"I want to portraits of me and my dog (or cat, or horse, or whatever) but I don't care how I look in them" said nobody ever. Of course you want to look great in pictures with your pet! I heard some pet photographers who say "I don't like people, that's why I photograph animals". Well, despite being an introvert, I like people (just a few at a time though please) and I really enjoy photographing them. Whether we're chatting about their job, places they've traveled or their pet, it's all interesting to me.
Because I also photograph families and children (no pets required) and corporate headshots, it was a must for me to learn how to learn how to guide clients into natural and comfortable poses that would look great on camera. When you add a pet, that adds another element to manage.
There are no classes, or at least there weren't when I was looking years ago, that teach you how to gracefully pose people with animals. Instead I took a lot of people-posing classes and over the course of a year or so developed a style to photograph men and women, families and children with their pets, whether they be large like horses, or small like dogs, cats and bunnies.
I want you to have pictures of yourself with your cherished animal, but I also want you to be thrilled with not just the photos, but how you look in them too. Here are just a few examples of the methodology I've developed over the years.
(click on any image to view full screen)
The Benefit Of Working With A Professional That Photographs Both Pets and People
For me, the key to a great picture with your dog is to get your faces close together. In order to do that, we either have to raise the dog up, or lower the people down. The natural choice would be to sit the people on the ground to get them closer to their pet.
I don't like to sit on the ground. It's not really comfortable for anyone over the age of six, so I don't like to ask my adult clients to sit on the ground with their dogs either. We tend to lump and bulge in all the wrong places when sitting on the ground, not to mention sometimes the ground is wet, or dirty. Not exactly ideal when everyone's dressed up for their portraits.
I'm a fan of incorporating benches, low walls, stairs, steps, rocks and more into my pet and people portraits. Anything I can use to have the humans be comfortable and get everyone's faces closer together.
I'm a sucker for a good smooch-your-pooch photo where everyone looks natural, not forced. The stairs at Quorum Park in Addison, Texas are great for comfortably getting everyone close together so it's one of my favorite locations for family and pet portraits.
I also like to bring creative posing into my work such as this equestrian portrait of a young girl and her beloved horse. You might think there are limited ways to photograph a person and a horse, but I'm here to tell you different. I love to have the rider drape over the horse's neck, it's timeless, elegant and befitting the enchanting dress she wore for the session.
When I saw how Oreo liked to sit between (and sometimes on) his human's feet in between shots, I knew I wanted to capture that in the session. I had a good photo, but it lacked a little connection, so I asked Brad to scratch his ears and voila! A fun image that shows the bond between dog and owner.
Just because you're in the photograph, doesn't mean that you have to be the subject of the photo. We can clearly identify Cayenne's humans in the background, but he's the center of attention in the picture. You don't have to get all dressed up, wear makeup and have your hair done for pictures with your pet. We can include you in the images in a number of different ways that make your presence known, but don't make you the focus of the image.
Clint wanted photographs of his new kitten, Pickles. He had no plans to be in any of the images. He didn't prepare for it. He didn't dress for it. When I saw his black T-shirt, muscles and tattoos, I had other ideas. At the end of the session I asked him for five more minutes for some pictures with Pickles. He balked, but I assured him he'd be happy with the results. He was. We printed this photo on metal and it sits on his desk at work where he can admire it every day.
Black and white fine art portraits are a personal passion of mine. I absolutely love the look of removing all distractions from an image to allow for sole focus to be on the subjects. In this case it was Amanda and her heart dog, Bean. Bean is a Great Pyrenees mix so she's tall. When she sits, she's almost to Amanda's waist. I had the idea to frame Bean with Amanda's face and arms, all it took was for Amanda to lean over her and give her a big neck hug, something she'd been doing all her life. Their faces are close and the pose is fun and intimate at the same time.
I new the moment I met Cecile and saw her gorgeous hair that I wanted to create an image where we could show it off. Bebe was her heart dog, so it only made sense to create some images of them cuddling, but I switched things up a bit and had Cecile turn her back to the camera so we could capture her lovely locks along with her perfect profile in this intimate moment between them.
4 Comments
Mar 18, 2022, 2:21:11 PM
Elaine - Love, love, love these people and pet portraits. Wonderful work. Also, the tips provided for photographing people and their pets together!
Mar 18, 2022, 11:40:56 AM
Angela Schneider - Those are all such great poses! I love the big tattooed arms and the little kitty.
Mar 18, 2022, 10:55:53 AM
Holly - Beautiful work Tracy! The image of the little black kitten in the arms of his tattooed Dad touched my heart. ❤️
Mar 18, 2022, 3:10:26 AM
Carol - So lovely that you look for those extra special details. Like that gorgeous hair and those tattoos!!!