting and looking pretty for a picture.
Usually your dogs are required to be on a lead, while this doesn’t necessarily look bad, dogs look a whole lot better when they are free.
With all the excitement around your dogs could take a lot longer to settle down for their portrait shots.

So armed with all this new knowledge I think its time for you contact me for your dogs portraits! 😉