April Showers Bring May Flowers... and Pet Portraits

And pets love the flowers!

Pet Photography is a specialized area of photography.

For many people, their pets are like family. At Imago Studios, we understand this love of animals, having two pets of our own. Our furry 'babies,' Missy and Ben, are a great joy to us.

However, just as in the case of photographing people differently for different needs, pets may require different types of photography for different applications.

For instance, if you are photographing a pet for a magazine, it's a whole different ballgame than if you are photographing them for part of a family album. And to properly photograph a pet, special lighting is needed for their fur.

Many great candids of pets are easy to capture at home.

But to really show off their best features and qualities, especially for show dogs and cats, care must be taken in posing as well.

For example, look at the photo of the kitten in the basket with the border around it.

Even the tips of the fur on the ears shows, and the pose, though of a cat laying down, easily shows her best facial features close up.

She's a pensive, fearful and delicate girl,
and this photograph truly captures that.
Her face, staring warily at the camera, almost speaks aloud her questions about "how safe am I with you?"

The same cat, in the same basket, looks entirely different with different lighting and a different pose.

Of course, she couldn't care less if I took her photo by now. She's resting and knows I don't pose any threat. Her sleepy look is adorable, but this portrait is more suited to the people who love her and who see her sleeping routine daily than to a magazine on beautiful pets. Unless of course it were an article on places cats like to sleep of course! :)


Candid shots of pets like the one above are great to show personality and favorite habitats.
But they can also be quite stunning and usable for larger framed prints or magazines,
such as the photo below of "Perkins" on his favorite chair. This photograph, though quite simple, has effective use of composition and line to emphasize the cat and to take it a 'step above' a traditional candid. Of course, I did use some extra lighting, to help make this portrait stand out better. And black and white is always a great classic for emphasizing the beauty of line, form and texture.















And the following one, of our buddy Ben, sniffing the flowers,
reflects his love of the outdoors. (Even though he's too old to go out anymore)













For tips on photographing your pet,
for paintings created specifically for your pet,
or for your own family or pet portrait,
contact Karen at Imago Studios at
imagostudio@telus.net