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Making The Most Of Any Location To Create Beautiful Pet Portraits

Friday, November 05, 2021 | By: Tracy Allard

Baxter is an adorable Scottish Terrier mix that I recently photographed in Highland Park, Texas with his dog mom, Natalie. When discussing locations in the pre-session consultation, I mentioned the Highland Park Police Station as something for her to consider as I thought it's Spanish elements would complement her planned outfit well and the colorful tiles and flowers would frame Baxter nicely. I think her exact response was "What?"  After describing the area to her, she said "Ok, I trust you". 

It takes practice to develop an eye to see what can you can pull out of a location, and in many instances, how you can eliminate what you don't want in the frame. Moving your feet, changing the angle of your camera, lying on the ground are all tactics to make the most of a pet portrait session location. 

It's useful to have a long list of "go to" places that you can share with clients, along with representative images from past sessions, but I'm always on the lookout for new locations to hold future pet and family portrait sessions as well. It's important to me to keep challenging myself to see what's not easily apparent and create unique and interesting images for every client. 

(click on any image to view full screen)

Baxter came dressed to impress for his Highland Park pet portrait session

A dog mom comes in for a kiss

Cowboy boots and a scruffy dog, yes please!

All Of The Above Images Were Photographed Here

The minute I saw this location directly in front of the station, I new it's potential. When photographing people with their dogs, my goal is try to capture images where the client and the dog's faces are close together creating intimacy. That being said, sitting people on the ground is usually my last choice. For a lot of people, it's just not that comfortable to sit on the ground so I'm always on the lookout for locations where there are stairs, benches, low walls, etc. to raise dogs up closer to their humans. This location is gold for that with three different levels.  

I used the highest level to pose Baxter while I lay on the ground to capture him against the sky, making him look larger than life in this epic pose. Then I had his mom come in for a smooch, putting their heads at the perfect height to do this comfortably and naturally. 

Lastly I wanted to incorporate the scalloped edge detail to the right of the bench area and thought this would be perfect for a portrait of Baxter with Natalie's adorable boots and complimenting her gorgeous jewel-toned dress. 

I love this area at the Highland Park Police Station, it's perfect for pet portrait sessions

Taking Advantage Of Colorful Tiles And Border Plantings

I love the blue and yellow Spanish decorative tiles with the red terra cotta floor tiles. The complimentary color scheme is vibrant and eye catching, perfect to surround a black dog with vibrancy and visual interest. Getting down low (like really low, I was lying on my stomach for this image) and angling to the left allowed me to compress the scene down to just the elements I wanted, eliminating the cars and the blue tiles in the background so Baxter would be framed against a clean, neutral background. 

The Spanish tiles and flowers are at the perfect height for dog photos

Framing Baxter in colorful tiles and flowers

You See A Bike Rack, I See A Graphical Element To Frame A Dog

I am in love with this bike rack in front of the Highland Park Police station. Luckily I've never encountered bikes parked in it, but I do struggle with trying to get a clear background as there's always cars parked on the street that runs perpendicular behind it. Trying to eliminate as much of those distractions as possible is like threading a needle, with a wiggling dog. 

I saw this bike rack and knew it would look perfect with a dog inside it

I love the circular framing around Baxter

What Do You Think Of This Location?

This is behind the Highland Park Police station. It doesn't look like much, does it? I saw the texture of the greenery in contrast to the smooth stones nearby and the archways adding mystery and depth to the background. All it took was a change of angle and careful framing to eliminate everything that I didn't want in the image to make it look like Baxter was deep in a forest. If you look carefully, you'll recognize all the same elements in both images. 

It may not look like much now, but with a change of angle and zooming in I created the image below

I love the foreground and middle elements along with the background depth of this location

All Around The Circle

This week's topic was what you see versus what a photographer sees. These always amazed me when I would see them on the Internet, but eventually I trained my eye to see the same magic in ordinary places. I can't wait to see what tricks the other pet photographers in the blog circle have up their sleeves to get the most out of a location. Developing an eye for seeing locations like a pet photographer takes practice. Courtney Bryson lets you see what she sees when choosing locations for pet photography at the Humane Society of Morgan County in Madison, GA and then continue clicking on the link at the bottom of each post until you land right back here and then you will have completed the entire circle! 

Tracy Allard of Penny Whistle Photography is a Certified Professional Photographer with the organization Professional Photographers of America; a designation held by fewer than 2,000 photographers nationwide and a hallmark of consistency, technical skill, artistry and professionalism. Tracy is always keen to find new session locations so do share your favorite spots when reaching out for pet or family portraits. 

Penny Whistle specializes in both on-location and studio photography providing pet, equine, family, couples & engagement and high school senior portraits as well as corporate headshots and commercial photography services in her studio located in historic downtown Carrollton as well as on location in Coppell, Grapevine, Southlake, Flower Mound and surrounding communities in Dallas – Fort Worth, Texas.

Let's talk about your pet's portrait!
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