In Part One I looked at the very basics of dog show photography for a beginner photographer. In part two I will add a little more detail until I begin to focus on the more detailed tips you will need.
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In order to be successful at Dog Show photography, the photographer really needs to understand the reason why Conformation shows are run in the first place. This will make it clearer what kinds of shots you need to get, why certain types won’t or are unlikely to sell, and what shots should just never see the light of day.
Dog shows are primarily a competition used as a means of ‘judging’ the quality of your purebreed dog against the breed standard. Each (recognised) breed has a breed standard that is a written guide of how the ideal breed representation should look – taking into account the way the dog should move, the head properties, tails, ears, you name it. Dogs are judged against their age group (class), culminating in a “Best of Breed” winner. Dogs are also judged against other members of their breed group (eg herding breeds, gun dogs) if they have won their age class successfully and so on. Dog shows are not about how pretty a dog is or how sweet – they are ultimately a way for breeders and exhbitors to see how their dog stacks up against competitors of the same age via the opinion of a qualified judge.
For a full explanation of how dogs shows work, try this beginners guide.
Types of Photos
Taking all this into account – what kinds of photos will the exhibitors want to see?
- Stacked Photos
- Movement Photos
- Head shots
- Winner Shots
These are primarily the four types of photos you want to get. Candids are nice, but people will generally only buy a photo where their dog is stacked or moving well. Winner photos, which are the class winners usually officially stacked with their handler and judge are almost always purchased by the Owner, but these are only available to you if you are the official photographer.
- It does NOT matter how technically perfect and sharp your shot is – if the dog’s movement shot is awkward or their tail and ears are wonky during the stacked shot – don’t expect to sell it.
I will go into more detail about the examples of these shots in the future, but for now – I stress the need to focus on a few breeds if you are a beginner to photographing dog shows, because every single breed has a different breed standard and movement and stacking varies from breed to breed. You need to be able to recognise the moment a dog is stacked well and take the shot then.
- You will be partly limited by the abilities of the handler (person taking the dog into the showring), but in general you do need basic knowledge of the breed in order to recognise the right time for the shot.
Movement shots sell well if you can get good ones. Breeders want want to buy examples of their dog moving wonderfully in the ring so that they can use them on their website to advertise and represent the dog’s quality.
- You do not have to edit out the leads/collars – they are part of the show photo.
Stacked Shot
Movement Shot
Head Shot
In Part Three I will talk about the ever important movement shot, how to get it, and how to recognise which one to keep.
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