The Formal Portrait
Capturing the personality of the subject in a formal portrait setting is the responsibility of the photographer or in some commercial situations the art director. What is important is that the person behind the camera gets the subject to relax and feel comfortable with the unordinary situation of having a large glass eye pointed at them.
This subject appears to be relaxed and comfortable in this studio shot. The expression on the subjects face and look in the eyes asks the viewer to relate to the subject on an anthropomorphic level. The pose with the foot over the prop demonstrates that the animal is alert while at the same time it is relaxed. This pet is clean, healthy and well cared for.
The lighting appears to be a single source from the left with reflection form the right. The selection for background hue blends nicely with the color of the dog’s coat. I feel that the horizontal cropping was a good choice with just enough space between the subject and frame.
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August 20th, 2008 at 5:00 am
Thank you James for your critique. This dog is cared for extremely well. I have to tell you that his life didn’t start out very well. He had a terrible skin disorder that took four months of love and care to heal up. As you can see, his coat is absolutely beautiful now. He is nothing but a joy to shoot photos of.