I have been studying lighting patterns and retouching techniques for fine art black and white portraiture for a couple of years now. I love the clean, elegant look and the strong focus on the subjects.
I always suggest it as an option in the pre-session consultation but to date it's not been the right fit for what clients had in mind for their portraits - until Amanda and Bean. I've photographed this pair before, but only outside. We've created the classic Texas portrait in our state flower, the bluebonnet, but have never had them in the studio.
Bean is doing great, but she is getting older and Amanda wanted portraits of just she and her, capturing their special relationship. It's been quite cold here in the Dallas - Fort Worth area (and as of this writing, we're covered under a blanket of snow and sub-freezing temperatures, but finally have our power back - for now anyway), so a studio session was the obvious choice.
When I showed Amanda examples of the type of images I wanted to create, she was 100% on board. Her mother and sister joined her at the reveal and at one point, we were ALL crying (in a good way). This. This is exactly what I wanted to create.
It's week 7 of the Pet Photography 52-Week Project and the subject is "deep depth of field", which is somewhat anathema to how most of us pet photographers capture images. We (and our clients) love that soft, blurry background which is captured with a shallow depth of field. With these fine art black and white pet portraits, I wanted a somewhat "documentary" feel so captured them at a deep depth of field with my aperture set at f/9.0 so everything is in focus.
(click on any image to view full screen)
6 Comments
Mar 1, 2021, 8:00:24 AM
Tracy Allard - Aw, thank you!
Feb 26, 2021, 2:10:21 PM
Nicole Hrustyk - These are stunning! I need to find an excuse to go to Fort Worth so I can have a black and white session with you!
Feb 24, 2021, 8:40:20 AM
Linda A Perdue - Beautiful black and white images! I love them - and the connection between the dog and owner is so powerful.
Feb 23, 2021, 9:40:18 AM
Tracy Allard - Bean is a Pyr mix, but now I'm going to look up what a Landseer is!
Feb 19, 2021, 2:17:44 PM
Angela Schneider - Ah, these are gorgeous. What a special session for these two. Is Bean a Landseer? She is stunning.
Feb 19, 2021, 11:26:13 AM
Elaine - I am a huge fan of black and white, and I always present a number of BW images in a client's viewing gallery. I am getting more and more clients to purchase BW. I have a number of BW images hanging as samples in the studio on variou mediums, so this is also working to showcase the end product. Lovely images!