When it comes to shooting dogs, expression is everything! Some of my first and longest clients have been conformation handlers, so I learned quickly how to get the smizing that show dogs are known for- direct eye contact, alert ears, soft face, and ideally a closed mouth. Head tilts (the objective of this challenge) are completely foreign to me!
As part of our instruction in the course, we were given some tips for model selection, particular breeds to look for, and various noise-makers that tend to elicit a tilt. My wide choice of squeakers, which are great for that alert expression, aren’t novel enough to make a dog go “wait, what was that??” So off to Bass Pro Shops I went, adding a variety of duck calls to my gear bag for when the moment struck.
Back in July, a friend had posted a photo of her border collie puppy giving the cutest tilt for her phone camera! I reached out and she agreed to meet up and let her strike a pose for me. We met up after an agility trial during my non-stop month of shooting & traveling and I snapped the following photo of Wren.
It’s adorable for sure… but it just wasn’t giving me that “nailed it” feeling! The light wasn’t ideal, the colors just didn’t work, and while she’s definitely tilted, her gaze is above the camera, not connected with the lens. It’s a beautiful photo of a beautiful dog, but it doesn’t have the “wow” factor that’s needed for these competitions. I shelved it as a passable entry and didn’t explicitly plan a reshoot, but I kept my eyes open for something else to come along.
And lucky for me, it did! Three days before this submission was due, I snuck in a shoot with Sol, another adorable border collie puppy. I went into this one with an open mind- I need a submission for the upcoming 10th round, I need a replacement for my Up Ups image in my final portfolio, and I was still looking for another head tilter. We tried a little bit of everything with Sol, and the very last thing was my duck calls. They worked like a charm!
With the sun cooperating, I felt much better about these options. As always, the hardest part is selecting the single best image. I settled on this moody paws-up pose and thought a square crop suited it best:
View a before/after of this image here.
Highlights on light dogs like Sol have gotten me into trouble before- I like my images bright & happy, and it gets easy to overdo it with the whites! I intentionally underexposed most of my shots when working with Sol to save all that detail in his body and face. Since it already had that moody feel, it made sense to also darken the front of the rock to bring the emphasis straight to his face.
I was super happy with how this one came together, which always makes the wait for feedback more nerve-wracking! But for the second round in a row, we made the cut all the way into the Top 10!!! The judges adored Sol’s precious expression and loved the way the square crop brought the opposing diagonals into focus. Top 10 gets the extra bonus of written feedback:
The super shallow depth of field in this image emphasises the soft feeling of that adorable puppy floofiness. Great pose and direct eye contact work together to create connection, well done.
You can find the rest of the winners from this round on the Unleashed blog here. It was a competitive bunch (as it always is!) and I’m so thrilled to have another big win!!