Now with October out of the way, we can get back to “regular” photos and what a month to do them. Now that the leaves are all changing colors and the days are getting noticeably shorter it is much easier to catch that golden hour and get a nice ambience outside. When working during the golden hour, you can really get your model looking sharp by just getting that sun behind them to create depth with the light and have a nice golden glow on them. I suggest having a light or reflector up front to fill in some shadows, but it isn’t mandatory, just a quality of life issue to save you a few minutes in processing.
As I always say when working with animals, keep it fun, be nice, and be patient. They just want to make you happy most of the time. For dogs, if you want to get that head tilt then give them a reason to do it. Make strange sounds. Here I was meowing like a cat and quacking like a duck. He eventually did the head tilt. He was low energy at the time, so we did laying on the ground shots. You generally do not get to decide what mode they are in. Sure, there are tricks you can do depending on the pet and the personality but at the end of the day they are going to set the tone. So just go along with it and it will make your life easier.
I used a photography strobe with a softbox for the front to fill in the shadows and the sun in the background – so a two-light set up. Once again, the sun is a wonderful gift. Learn to use it and never stop learning new ways to use it.
Meow, oink, and quack got this head tilt.