Decorate the Tree!
This is such a cute idea especially if you don’t have kids, but you want to tell that story of setting up the Christmas tree with help from your pups.
There are two ways to make it work:
One is if your dog knows how to hold something in their mouth.
Get them to hold an ornament, and have a helper get them to look up at the tree. Looking at you can also work but doesn’t tell as much of a story.
For this one, we used a bauble with an extra long bit of string to help Loki hold onto it. We didn’t want him to hold the bauble itself in his mouth as there was a risk of it cracking, but if you have very solid ones you could try – please be careful!
If your dog can’t or won’t hold something in their mouth, or you’re working with a cat, hamster, lizard, etc, then getting their attention up toward some point in the tree, looking at a bauble, also tells a similar story!
Let's talk lighting...
Working indoors can be tricky and definitely isn’t my “thing”. Here’s some tips to keep in mind when setting up your photo location indoors:
- get as much soft light as possible. Big windows or glass doors are key here! Avoid shooting when the sun is coming through, but aim to photograph on bright days – not like these dark, dreary autumn days we’re experiencing right now 😅
- you can use lights you have around the house, but be very aware of weird bouncing shadows and colours thrown from different temperature globes – you’ll want to either avoid these or try and fix them in editing
- avoid harsh directional light, like a reading lamp pointed directly at your dog. Instead, bounce that light off a reflector or the wall to soften it!
- avoid lights directly overhead. Has anyone looked pretty when the sun is directly overhead and throwing their eyes into shadow? No. The same is true for indoor lights.
- Use as many “light bouncing” things as possible like reflectors, white sheets on dark furniture etc.
- In my photos, I had two soft boxes because I do a lot of commercial-type photos, so it was an investment for me. I moved them around during the shoot.
Woo hoo!!
Congrats!!! You finished the first day of Dogmas!!
Did you try this idea? Make sure you tag @inspawrationphotography so I get to see!
