It has been a long time since i have written a blog, in fact February was my last, announcing my first ever photo exhibition! Soon after i had all my photos printed, framed and on display, the Covid lock down came to the UK and shut the exhibition down after making one sale. Lock down also ruined plans to go to Amsterdam for some photography and Barbados for my Brothers wedding. Instead i was sent home from work for 3 months. A had lots of plans to go photography tutorials and experiments and put lots of effort and time into the blog and photography but i found myself lacking motivation for photography. I ordered a speed light and some studio accessories and tried some portrait and product stuff i was quite happy with but soon got bored, i also ordered some macro extension tubes to play with, which were fun for 10 minutes. I tried some water droplet stuff and had some good results but was missing getting out and about with the camera. I will drop a few of the images i took on lock down below for you to glance through before we get on to dogs !
Both of my brothers got dogs around the same time, maybe, i think and dog photography is something i had never tried but would like to. Not only is it great fun and practise for me and a test of my kit but if the were good they now had stacks of photos of their beloved pets. I had been asking for months when they were taking the dogs out so i could join and get some photos but kept getting forgotten about whenever they went out. Some how both brothers went out, with all four dogs and remembered to tell me. So off i went to some woods near Grimsby i had never heard of, certain was going to get murdered but my brothers arrived and it was actual quite a pleasant place! It consisted of a short walk through thick woodland leading to some open fields out the back, for me taking photos the back field was going to be the best for two reasons. Tonnes of light and unobstructed views of the dogs, last thing i want is the dog bounding behind a tree as i hit the shutter! We headed for the fields and let the dogs have a run about and i was trying to capture their personalities. Theyre all young dogs so were all just big idiotic balls of energy, but the German Sheppard seemed particularly clumsy, the Boarder Collie was the smartest and the little ball of fluff was the little guy getting left behind and so i tried to capture that in the photographs. We had the dogs play fetch in the field for half an hour so i could do my best to get some photos of them out in the open. I had some issues with my lens to start with, i was using the Tamron 70-200 F/2.8 and my micro AF adjustments were out to begin with but were soon sorted so i would check that before starting if your camera has the setting. When the dogs were fetching whatever we could find to throw, i would be crouched out sat on the floor, keeping me lens at dog eye level, for 3 of them anyway. This gives a much better perspective and doesnt feel like were looking down towering over the dog in the photos, makes us feel more equal and the dog bigger and better looking. I would also try and get some foreground blur or something to frame and show the dog is in a field of crop or bushes not just open grass land. My first attempts were okay, we then headed into the woods for some less energetic play time.
Inside the woods the light was more challenging but the dogs were much slower now and i actually managed to get a few posed shots so a high shutter speed wasn’t a major worry. We sat the dogs somewhere with a clean and tidy back ground so that the dog would stand out clearly, once again i tried to get to dog eye level, focus on the eyes and get a few photos. There was a downed tree in a little clearing that we stood the dogs on and got them to stay briefly while i got some photos, and being close to Grimsby there was obviously a shopping trolley in there too, which made a lovely prop for the little dog, (Axle) to sit in! Once the dogs tired out a bit more and chilled out i took a few more photos then we decided to leave, i had a few hundred shots to go through, and then next time try and improve on.
The next time we all went out together was a few weeks later to Willingham Woods near Market Rasen. This was a much larger woodland, and much denser, but also had small lakes for the dogs to play in. It was a cloudy/sunny day making the lighting and camera settings difficult due to constant changing of light. We went straight for the first pond, the dogs were straight in too! I made sure to get low again, have a higher then 500th second shutter speed and placed myself away from where everybody else was stood. When the dogs jump into the water i don’t just want a photo of them from behind jumping away from me, or swimming away, i want to be around the side or if possible, opposite to them for the best shots. I used my 70-200mm again for the first photos, and tried to capture the dogs waiting for the stick to be thrown, them running, jumping and swimming for the stick. After a while of this and keeping moving around the pond we moved on through the woods to a different pond. same idea again initially but getting away was harder, so i switched to a wider 35mm lens.
Once i had the 35mm F/1.8 on i could stand much closer and capture the dogs in a whole new perspective. I caught a few of the dogs jumping in and then it was getting cold so we left and walked deeper into the woods keeping the 35mm lens on. Once again we found a downed tree so stood the dog back on top hoping to capture something similar to my last attempt or even better. This time i was lower than eye level making the dog seem big and powerful, and it looked great! Another lower tree they used as a hurdle while playing fetch so i got low along the side of the tree and increased my shutter speed, and had one brother play fetch with them over it for a while, the best photo was when they were on their way back, but somehow almost always with nothing in their mouth that they should have fetched….. I again captured the personality of the little dog, not being able to keep up with the big dogs, and not really being able to jump the log so just pretending. We carried on and let them explore and play an i just captured photos as we went but still trying to get low and frame the dog so it stood out.
We also headed off to the beach for another photo shoot/ just a dog walk. I put into practice everything from the past photos and got some good photos. The tide was in and the beach was very shallow so i was able to get myself into the water to get some photos from the other direction making them look a little different from normal.
Dog photography tips
Be relaxed….you and the dog
Remove background distractions
Shoot in the best light around
Get down to eye level
Focus on the eyes!
Capture personality
Shoot somewhere familiar at first
Be patient, not every photo will be amazing
Treat the dog during the photo shoot
Keep practising and have fun !