Adding pets

Now some people will say during a photoshoot that “pets are not allowed in the studio”, for me however it’s always an option to do something else, because let’s be honest in the end it’s most of the times “model”, “background”, “lights”, “smile/or not” and there we go….

 Coaching a Pet and finding a Dog Trainer 

I’m a strong believer in the fact that we can do so much more with a session by adding some props, however never add a prop that doesn’t make any sense. In the case of pets you can have a unique selling point for your customer however, it’s like with children, the images from the client themselves they often like but don’t buy, however if you shoot their children (or pets) they want them all….. so take advantage of this. Now for model/fashion/beauty photography I think adding a pet/animal can lift the shot to a next level. Over the years I’ve shot with snakes, dogs, cats, chickens (yeah really) etc. but when Lenaa asked me if she could bring her “dog” with her during a workshop because the babysitter was not able to sit I never expected her to bring the perfect model.

Coaching a pet is however very different from a model, most of the times they don’t understand “look a little bit more to the right”, “Look sexy”, “try to talk with your eyes” etc. So with dogs I always try to call them just before I take the shot, make some “weird” noises and the ears will go up and there you go. Now it would be a nightmare of course to have the dog perfect and the model in a pose that’s not that good, so often I will first shoot some images with the model to get her/him warmed up and knowing where to look, stand etc. and than add the pet (in this case the dog), also realize that with pets the attention span is REALLY REALLY different per “sample” some (like this one) will be nice and keep posing for you, however others you will literally get 1-2 shots and that’s it.

One more tip.
When you have the genius idea to work with animals like snakes etc. DON’T and I really mean DON’T EVER use the snakes because you know the owner and it’s fun to shoot them and at home they are always nice. When we did the snake session a few years back we had several snakes and they were kept at the temperature that they would relax, they were under supervision of someone that was used to handling the snakes (professionally) and the studio was at a temperature that was advised to us by the professionals, the session went great but also because the model was already used to the snakes, she knew the animals and already got the animals used to her in the week running up to the session.

Snakes (and all animals) can be incredibly dangerous under strobes or situations where they can feel threatened, so PLEASE do be careful and ONLY EVER work with trained professionals.

By request the image with the chicken.