Restaurant atmosphere and portrait photography
Effies
A wide dining-room scene and a tighter portrait of the owner in front of a photo wall.
Explore the projectVeterinary portrait photography
Farmington Animal Hospital: veterinary portrait photography
Outdoor portraits for Farmington Animal Hospital that pair a person in scrubs with a small black dog, set among trees for a warm, approachable feel.
Photographed for The West Hartford Book.
The request
Farmington Animal Hospital was part of our photography for the West Hartford Book. The man we were photographing had a simple request: he wanted a picture with his dog.
That made it a portrait of two subjects, and only one of them can take direction. The challenge was to make a picture that belonged equally to the man and the small black dog he is holding, and to do it outdoors, where the setting is a gift and a distraction at the same time.
Getting the dog's attention
In a portrait with an animal, where the animal looks and how settled he is can decide whether the picture works. We brought a little toy to get the dog's attention. It is a small thing, but it gave us a way to guide the dog without disturbing the moment the man wanted.
The full-length frame beside this text comes from that work. Stepping back shows the whole figure and the wooded setting around him, and it gives the pair room to breathe among the trees.
Lighting for separation
We also set up lighting to create clear background separation. Separation is the visual gap between a subject and what is behind them. Outdoors among trees, a busy background can swallow a subject, so lighting that lifts the man and the dog away from the trees keeps the viewer's eye on them.
The finished portraits
The finished pair shows the same moment at two distances. The closer portrait keeps attention on the man and his dog, with trees behind them. The full-length portrait gives the pair more of the setting. In both, the two subjects read clearly against the woods, which is what the lighting and the toy were there to achieve. The closer frame is about connection between the man and his dog; the full-length frame adds context; and the clean separation keeps both readable at small sizes as well as large.
For an animal hospital, the result is a friendly, approachable portrait of a person and a pet together.
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- Portrait photography
Portraits of individuals, couples and families.
- Photography services
Every kind of photography Legend offers in Connecticut.
- Legend's work for The West Hartford Book
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