Today is the first day of spring and what better way to celebrate the season but to take spring photos, Triskaideka’s Spring Portraits. We had an idea of what we wanted but not entirely sure or set on a specific props. Buffey and I felt that the props should be spring like in nature but not Easter specific. We wanted to be able to put the portrait up for longer than a few weeks and if we shot it with Easter baskets or with cute bunny ears then the portraits display life would be short.
So after a cup of coffee we were off to a local craft store. We started off by just walking around to see what was available. We knew that if we started to pick up the first thing we saw then the chance of the portrait being hokey was very likely. Once we took in all the possibilities we started to weed out the trite and home in on the white washed box, plants in the pots and tin vase, and finally the pussy willows.
The setup was simple. We set the box and plants up on a card table that we covered with a piece of white background paper. We set the pussy willows in a five gallon jug setting behind the table. I placed my lights in their spots and after a few test shots we were ready. My wife, Buffey, place Triskaideka in the box and used a feathered toy to get his attention while I took the portraits. It did not take long before we knew that we had a handful of shots that will work.
We placed them into Lightroom and started the process of elimination and soon we narrowed it down to two portraits. I sent one photo to Buffey and the other I worked on. After a few minutes I created this portrait in which I am very happy with.
Triskaideka is so easy to work with because he is our cat and he is in his home. I know that is key to the success of this and other portraits we have done of him and our other cats. Think of how many times you take your dog or cat to the vets or any other place and suddenly they become shy or totally unsociable. Triskaideka becomes withdrawn at the vets believe it or not. This is why I believe it is necessary to have me go to the pet rather than the pet come to me.
Now that we have Triskaideka’s Spring Portraits done we will have to generate ideas for his Summer Portrait Session. Have you had your Pet Portrait Session done? Or having a portrait session of your family being done? Don’t forget to include your pet they are family too.
