Taking pictures of puppies is harder than it should be. I have been commissioned to paint a portrait of this adorable little fluff-ball, Ginger. She is a 4 1/2 month old Australian Shepherd that is alternately a sweetheart and a feisty little ankle biter. Getting the right picture has proved to be a challenge. I did get some good photos, but it was requested that I capture a specific look with her mouth shut. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was after so I had to take a ton of pictures.

 

 

Ginger has some really interesting eyes. One is normal and the other one has an icy blue spot. When I first saw her, I thought there was something wrong with her eye because she wouldn’t hold still long enough for me to see it properly. It’s kinda neat.

 

 

Between her way more interested in playing with my kids than she was looking in my direction and almost never stopping for a second, it’s a miracle I got any of the shots I did. Luckily, we had some food nearby and were able to coax her into holding still momentarily and roughly looking in my direction.

 

 

This last picture is the look. She’s intently staring at a piece of hamburger my husband is dangling over the camera to get her attention. I really like the look of the eyes in this photo and if you look really closely, they reflect the sky, trees, my father-in-law sitting in a lawn chair, my husband dangling the hamburger, and me… taking the picture.

It’s a good photo, but it’s lacking a bit in the shadow department. I either need to reshoot to capture both dynamic lighting and the look or use the other photos as lighting references and apply it to this one as I paint. The latter is definitely more difficult, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to get this look again. If I do try again, I may have my hubby hold the hamburger closer to the lens to get her to look more into the camera too.