We love our critters and probably would have a whole house full of them if we could… except Trevyn would probably end up in the hospital seeing as he’s allergic to both cats and dogs. Regardless, our menagerie consists of the two human types, Trevyn and I, our two dogs, and my cat. I am fortunate to have some of my favorite portrait subjects living right in the same house as me. I photograph them all the time just being their goofy selves with my iphone. But every once in a while I’ll set up a backdrop and try some fun portraits with them. They probably sit better for me than almost any human subject I’ve ever had, especially if I have some particularly tasty treats on hand. They are so much fun to photograph and I love all of their many expressions. I captured a more serious face on Trevyn’s corgi, Baxter, in the image above. He’s a laid back dog and I imagine would have a surfer like personality if he was a person. Below is his usual happy go lucky face. Lu, my min pin mix, didn’t want to sit as still for me since she was more interested in getting the treat out of my hand. I did end up getting a couple great expressions, this one showing how patiently she’s waiting for her treat. 

I used a two light set-up for these portraits and a black backdrop. I had one light to the left acting as an edge light, powered a little higher than my main light. My main light was right next to me on my right slightly above and angled down at the subject. I had a white piece of foam core on the floor to bounce a little light into the shadow under the face. My camera was set to 125th of a second at f11, ISO 100, to get a little more of the face in focus.