News and musings of Fine art pet photographer Laurie Meehan-Elmer based in Tampa Bay area, Florida
A few weeks ago, I found a dog on the side of the road. Thankfully, he hadn’t been hit. When I walked over to him, he leaned against my leg and looked up at me with those sweet brown eyes. Bang….a connection was made. He stole my heart right then and there. I scooped him...
What a great dog. My husband and I always end up with strays as pets although we don’t have a veterinary hospital. Our most recent addition, six years ago because I put my foot down ever since) is a pit bull, German Shepherd, yellow lab mix. He has a droopy ear as well and he’s a character. The photo of the dogs together looking at the toy captures dog bonding behaviour to the max.January 25, 2009 – 5:56 pm
OMG-what a sweet heart. You always manage to find such soul and personality in your dog portraits. Everytime I visit your site I’m amazed. I hear you’re coming to my hometown soon to do pet portraits. I’ve pre-registered and can’t wait for you to immortalize my dog Coaster(a mutt). Hey, maybe you’ll bring Nikon with you. I’d love to meet him.January 30, 2009 – 12:11 pm
Deborah and Jessica, Thanks for visiting and commenting! Jessica, I look forward to meeting you and Coaster. I hope to bring Nikon with me! I probably won’t have him on the set as he’ll be a distraction but I was thinking of scheduling a play date at the dog park for all the dogs we shoot on Saturday. I’ll be shooting some “candid” photos of the dogs playing which will be included in the proof sets.January 30, 2009 – 12:17 pm
HI, first off I love your photography…great stuff. I had a question…I’m out on the west coast California and was wondering where you buy your canvas backdrops that you paint and what kind of paint you use. I have been doing landscape/nature photography for awhile now, but keep getting asked to do portraits (dogs and people) for friends. Your backdrops look really nice and I thought maybe I would try making some to save a little money. Any advice or info is greatly appreciated. Take care.February 2, 2009 – 4:39 pm
Hi Shelly-Thanks for visiting! I get my raw canvas from Allen’s Canvas ( http://www.allenscanvas.com ). I use regular latex paint watered down so it’s like a stain. I then apply it using rollers and brushes, overlapping and overlaying color until I’m happy with the color and “texture”. Then I use a clear glaze (Benjamin Moore)so I can hand wash and disinfect any accidents-and there will be accidents if you’re shooting dogs.
If you need more details on the process, feel free to e-mail me.February 5, 2009 – 12:16 am
What a wonderful story, Laurie! What a lucky little boy to have found you! Do the cats love him too? Love the pictures! You have so much talent!!!!!June 2, 2009 – 10:22 am
Thanks Neena! He’s only been home for a few days so we’re still taking the kitty introductions slow. He’s been fine. It’s the cats that worry me. They can be mean to new family members. Nikon has already learned when a cat comes near, he has to lie down so they can approach him without feeling threatened. Two have already accepted him. He ignores them (which is perfect). It’s the kitties that run, that get him a little excited but there’s already great improvement. It’ll likely take a few more weeks of close supervision. As I type this, he’s sleeping under my desk, all tuckered out after playing with his girlfriend (Gracie, a black lab) from across the street- pictured here. http://www.lmeimages.com/news/dog-world-article-on-photographing-pets/June 2, 2009 – 10:35 am
I’m asked all the time, “How do you get the dogs to sit still”? Of course, I respond that it’s a trade secret that simply can’t be revealed. If I told them, I would have to kill them. Not really. The reality is I don’t get them to sit still. Frankly, I don’t want...
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I fully agree with the post above. I also like to start a session (indoor or outdoors) with some standard and save portraits. Later on it’s play time for the dog and their owners.
A wide open spot in nature or a bid backdrop will be helpful. Are you using paper backdrops or curtain/muslin? Paper is so easily damaged during the playtime.
I also noticed in a wide Varity of your shots a very pleasing and shallow DOF. On the more active shots everything is spot-on. Technically, if you didn’t change the settings of your strobes, both type of pics should have more ore less the same DOF. Is the shallower DOF done by post processing?
Grtz!
KurtJanuary 18, 2009 – 3:11 pm
Hi Kurt,
Great questions! I frequently use white seamless. Yes…it gets beat up quickly so I buy large rolls and have the scissors handy so I can trim it quickly, as needed, during a session. The backdrop in the photos in this thread is a medium weight canvas (11×30 feet) that I painted. I have several of these and will be painting a few more in the next month. I haven’t had luck with muslin as it’s just too flimsy for my uses. It gets bunched up when the dogs play. The canvas just lays better and handles the abuse very well.
During a shoot, I’m constantly adjusting lights. I typically have the luxury of an assistant and she follows directions well when I shout out things like “down two clicks on the key light” or “up half again on the fill”. From frame to frame, my fingers are spinning dials to adjust aperture and even ISO. It’s just become second nature. I tend to stick with the same shutter speed (max synch speed) when shooting in the studio. I also change lenses quite a bit during a shoot. I most frequently use a 24-70 but have a 12-24 and a 105 sitting right next to me. As the dogs do different things, I switch out lenses on the fly. That’s probably why you’re seeing some with very shallow DOF (telephoto) and others with more DOF (wider). The lighting would stay basically the same but the DOF will be considerably different, as will the compression of the scene. I don’t do any selective blurring in post. I don’t have the patience for it. I don’t enjoy post processing so I try to keep it to general adjustments, basically batch processing the RAW files and a crop here and there. For client prints, I’ll go in and retouch as needed (and it’s always needed thanks to drool spots and treat crumbs).
I hope that answers your questions. Thanks for stopping by and asking!
LaurieJanuary 18, 2009 – 8:09 pm
This is a great post (I happened upon it through Flickr.) I volunteer at my local animal shelter, and I’ve been doing some shots of some of the dogs there, and ooooh boy, it is a challenge! I definitely agree that it is best to let the dog move and capture as you can!
You’ve got some great stuff here. 
February 7, 2009 – 8:28 am
[...] A smart blogger put an intriguing blog post on The Reality of a Pet Portrait Session LMEimagesHere’s a quick excerptSee what’s up with LMEimages and award winning photographer Laurie Meehan-Elmer, Tampa Bay area’s fine art pet photographer. … DogChannel.com · LMEimages Old Blog · LMEimages website · Pinellas Animal Hospital … [...]January 22, 2009 – 8:16 am
Noooooo, not that kind of hooker. She hooks rugs. Actually, she designs hooked rugs. While visiting over the holidays, she asked me to photograph a rug she had just finished. It’s going to be part of a marketing peice she’s working on and the cover for her design catalog. As I was setting up the...
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Well, it took me long enough to get your site posted to my blog but it’s on now. Enjoyed your latest posts & photos. You are a terrific artist!January 11, 2009 – 2:33 pm
Hi Laurie,
It was great seeing you and your Mom and Dad at Laurie and Mike’s. I love your website. You are a great photographer and have such beautiful “subjects”.
Take care and we will look forward to seeing you again. Take care.
SharonJanuary 12, 2009 – 9:50 am
Deborah, Thanks for visiting, the link, and your kind comments!
Sharon, I enjoyed seeing you too this past weekend! It’s been much too long! We hope to see you down this way in the near future.January 16, 2009 – 1:45 am
A while back, one of the editors at Bowtie contacted me to find out if my husband David, a veterinarian, would be interested in writing a column for the Dogs For Kids magazine. It’s a bi-monthly publication packed full of doggie info and geared towards a younger audience. We’ve completed two of the articles so...
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The holidays, house guests, and a short trip have kept me away from posting blog entries. I’ll be posting photos from the recent trip, some pet shoots, and some recently published work over the next few days. My father forwarded a link to a video on Youtube. He doesn’t use e-mail very often and to...
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