Client Session ~ Yoyo & Blackie in Brisbane

My session with Blackie and Yoyo would have to be one of my most sunshine-filled yet! Right from the start we had some gorgeous warm afternoon light to play with.

We settled on my south west Brisbane forest location, which is a great combination of having a rural feel, with a pine forest close by.

Adopted from the pound at 7 months old, Yoyo is a Border Collie mix who is full of confidence and lots of spunk!

His little brother Blackie joined the family at 9 weeks old when he was adopted from a friend. He’s the shyer of the two, but so sweet and loving.

Both dogs absolutely love their mum Nicole and were happy to show just how much during our shoot.

While some might see it as a challenge, I actually really enjoy photographing black and white dogs. When shooting in this lovely golden afternoon light, colour casts are commonly picked up but can be easily removed in the post-processing stage. In fact, I came up with a new technique for doing this in Photoshop while editing this session. If you are interested in learning more about this, I published a video tutorial on YouTube outlining my unique technique, using Blackie as an an example image.

Can you tell I’m a little bit obsessed with getting that golden glow? The boys were so good in staying in the right spot for me to make this happen.

Of course, we had to get a photo of the boys together. We tethered them at equal lengths to the post behind them to get their heads right on the same plane, so I could shoot using a shallow depth of field and still get the eyes of both dogs sharp.

With the very last smidgen of sunshine, it was time for some “puppy dog eyes” photos, using treats to get their attention. Yoyo approved!

And how cute is little Blackie, such a darling boy.

Nicole had this to say about her session:

“My boys Yoyo and Blackie got on really well with Charlotte. Which is great as Blackie is a nervous dog. Love the photos and the book the pictures came in.”