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A Most Challenging Portrait Session
As you can imagine this was a challenging portrait session. The trick was to get all three focused on the camera and not to have the dogs step on the little cat.
It is true that I had a helper keep the kitty in the middle and the dogs on each side plus I was doing my thing with the various noises and gestures i was making so the three would look at me and not at somewhere else.
Portraits like this one don’t easily come together just right but when they do it is the most exciting portrait feeling to capture and to know that you have it.
This is where my nature of having ‘endless patience’ really pays off.
Please Don’t Step on Me!
The Making of a Cat Portrait
Photographing cats is a very different type of challenge than photographing dogs. First off, cats generally don’t travel well and in my experience don’t really enjoy new, unfamiliar places. They generally want to want to find a where they could hide on arriving at my studio. I make sure to eliminate any hiding place they could find.
During the portrait session I work in very closely to the cat and use cat specific toys to get the cat’s attention and focus. Of course, the owner(s) are very close by ready to help out if the cat is getting ready to bolt.
That being said I enjoy cat portraiture and the results can be quite stunning. Cat owners know their cats are beautiful and I work hard to make sure I capture and show that on the portrait I create for them.
What a good looking cat!
Photographing The Dog Whose Fur Color is both Black and White.
Aren’t I Handsome?
It is absolutely critical when photographing a dog whose coat is a mix of black and white colors, to set the camera settings to properly expose the file for the white color. Especially when one is using studio lighting.
The reason is to keep the detail in the white part of the dog’s coat. It is true that the black part of the coat will be underexposed and be dark and lack detail. If the camera is set for proper exposure of the black part of the dog’s coat the white will wash out badly with no chance of recovering any detail.
So what can be done? Well, it is in post-production that the fix happens. Photoshop, the great tool that has a function that lets just the black part of the dog’s coat to be lightened to the perfect degree while keeping the white part as it was when the portrait was taken.
This is how I photograph dogs with both colors on their coat and it always works out just fine.
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