I've tried a number of editing styles since my photographic career began, but the one that I kept returning to was this; an elegant, somewhat dreamy interpretation of what I saw before me during the session.  Over time I've learned to spot the areas that will provide the depth that you see in the image below and when conditions are just right, you also get a sweet kiss of light in the background like here at the Grapevine Botanical Gardens.

The combination of my vision during the session for how a location and lighting can look, and the retouching afterward to bring it to life, is the Penny Whistle secret sauce. 

For me it goes without saying that leashes are removed, but I do need to say it because I often hear "you must know a lot of really well trained dogs". I assure them that with few exceptions, every single dog you see on my website was on a leash for their session, even in the studio (as well as a few cats!). 

I was just finishing the retouching for this Silver Session with Faith, who I'm sorry to report passed away a couple of weeks after this image was taken. I received this text from her mom; "Faith crossed the rainbow bridge this morning, so feeling even more thankful than ever for those photos you took of us. Thank you again." It's so important to capture images of pets to help us through the grieving process after they're no longer with us. 

I though this a good example of how I bring an image from "straight out of the camera" (SOOC) to client delivery so was perfect for this week's theme, before and after, in the Pet Photography 52 Week Project.