What is a pet photoshoot (pawtrait)?

The simple answer is... a pawesome day for you and your fur baby. I am a huge dog lover, I am that guy who has to meet all the dogs when I am out for a wander, I know what an important part of the family dogs are. 

In this blog I am going to be basing the shoot around a pup. The first and most important thing to know is that my pet photoshoots are all on location shoots, they are not studio based at all. I have set my business model like this because I find that it really allows the real character and personality of your dog to shine through. They will be so more relaxed and happy when they are in a place they know and like, with familiar smells and sights, rather than in a studio where they will be surrounded by big scary lights and backgrounds, with different smells and sounds. The most important thing for me on any shoot is that your dog is as unstressed as possible. When there are any signs of stress showing its time for a break and some play time with their favourite toy. But the photoshoot isn't just about your pup, its about you and your pup, your interaction, the bond, the love. Capturing those moments as well as the photos of the pup really make the photoshoot complete. 

I approach my photography and photoshoots with a creative and fun outlook, if I need to get down in the mud to get the shot, then I'm getting in the mud! 

But before we get there, there's the photoshoot planning to be done! 

Every photoshoot starts with that first contact. I have taken steps to make it even easier for you to contact me. Along with the social media pages I have a link that will take you to a contact form, or for the best way a link so that you can book an enquiry call with me on a day and time that suits you. I have put buttons that will take you to those pages below. 

The enquiry calls as I said are the best way in my opinion, as I think direct contact is a much nicer way to start the process. But if that's not your thing, then please use the contact me link. I want to stress however, that the enquiry calls are totally obligation free, there is no catch with them, just make sure you have a cuppa as we might be talking about your pup for a while.

On the enquiry call, the little black book will come out and I'll be busy taking notes as we chat. This call is for us to both find out the basics and to talk about your pup. For me that will be things like the pups name, age, breed, where you would like the shoot to be. You will have your own questions, but we will cover the basics of a shoot. There will be a bit more about that later in this blog. 

We will discuss the basic costs as well. I will usually be able to give you a shoot cost at the end of the call. If you do then decide to book in for a shoot, we move onto the next step. 

After the call you have decided to book your pup in for a photoshoot. I will send you over a payment link, the contract and the most important thing, a questionnaire. The questionnaire is designed so that I can find out as much about your pup as I can, things like favourite treat, are they shy/anxious, what is the attention grabber for them to hold a pose etc. When you have returned the various bits to me, we will have another chat, now depending on how local you are to me, this can be done over the phone or with a face to face meeting. This chat will be to finalise the details for the photoshoot, and to answer any questions or queries that might have cropped up since the first call. I am however happy to answer any questions or queries at any time. The reason I like to cover all the bases like this is because the more I know about your pup and you before the shoot, means on the day we can hit the ground running and have an awesome time. 

The location for the photoshoot will also be covered. Now because these are on location shoots, the location could be your garden... Or it could be your favourite place to walk or just be with your pup. Be that, parks, woodland, fields, wherever that location is, then thats where we will go for the photoshoot. 

We will also discuss the prints and products that are available. Included in the photoshoot cost is the choice of either digital images, or matted prints. (The quantities of these will vary depending on the photoshoot).  However I will cover what options there are for purchasing other prints and products from me. I work with who I consider to be the best print house in the UK for my products. Every gallery is set up so that you can buy prints and gifts, directly from the photo, with the options shown when you click on the buy button. All of the products available are of the highest quality and are printed with incredible attention to detail.

If you are wanting something a little bit more special, or a statement piece for your wall, like canvas wraps, fine art prints - I am a bit of a paper lover so these fine art or giclée prints are fantastic in my opinion, and the finish they give is stunning - mounted and framed or photo books, these are available, but will need to be ordered through me. I can provide mockups of your photos placed on generic walls so that you can have an idea of how they would look when on a wall. This is a service that I include if you are looking at these options for your final products.         

Photoshoot day... Now because the photoshoots are on location, there is always the concern that the weather might not play nicely. I always check on the weather apps on the days leading to photoshoot day so that decisions can be taken if they are needed. 

The first thing on the day is of course making friends with the star of the day. For me one of the best bits of the photoshoots is meeting the furry clients. Muddy prints on me, well they are expected and part of the day. They can have a sniff around my camera bag so that they can find out that there is nothing scary in there. (I'll hide the treats) 

Now the magic starts, with the posing and fun. As I said the MOST important thing on the day is that your pup is happy and stress free. Any signs of stress and we will stop for some play time to give your pup and chance to chill. If this means the photoshoot goes a bit overtime then it goes over time.  We will get in as many photos as we can, with you/your pups family  getting into the pictures as well, again as I said I want to capture not just your awesome pup but the bond and love between you.

One important thing to note is that a thinner lead with a collar, or a slip lead are the preferred items for when the photos are being taken. If your dog has a harness on then there usually isn't enough of the fur showing to allow for the harness to be removed in the post photoshoot processing, so a harness would very likely have to remain in the final images. 

With the photoshoot done, the next step is for me to head home and start on the image processing.  Your gallery will usually be ready within 14 days of the photoshoot. When it is online I will send you an email with the link and a password to access it, I keep all my client galleries secure in this way. You can now choose any photos that you would like to have printed straight from the gallery.

If you are taking the option of the canvas, fine art or mounted/framed images this is where you can choose them from. I will then create the mockup of the images so that you confirm you want to proceed. Once all that is in place, I will send over the invoice or the items and place the order when the invoice is paid.

As a bonus any of the images that you buy as prints or wall art will then be sent over as digital images sized to suit social media. 

If you would like to take that first step, scroll back up and book that call. I would love to have a chat with you about your pup and a photoshoot with me.

Alistair - Son of Leòd Photography

Below are a couple of testimonials from awesome clients