Paw Print Divas Pet Photography Workshop

Back in April, I made a trip to Houston to attend a 4 day intensive pet photography workshop hosted by the Paw Print Divas. We had 3 amazing instructors lead us through business and marketing for pet photography, as well as hands on instruction on photography techniques, studio lighting, outdoor lighting, handling pets & their humans, etc. It was so much great information and learning.

We were at Kim Hartz's Houston studio which was amazing. Lots of great props, backdrops, lighting, and more to work with. We also had the lovely Barbara Breitsameter in from Chicago who had some really great Photoshop editing techniques to show us, as well as teaching us how to capture action photos of dogs. And DFW local, Jenny Froh had some incredibly helpful information for photographing cats, some of which I have all ready played around with photographing my own cat. :-)

I posted quite a few of the photos I took during the workshop on my Facebook page, but I will post some of my favorites here too.

Star: This was using studio lighting, a backdrop, and off camera flash, none of which I had much experience with so it was VERY COOL to see how it can be done.

Ruby & Agador: This was in my comfort zone of using indoor natural light. The added challenge for these two sweet faces is that Agador is deaf, so getting his attention at the camera could be difficult at times.

Ruby:
This was an action shot, and it took a few attempts before I had a shot I liked. I learned things about my camera that I had no idea it could do before! A fun technique for sure!

Abby:
Abby is Kim Hartz's beloved dog and one of our best models. She was so happy to pose for all of us students. This shot was also in my comfort zone of outdoor and natural light.

Pepper: I have a huge soft spot for Great Danes since my husband and I used to have one. Pepper & Penny are crazy sweet and goofy. I absolutely loved talking with their humans about all the Dane-isms and things that only fellow Dane owners understand. These next few shots were done in studio again, with a backdrop, lighting, and using furniture.

Pepper, with a photobomb by Penny: A classic example of Great Dane behavior. "Ummm...whatcha doing up there on that couch? Is there room for me?"

The hilarious Penny:


Oliver:
This sweet baby was 4 months old when he modeled for us. We worked with him in a home using available light. Because he was so young, he would be wide awake and playful for awhile but then quickly tucker out and want to take a nap, so we had to be super patient with him. ;-)

I can't recommend this workshop enough. I learned and did so many things and met some lovely people. So so awesome for any pet photographer!