I take a lot of silhouette portraits when I'm on location for sunrise and sunset pet and equine portrait sessions in and around the Dallas - Fort Worth metroplex but decided to create something in my Carrollton studio for this week's theme of "silhouette" in the Pet Photographer 52 Week Project.

I used a large constant light source (so not a flash, but a light that provides a constant, even source of light much like a window in your home), lowered it to the floor and posed our border collie puppy Rooney, in front of it. Rooney is a teenager right now. He'll soon turn one year old and he's got all the teenager hormones and defiance one would expect in an adolescent boy so I brought my husband, and a tennis ball, along for some help. He used to love to pose in front of the camera. Now? Not so much. 

The tennis ball turned out to be a great idea - we could't gain his attention with treats, but the minute my husband held up the ball, focus! We got the profile image I was looking for pretty quickly so I wanted to try capturing him catching the ball at the perfect moment. This was a practice in my husband tossing the ball just right, Rooney catching it in the semi-darkness - while remaining in front of the light source - and me having my hand/eye coordination game on point. I'm proud to say we nailed it in less than ten tosses! See below for a behind-the-scenes look at the set up.