Express your love for your pet in their enduring images
BINGHAMTON PET PHOTOGRAPHY
Pet Photography has its occupational hazards. I fall in love with the pets. In studio I shoot pets along the same principle as people. The big difference is that the light stands are lower and the props are pet toys instead of, say, a desk or a book.
In 2019 I entered a portrait of a cat into the International Photographic Competition of Professional Photographers of America, which accepted the portrait into their annual collection. The picture shows our Lala Silverpaws on the posing stool. We have a metal print of the image on our walls.
On the Lookout, PPA General Collection 2019.
The next year I entered into the International Photographic Competition a picture of our young male cat Maxwell, a real character, which also entered PPA’s General Collection.
Staredown, PPA General Collection
MAKING THE PET FEEL COMFORTABLE
The pets should come to the consultation so we can get acquainted and the pets become accustomed to the studio.
A week or two later we have the shoot. During first 15 minutes of the shoot, pets walk and play in the studio to feel comfortable. The owner and I work as a team. Then the shoot begins. If the pet is inattentive, the owner will offer a treat and dangle toys and sometimes I join in.
POSING
I am careful not to tire out older pets with many poses.
The studio has a pet large posing-table , 1.5′ above the floor, designed to be high enough to deter jumping down, but not so high as to cause harm were the pet to jump.
PATIENCE
Patience is a requirement for pet photography.
The hardest task is getting pets together and relating to each other. Lily and Eva we were happy to see together on the posing table. Their “parents” the Carusos bought this and two other images as metal prints with a silk finish that does not permit reflections. The prints were gorgeous.
Lily the Ragdoll and Eva the Maine Coon
PRINCIPLES OF PORTRAITURE
The same principles of lighting and even posing that photographers use for humans work for pets. I spend a lot of time editing the images, just as I do for subjects who are people.
Editing
Sometimes pets do not pose just where we want them to. No surprise about that! I am a good editor. After Bud at The Cat Doctor was not in the best place in respect to the background, I replaced the background in Photoshop. Bud’s picture is not missing a hair.
Bud of The Cat Doctor
OUR CATS
We own two cats,
Henrietta Basmann
Maxwell Basmann
but they stay safely behind the locked door of the studio. I really enjoy working with animals.
THE PRINTS
The prints of pets look great on canvas with a satin finish, on aluminum, acrylic, or wood, all done by national fine-art printers.
………………………………………………….Nancy Basmann Photography
with handicap ramp,
Email: nancy@nancybasmann.com
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- Lily the Ragdoll
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- Eva the Maine Coon cat
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- Doc, a Shi-Chon or Teddy-Bear Dog, owned by Sue Regan Smith. Sue wanted a studio portrait of Doc, which she has as a 12″x18″ canvas.
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- Gracie Mae is a Yorkie Poo, ornamented in pink. The owner ordered canvases of her 3 dogs. They came out great. I have a sample in semi-gloss metal, a table top print.
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- Kuma is a 14 year-old Pomeranian upon whom her owner dotes.
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- Greyhound Darla at Jones Park. Jan Rea of Jan’s K9 and Kat-Sitting has a canvas of this image of Darla.
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- Tucker is an 11 yeas old Goldendoodle . We kept his shoot short. The owner ordered 3 other images but not this one, my favorite. Owners are looking for aspects of their pet that I do not recognize. So I send lots of shots for them to view.
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- A headshot of Tucker, an 11 year-old Goldendoodle. This the owner ordered in metal.
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- Tucker Filbin, an image the the owner ordered in acyrlic. It came out gorgeous.
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- Henrietta Motleycoat at age 7. We have this image as a luster print in a frame.
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- Maxwell Grey age 4 promises mischief
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- Lala Silverpaws on posing stool. We have this image in metal.