Photographer Gerrard Charles Gethings has a rare gift. He has the ability to capture the individual personalities of dogs with a quick push of a button. Set against a minimal background, he lets them shine in a way that never feels contrived and, instead, always feels honest.
Last year, Gethings came out with a book on Blurb called Dogonomics. To help promote the book, he shared his tips and tricks with Blurb on how to photograph dogs in a post titled Five Questions for a Pet Photographer.
Here's an excerpt: “Capturing the personalities of the animals is always the goal. They are all different so creating an environment within which you have total control of the light is the first thing. It needn't be huge, maybe a few square feet. The owner should always be there to calm and control things. Putting up a backdrop is a good idea, as this will reduce distractions in the final image.
“Next, you get down low; you should always be on the dog's eye level. Get the dog's attention and you're away. It is also a good idea to have the dog in the room as you set up the equipment because bringing a dog in to a newly reorganised room can really confuse them. Oh and fire the flash randomly as you do this, so the dog gets used to it quite naturally.”
As a dog lover, I can't get enough of his hilarious and heartwarming portraits.
