Scheduling
Because I only shoot at certain times of the day (a couple hours before sunset) and have
limited weekday availability, sessions tend to book up quickly, so be sure to book
yours well in advance.
Preparation
First we will decide where the session will take place.
Have your pet(s) well groomed and clean.
If your dog doesn’t know a few basic commands like sit and stay and down, start working on it a few weeks before your session. Training most dogs these basic commands doesn’t take much time and it will make the session much less stressful for you, your dog and your photographer.
Pets react to your energy, if you are excited, they will be excited, etc. The main thing is to keep calm as it’s the best state for relaxed happy pets. I have photographed hundreds of dogs, and being a dog lover myself, I have a few “tricks” up my sleeve to assist with capturing a special moment in time.
If you have a super crazy nutty dog or another high energy breed dog, taking them for a good walk or run around prior to the photography session can pay off! You don’t want to exhaust them completely, as their personality and playfulness needs to shine through during the session but just enough so that they aren’t completely over the top when we start.
I encourage you to bring along an assistant or two to help hold your pet, help me with holding equipment or just getting their attention. The assistant will be behind the camera and can do different things to ensure that the pet’s ears are forward and your pet is looking in the direction needed for the shot.
While I have a ready supply of 100% natural, healthy treats for use during our session, if there are treats that you know your pet loves, bring them along! Be sure to let me know if your pet has any particular food allergies. Also, feel free to bring along any favorite toys, frisbee or balls as I will also get some action shots of your pet during play.
A typical photo shoot lasts about 45 minutes to an hour unless you are getting a mini session which is 15-30 minutes. This amount of time is usually plenty to get a good variety of shots.
I will provide direction during the shoot, but please feel free to bring your ideas to the session.
If you choose to be in some of the photographs with your dog it’s best to wear solid colors. Bold stripes and logos tend to distract. However, if you need help with ideas I’m very happy to help with that as well.
After our photo session I will have a couple sneak peeks up almost immediately and you should expect all your edited images within two weeks.