This was done for a friend of mine and her gorgeous Great Dane “Salma”, who asked me to come over to Abbotsford to do some Pet Photography.  This was a little bit different for me.  Normally my subjects are beautiful, friendly, uhmm…. and not completely covered in hair! 🙂  Salma was however, an absolute sweetheart who was very patient with us and not worried by the flashing lights at all.  I had seen the Black Dogs Project and really loved the look of it, and was anxious to play around with the technique with a real subject!

The lighting was fairly easy, though it still needs some perfection (always).  Two rim lights and a main light (on axis fill for you Strobists out there) and the dog on black paper.  There was only one “costume change” (collar on, collar off) and the shoot actually took less time than it took to set up all the gear!

At the end of the shoot there were big slobbery kisses….

This is probably my favorite shot!  If you’ve ever tried to get photos of animals you’ll understand the challenge in getting a dog to pay attention and stay in one spot for more than a few seconds!