Dog Photography

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258 – The Annual, 2024-25

By Tammy Szabó

Understanding what the essence of any breed goes far beyond familiarizing yourself with the standard–no matter how thoroughly–or knowing all about canine anatomy.

As a photographer, you’ll have the same homework–or perhaps even more–ahead of you as any wanna-be breeder or judge. You’ll need to make sure to have the breeds completely under your skin before you grab your camera and say, ‘Hey ho, let’s do this’. This will require you to acquire a profound understanding of the breed standards. It won’t be enough to simply know canine anatomy or understand how your camera operates. Those are the basics, which are of course extremely important, as they will be the foundation you’ll have to build on.

You’ll need to visit kennels, read books, sit at Specialties and major shows with mentors sitting next to you who can help you understand and feel what you’re seeing in the ring. FEEL is the key word. You can’t really read or analyze dogs. You can only feel them. I myself have been truly blessed with the best mentors I could find in each group and various breeds. Having started out as a handler myself was very educational in itself, as working with, training, grooming, showing and caring for dogs will teach you what no books or seminars can.

The choice of right location and lights are crucial in allowing the key breed-typical traits to take center stage on a photograph. Note that what you may consider to be ideal conditions for ‘A’ dog, may not suffice for ‘B’, even if they are both of the same breed. The age, overall quality and color of each individual dog should all be considered when choosing the right time and environment for your shoot.

Click here to read the complete article
258 – The Annual, 2024-25

Short URL: https://caninechronicle.com/?p=315436

Posted by AnthonyA on Jan 4 2025. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.