The most frequent (& one of my favourite) compliments I receive as a professional dog photographer is that I really “capture the dog's personality” in my photos.
In today's video we are going to discuss what I do to achieve this and no it doesn't have anything to do with the technical side of photography. That stuff is important too but when it comes to photographing dogs- the most important aspect is learning how to work with & communicate with this animal in front of your camera. The best photos come from the photoshoots where the dog is having the most fun and the best way to get a dog to have fun is making sure they are comfortable & happy in their environment.
SO let's get into it! There are 3 main aspects to successful dog photoshoot
Conditioning the dog to anything new they will be introduced to
Using reinforcements
Providing a positive environment (which we talked about in our last vide)
So first, “Conditioning”. It is the process of getting a human or animal accustomed to something. In our circumstance, it's getting the dogs comfortable with the photoshoot environment which includes, the space itself, new humans (myself & my partner), the studio setup (softboxes, lights & backdrop), & the star of the show… the camera! So you may be thinking “wow that's a lot of stuff to consider!” and it is! Which is why I am here to teach you the importance of conditioning so that when you start taking photos of dogs or in your next photoshoot, you will have a more relaxed & happy dog model which will lead to personality filled photos.
But let's take a step back for a second & start from the beginning- your first impression. We all know that first impressions are incredibly important in day to day life & there's no difference when it comes to dogs. Actually I’d say it's even more important because it's often more difficult to redeem yourself with a dog than it is with a human. So the first step to conditioning is making a great first impression with the dog and most of the time, that means just ignoring them when they come in the door. This shows them you are not a threat & you will not invade their personal space. So let them come into the studio, don't even look at them. Let them sniff around, explore and approach you on their own time. Once they approach you, depending on their demeanour- some are more sceptical than others. This is when you can calmly say hello. That being said, there will be many MANY dogs that just come barreling into the studio super excited to meet a new friend and will nearly knock you to the floor with love and affection. Of course, these dogs don't need to be & really can't be ignored.
Once the dog has time to adjust to you & the space, you will then start conditioning them to the backdrop, camera & lights! Slow introductions to all of the equipment will teach the dog that they are not scary. Now that being said, there will also be dogs that don't notice anything around them other than the treat in your hand!
Which
In today's video we are going to discuss what I do to achieve this and no it doesn't have anything to do with the technical side of photography. That stuff is important too but when it comes to photographing dogs- the most important aspect is learning how to work with & communicate with this animal in front of your camera. The best photos come from the photoshoots where the dog is having the most fun and the best way to get a dog to have fun is making sure they are comfortable & happy in their environment.
SO let's get into it! There are 3 main aspects to successful dog photoshoot
Conditioning the dog to anything new they will be introduced to
Using reinforcements
Providing a positive environment (which we talked about in our last vide)
So first, “Conditioning”. It is the process of getting a human or animal accustomed to something. In our circumstance, it's getting the dogs comfortable with the photoshoot environment which includes, the space itself, new humans (myself & my partner), the studio setup (softboxes, lights & backdrop), & the star of the show… the camera! So you may be thinking “wow that's a lot of stuff to consider!” and it is! Which is why I am here to teach you the importance of conditioning so that when you start taking photos of dogs or in your next photoshoot, you will have a more relaxed & happy dog model which will lead to personality filled photos.
But let's take a step back for a second & start from the beginning- your first impression. We all know that first impressions are incredibly important in day to day life & there's no difference when it comes to dogs. Actually I’d say it's even more important because it's often more difficult to redeem yourself with a dog than it is with a human. So the first step to conditioning is making a great first impression with the dog and most of the time, that means just ignoring them when they come in the door. This shows them you are not a threat & you will not invade their personal space. So let them come into the studio, don't even look at them. Let them sniff around, explore and approach you on their own time. Once they approach you, depending on their demeanour- some are more sceptical than others. This is when you can calmly say hello. That being said, there will be many MANY dogs that just come barreling into the studio super excited to meet a new friend and will nearly knock you to the floor with love and affection. Of course, these dogs don't need to be & really can't be ignored.
Once the dog has time to adjust to you & the space, you will then start conditioning them to the backdrop, camera & lights! Slow introductions to all of the equipment will teach the dog that they are not scary. Now that being said, there will also be dogs that don't notice anything around them other than the treat in your hand!
Which
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NewsTranscript
00:00The most frequent and one of my favorite compliments that I receive as a
00:03professional dog photographer is that I really capture the dog's personality in
00:07my photos. In today's video we're going to discuss exactly what I do to achieve
00:11this and no it doesn't have anything to do with the technical side of
00:14photography. That stuff is important too although when it comes to photographing
00:19dogs the most important aspect is learning how to work with and
00:23communicate with the animal that's sitting in front of your camera. The best
00:26photos come from the photo shoots where the dogs are having the most fun and the
00:30best way to get a dog to have fun is to make sure that they are comfortable and
00:33happy in the environment. So let's get into it. The three main aspects to a
00:38successful dog photo shoot are one conditioning the dog to anything new
00:42they may be introduced to, using reinforcements and creating a positive
00:46environment. So first let's talk about conditioning. This is the process of
00:50getting a human or a dog accustomed to something. In our circumstance this means
00:54getting the dog used to the new environment, the new people such as me
00:59and my partner, the new equipment like the lights, the stands, the softboxes, the
01:03backdrops and the star of the show the camera. So you may be thinking wow that
01:08is a lot of stuff and it is and that's why I'm here to teach you the importance
01:12of conditioning so that in your next photo shoot or when you start taking
01:16photos of dogs it becomes a lot easier for you. And once you get the hang of
01:19this whole conditioning thing you will have a more relaxed and happy dog which
01:23will lead to more personality filled dog photos. But let's take a step back for a
01:28second and start from the beginning your first impression. We all know that first
01:31impressions are incredibly important in your day-to-day life and there is no
01:35difference when it comes to dogs. Actually I'd say it's even more
01:38important because it's often harder to redeem yourself with a dog than it is a
01:42human. So the first step to conditioning is making a great first impression and
01:46most of the time this just means ignoring the dog when they come in the
01:49door. This will show them that you are not a threat and you will not invade
01:52their personal space. So let them come into the studio completely ignore them
01:56don't even look at them let them explore around sniff the space and approach you
02:01when they're ready. Once they approach you depending on their demeanor some can
02:04be a little bit more skeptical than others this is when you can calmly say
02:08hello. Now that being said you're going to have many many dog models that just
02:12come barreling in the studio so excited to meet a new friend probably knocking
02:16you over with love and affection. Obviously these dogs don't need to be
02:21and really can't be ignored. Once the dog has had time to adjust to you and the
02:25new space then you will start conditioning to the lights the camera
02:29and the backdrop. Slow introductions to all the equipment will teach the dogs
02:32that they are not scary. Now that being said there will also be dogs that don't
02:36notice anything around them other than the treat in your hand. Which brings me
02:40to my next point which is reinforcements and this is literally anything that the
02:44dog is motivated by. The most common are treats and toys. There are other dogs
02:48that are motivated by affection or verbal praise and there are even some
02:52weirdos out there I say this lovingly that are motivated by chunks of wood
02:57water bottles bubbles. We've seen a whole different variety of reinforcements that
03:03dogs are motivated to work for. Doesn't really matter what it is if it works
03:08just use it because the dogs deserve to be rewarded for doing what you're asking
03:12of them. Because even though the photo shoot is a fun experience for the dogs
03:16it's not really for them. It's for the pet parents that want photos to cherish
03:21of their dogs forever. The last aspect of a successful dog photo shoot is keeping
03:25a positive environment and this is for yourself for the dog and for the pet
03:29parent. We discussed this quite a bit in our last video however it's just about
03:33providing an environment that is going to be fun and feel safe for everybody
03:37involved. This will allow the dog to open up and feel comfortable in the photo
03:41shoot environment leading to really personality filled photos. So I've
03:45explained what you need to do to help capture a dog's true personality in a
03:49photo but if you want to learn exactly how we condition, how we use
03:52reinforcements, and how we set up an ideal photo shoot environment check out
03:57our online course and mentorship program Fluffy Studios Photo Academy. It's
04:00available now on our website. I'll leave the link down below. It really dives deep
04:04into literally everything I know as a dog photographer from technical to
04:08business side and everything in between. It will take you from an amateur to a
04:12professional dog photographer so you can also build that amazing business and
04:15dream job that you've been striving for. See you in the next video!