Practicing for Animals

[adamwilliamking]

So, a friend told me the other day that alot of people are crazy about their animals and that some will even pay a couple hundred bucks to have some good pictures of them.

I like money so I decided to see what I can get with the cats that live in my house, to lure, urr.. attract people into buying my services.

Here's what I got using the bare neccessitys.

The first shot is a bounced SB-600 and the last two are natural light from a bay window.

C&C.


Ant (Anthony)

Harley

Harley 2

Thanks for looking.

 

[Marc Kurth]

So, a friend told me the other day that alot of people are crazy about their animals and that some will even pay a couple hundred bucks to have some good pictures of them.

I like money so I decided to see what I can get with the cats that live in my house, to lure, urr.. attract people into buying my services.

I would assume that it might vary regionally, but the pet photographers that I have seen making money were providing classic portrait type work.

A friend of mine cranks out digital conversions to look like oil paintings, then prints them on canvas. He was charging a $500-$700. flat fee depending upon size. (He said that 90% chose the $500 size) He shoots with a 20D and some form of kit lens because that's all he needs.

Last I spoke with him, he was averaging 11 dogs/horses per month with simple word of mouth advertising. I moved away from that area last summer so I don't know if is still as busy, but I know he was for the preceding two years. I suspect that the economy has slowed this kind of discretionary spending. That reminds me that I owe him a call......

Marc

 

[adamwilliamking]

yeah id assume "getting the cats studio shots done" is probably one of the first things crossed off the grocery list when the chips are down.

that being said, you're the second person to tell me that many people are crazy enough to pay for this kind of thing, not that I dont love my animals, er, I guess im just not quite as wealthy as my potential customers would be.

 

[Overread]

hmm good work there - a few things come to my eye though that might be worth altering/playing with;

1) the shots look darker and cooler (barring the last which has nice colours, but is still darker) than many - that is a style to your work certainly, but also be adaptable. Nice sunny, bright shots might attract a larger market than more sombre shots - though you have certainly captured the cats eye (eyes is key as well as the mood of the animal).

2) backgrounds in the last two shots - the first of the last two has a blown out wall/window that I find rather distracting to the overall shot - though I do like your idea of bars. The last shot the background looks busy - granted its going for a homly feel with it - though I would try (if at all possible) to get at least one or two things in the background to be a little bit identifiable rather than just random bits of things (which just makes things feel a little messy)

Overall though I think you have a good footing with the overall appraoch so next level is your animal skills - to be good at this sort of photography you have to be good at controlling and manipulating the animal(s) you are dealing with along with the owner too. Dogs looking attentive at something (their toy or a treat held out of frame) - getting a dog to sit - capturing that look in a pets eye - that is where the real skill in this line of work can be. If you have no hand for animals then it will be a lot harder

 

[adamwilliamking]

Wow thanks for the indepth crit, truly appreciate it.

I agree with everything you said, I am still adapting my style to even my own taste as I like the darker contrasts but agree that it is bringing down the overall brightness of my images. So, I am currently looking for that happy medium which comes out alot easier in more non natural lighting conditions.
The backgrounds are cluttered and I actually just noticed the blown out back white wall the other night, I couldnt determine if it bothered the hell out of me or worked perfectly lol.. If you ignore it it works haha (kidding)

I would like to find a happy medium between homly "natural" backgrounds and a white background paper. Im sure that will be tricky but being able to photograph peoples animals in their homes would be beneficial to getting a comfortable looking photograph. I remember my mom putting the dog in the back of the car when I was younger to get her to the groomer and it was never a pretty sight.