As dog photographer in Columbus, I am all too familiar with the challenges of outdoor photo shoots in the winter in Ohio—a place that’s notorious for being depressingly drab this time of year. When the ground is bare, the trees are lifeless, and it’s cloudy for days (sometimes weeks) at a time, it may seem tempting to just wait and shoot in the spring instead. But even in the bleakest months, there are some easy, clever ways to create colorful, eye-catching pet portraits, even when there’s no snow on the ground. Here are six of my secret pet photographer tricks (plus one extra fun bonus tip at the end) that I use to infuse my winter photo sessions with vibrant color and personality, no matter how gray the season gets.
Pro-tip #1: Incorporate Water
Even a mud puddle can give you colorful results in your winter pet photography sessions!
My favorite (and perhaps the easiest) way to introduce lots of color into a winter pet photo shoot is to use a location that has water. The water reflects the color of the sky, even on cloudy days (and even if the water is frozen!) The more of the frame you can fill with water, the more color there will be. Whether it’s a stream, pond, lake, or yes, even a puddle, incorporating water is one of the easiest ways to ensure an otherwise drab scene still yields colorful results. It’s an added bonus if you are able to shoot around sunset when the brilliant hues in the sky bounce off the water and help bathe the scene in lovely splashes of color.
Safety Note: While some dogs are magnets to water and want to dive right in regardless of the temperature, be careful, as not all dogs are cold-tolerant! If your doggy model is eager to get his feet wet just be sure not to spend prolonged periods of time in the water, and I recommend saving the in-water shots for the end so that your pup doesn’t spend the rest of the session cold and wet.
I’m a sucker for a good waterfall! I love this spot at Creekside Park in Gahanna. The sun shining through the splashing water is just perfection!
Pro-Tip #2: Evergreen Spots
Locations with evergreens, like pine or spruce trees, give you a great way to include a natural and consistently-green backdrop that will still be vibrant even in the winter. One of my favorite Columbus-area parks has a beautiful pine tree grove where the fallen orange pine needles carpet the ground, which brings in lots of gorgeous color. Plus, as an added bonus, the pine trees are great for blocking some of the wind and cold during the session, so it’s a win-win!
If you DO have snow, then pine trees will give you the quintessential winter wonderland setting, (which is perfect for Christmas card photos with your dog). The texture, and shapes of the branches adds a nice touch of winter magic, especially with the stark contrast of the white snow against the deep greens of the trees.
Can’t find any pine trees to use for your session, or maybe they’re not your vibe? Don’t worry, there are other ever-green options out there to try! Not sure where to start? Take a short stroll through the woods and I bet you’ll find it almost immediately in the form of moss!
Fallen logs are an excellent source of brilliant green moss that retains its color year-round. Trees growing near water also tend to have moss on them as well as large rocks and boulders in certain climates. Here in central Ohio, moss is easy to find in most all wooded or wetland areas, making it a fantastic and readily-available option for winter photo shoots regardless of if you have snow or bare ground.
Pro-Tip #3: Urban Magic
This cute spot is at the train depot in Homestead Metro Park!
There is color to be found all around in the city if you know where to look! Whether it’s the red brick cobblestone streets of the German Village, the buildings in the Columbus skyline, or colorful graffiti murals, leveraging these features provides an opportunity to add some color to the scene. Urban settings also offer a dynamic and modern feel to your session. Brightly painted doors, colorful park benches, or even seasonal decor in storefronts can add an extra pop of color and visual interest. Here in Columbus there are many dog-friendly parks that have these colorful features. I’ve got plenty of recommendations for you!
Safety note: While it may look like these pups are running free in the city, it is important to keep dogs on leash during our session for safety and to follow the local laws. I will Photoshop the leashes out after.
Can you believe this is February?
The great combo of the graffiti wall with the red-orange paint of the stairs gave this Afghan Hound photo session a kaleidoscope of colors.
Pro-Tip #4: Golden Grass
Now I know what you’re thinking: “What? Dead grass?! Isn’t that the exact thing people want to avoid when trying to make a scene look colorful?” While it sounds counterintuitive, the secret ingredient to making this work for you lies in the lighting. While direct light on dead grass can look fairly flat and brown, if you shoot with the sun shining through the grass (golden hour is the best for this) the whole world transforms from bland and brown into a gloriously golden grotto. The biggest challenge with photographing a dog with their back to the sun is making sure the dog doesn’t become a silhouette. I use off-camera flash to light the dog so that you can see all the beautiful details of their fur, their bright eyes, and gentle expression while also getting gorgeous warm color in the background.
Even without snow, this mid-January pet session still had tons of color, which made it so worth the 15 degree weather!
In this photo I had the sun shining on the dog and grass directly (rather than the sun shining through it from behind). I supplemented the sunlight with off-camera flash to give the scene much softer shadows than what natural light would provide. So even if the sun isn’t behind the dog lighting up the grass you can still get a beautiful, soft scene.
Pro-Tip #5: The sky’s the limit
A beautiful mid-January morning so cold you can see this pup’s breath, which is illuminated by the golden light of the rising sun.
The good news is that no matter what time of year it is, the sky is always there! Whether it’s a bold blue sky of a crystal clear day, or the vibrant symphony of colors that light up the evening sky as the sun goes down, or even the deep blue hues of twilight, you really can’t go wrong.
While it may seem pretty straightforward to photograph a dog in front of a beautiful sky, in order to pull this off with the best result, knowing how to properly use off-camera flash is huge! Without it you run the risk of over-exposing your sky (so it ends up totally white), or underexposing your doggy subject so he is too dark to see (and then spending way too much time in Photoshop trying to fix it). Using OCF allows me to balance the light sources from my flash and the sun, which means you end up with perfectly-exposed colorful skies and subject in every photo.
Bonus tip: Shooting from a lower point of view than the dog allows you to include more of the sky in the frame. Sometimes in order to get a better view of the sky, it helps to put the dog up on a rock, tree stump, picnic table, etc. That way I can lay down on the ground and use a wide angle lens to shoot up at your dog so that we can get as much of sky in the scene as possible while still keeping your dog center stage.
Now, I am well-aware that this IS Columbus, Ohio…a city that is known for being cloudy practically every single day from late fall until spring. Trust me, I LOVE a beautiful sunny day with gorgeous golden hour light…but that can be hard to come by this time of year! But the beauty of off-camera flash with high speed sync is that it turns the grey boring cloudy skies into dramatic moody scenes. So if we don’t have any sunshine or sunset, we can still get jaw-dropping skies, even if it doesn’t quite look that way to the naked eye during your session—you will be shocked by the results!
Cloudy skies turned from light grey to dark blue when using off-camera flash with high speed sync. This gloomy day was transformed into a brilliant blue moody sky which helped this yellow lab really stand out during her cloudy late November photo shoot at Whetstone Park of Roses in Clintonville.
Pro-tip #6: Accessories
If the photo shoot location is lacking color, then you can bring the color to the location! The options are endless when it comes to incorporating accessories and props. A bright bow or bandanna can do wonders (plus it’s stinkin’ adorable).
You can also bring a colorful blanket for your pup to lay on, or perhaps some seasonal props like a scarf or garland to spruce things up (see what I did there?).
For an extra slick boost of color, coordinating the dog’s collar/bandana with their owner’s outfit is a perfect way to create some cohesion through color during a dog and owner photo shoot.
Bonus Pro-Tip: Christmas Lights
This is one of my all-time favorite self-portraits with my dog Rigby. I just adore the vibrant colors of the Christmas light display at Creekside Park in Gahanna
I love Christmas (which should be no surprise given the fact that I am named after a Christmas plant). My favorite thing about Christmas is seeing all the beautiful lights shining bright in December. Honestly I wish it was socially acceptable to leave up Christmas lights year-round, as it seems like only hanging them up for a couple week in December isn’t enough time!
Christmas lights are an excellent source of color and interest for a winter photo shoot—especially when shooting with a telephoto lens to give you stunning bokeh. I always get excited when owners are looking for Christmas card pictures with their dog and are wanting a location that fits the theme. I know almost instantly the shoot is going to be a ton of fun (with beautiful results). There are a some great Christmas light displays in Columbus that run from the end of November to beginning of January that are the perfect spot for your photo shoot.
