PLUS we are hoping to raise over $15,000 for the RSPCA QLD as part of this project.

Zoo Stu­dio are look­ing for South East Queensland’s most adored pets to fea­ture in an exclu­sive, beau­ti­fully designed, hard cover cof­fee table book. Entry into the book will be avail­able to a lim­ited num­ber of Bris­bane and South East Queens­land clients only.

So if you would LOVE your pets to be involved in a studio session for this book, sim­ply fill in our online appli­ca­tion form to apply now. Studio sessions will be available from June onwards.  A $75 par­tic­i­pa­tion fee is required upon accep­tance which is donated directly to RSPCA QLD.  Together let’s raise $15,000 for the RSPCA in 2012!

The Tail (Tales) book will be a trea­sured reminder of all that you love and adore about your pets. Artis­ti­cally designed and cre­ated with Zoo Stu­dio’s unique style of Ani­mal Art Pho­tog­ra­phy this book will be pub­lished by Zoo Stu­dio, once available studio ses­sions have been completed.  Find out more information about the Tail (Tales) Book here

Cassandra Ritchie How do you know WHEN is the exact moment to take the photo?

Great question Cassie! It basically comes down to knowing what I am looking for from my subject to get the photo I am after, observing my subject to see when and how they do it, and understanding the behaviour of my subject so I understand how I can encourage them to do it on queue.

If you just wait for an animal to do something, 9 times out of 10 they have finished doing it by the time you and the camera have reacted. So you either wait for them to do it again, or you prompt them into doing it again (the approach I prefer). It’s important to have some tricks up your sleeve to encourage them to do whatever it is you want them to do, when you need them to do it. For example, if you want to get a head tilt, a squeaky noise (toy or vocal) often does the job. I spend as much time reading up on animal behaviour than photography, its an equally important aspect of what I do

Larissa Jay I am doing Animal Photography for my major folio at school and adored Zoo Studio’s work. How do you get hyperactive or disobedeant dogs/cats/pets to stay still in the position you want them in for an amazing facial and body expression? (:

Larissa thats a really exciting project! This is a big subject, and there are no quick answers that will work for all animals. The bottom line for us at Zoo Studio is that we are making photographic portraits, so if an animal is really bouncy and excitable, capturing that animal sitting still like an angel isn’t really telling their story. Try photographing them carrying on like a pork chop — its lots of fun and its telling their story. Once they have worn off some energy, they will be more likely to pose for you in a calmer way. We run most of our sessions like this!

Most dogs will sit and stay for the right motivation (like food!) if you are patient. Get them to sit on something, and only give them food when they are in the right spot — most will quickly pick up on this ‘rule’ and they will stay put — they want the food! Read up on clicker training animals for more tips — you will effectively be training them to enable you to get the photo.

You must stay patient and calm, whatever is going on. If you start to get tense, the animal will pick up on it, and then you can lose them completely.

Shiona Wobbegong Allinson my old girl is going blind and is almost completely deaf. Do you have tricks to get them to look their best even when they can’t hear a command, a click or a whistle?

Old dogs are the best dogs! I do find that lots of old dogs still have some hearing, try different noises at different frequencies to see if any work. Some old dogs can also be selectively deaf, they don’t hear when they are being called but can hear a treat packet being opened at 50 paces. I would suggest also trying some of their other senses, often dogs with little sight or hearing still smell well, so get some smelly treats (cheese is a favourite) and see how you go! Hold the cheese near their nose, then slowly move the cheese to where you want them to look.

You can also try other senses like touch, but be careful not to stress your subject, if you really are blind and deaf then imagine how scary it can be to get prodded and poked at random. Your dog will recognise your scent so you should be ok, but you have to be really careful doing this with dogs you don’t know well.

Libby Murray Hi just wondering what you set your camera for the pics of the birds inflight?…thnx

Lora Vukman What aperture setting and shutter speed do you recommend? Or is it better to use full manual mode? I’m better at taking stills but not action shots.. ( when my cat is sleeping lol)

I don’t have one setting for any subject, it all depends upon what I am trying to do with the photo and how I want it to look. My camera is always in fully manual mode (in and out of the studio), and often for swift moving animals I manually focus as my autofocus just can’t keep up.

Learn what effect different aperture and shutter speed settings have on your photos. The beauty of digital photography is that you can get instant feedback, and it doesn’t cost to take more photos. If you don’t understand about aperture and shutter speeds, get on a photography course and learn all about it. There are no right and wrongs in photography, and what works for one photographer may not work for another, so just get on and take lots of photos.

Rules are slightly different in the studio, in that I am restricted as to what shutter speeds I can use, because all cameras have a maximum speed with which they can synchronize with the studio flash lights. For my camera that is 1/160th of a second, not nearly Quick enough to freeze the action of a bird flying. I have special lights that freeze action, so my shutter speed isn’t so important. Ordinary camera top flash guns also work well for this, you don’t have to spend a fortune on gear!

Casey Smith How do you get down to the same level as an animal so they will relax for you, treats, attitude, demenar. is there any one thing you do for 90% of your shoots.

Casey, this question is at the heart of animal photography! Techniques change depending upon the animal, what you would do for a dog is very different to what you would do to a cat. One thing applies to most animals, and that is wait for them to come to you. I never force any animal to say hello, its rude, and lots of animals are scared of people walking straight up to them and touching their head (the way most people greet dogs). I kneel down at a dogs level and let them come up for a sniff when they are ready. This nearly always builds trust.

Jeremy Tan how do you accustom nervous pets to flash?

Michael Curran How much time do you normally spend habituating the animals to the equipment? Do you have any tricks for getting them to be OK with the equipment and lighting?

I don’t find that the flash of light itself scares animals, but the noise of the flash can upset some dogs. I give them something else to think about, like food or toys, and they soon forget that there is something going on that they find scary. Herding breeds like Border Collies can be particularly prone to noise phobias, and so can poorly socialised dogs.

I always introduce the camera with food, there are camera shy animals out there (to some it looks like a big scary eye) and giving them a positive experience with the camera straight up is really important. If a dog wants to lick your camera, let it, its getting to know and trust your camera and thats a good thing!

We have had lots of animals in the studio which their owners have no photos of, because the animal just won’t let them get a picture. I have had people cry with emotion as they realize they finally have photos of their loved ones.  That always moves me, to think that some people have no photos to remember dogs passed is just heartbreaking.

Jodie Muston other than animals, what would be the ultimate thing for you to shoot? Is there a particular place, person etc that you have on your bucket list?

Great question! I also LOVE music, and photographing bands is a real favourite of mine, I just don’t get time for it anymore . I don’t really enjoy wildlife / landscape photography, spending days on a mountain or in a hide to get a photo doesn’t appeal to me! If I’m out camping and the light is perfect then maybe I will get some photos. I enjoy photographing musicians and am absolutely obsessed with photographing animals in my studio!

Kalah M J Atherton What drove you to specialize in animal photography? A few luck shots of your own pets or an ability to “befriend” people’s pets easily?

Madeleine Ann Gilbert How and/or when was it that you decided you wanted to be an animal photographer.…was it one of those moments during shooting a random photo that was just…perfect and you had your mind set from then on?

I do find I have a natural way with animals, I communicate easily with them, and I love being with them and photographing them. I started my obsession by photographing my own pets, then photographing for friends and relatives, then for friends of friends, and Zoo Studio came out of that. I didn’t wake up one day and say “i want to be an animal photographer”, I woke up one day and said “wow, I AM an animal photographer!”. I will have to do a blog entry some day about how it all developed and show some of my early photos! Keep an eye out for that on our blog.

Tracey Noe What does it take to get those amazing solid black or white backgrounds?

Patience and technique! With the black background, if you want it solid black (which I don’t always do) then careful light placement is key, so light doesn’t spill onto the backdrop. For white, the techniques change depending on how big an area you are lighting, but generally using LOTS of light does the trick. Too much though and the light bounces back onto the subject and can take away all your contrast in the photos leaving them looking very flat and dull. At the heart of it all is managing the animals, you have to control where they will be. Too close to a background ruins it!

This link is to the best tutorial on setting up white backgrounds and lighting that I know of. For dogs, I don’t recommend the tile board he discusses, too slippery under dog’s paws. I use a painted concrete floor but photographic vinyl works well for animals.

The most difficult thing isn’t the background, its the floors — animals are way closer to the floor than a standing human, they drop more hair and food and dribble than (most) humans, and all this needs taking out of the photo. This is the major job we do in photoshop.

Judi Neumann Hi Ken whats in the kit?

I currently use Canon 5D MkII DSLR with a few lenses, the 24-70L is on the camera for most of the photos. Having said that I really like the look of the new Nikon D800E and am dying to try it out! To be honest unless you are printing big wall pieces, which is our speciality, don’t get too hung up on the gear. You still see photos on our Facebook page that were photographed with a 6MP Canon 10D and I bet you can’t tell which! Light is THE most important tool for photographers, cameras are obviously important but not as critical as the camera manufacturers would have you believe

Alongside the 24–70 zoom, I use a 100mm macro lens for the face and body closeups, a 16-35mm lens for action/play photos of bigger dogs, and a 70-200mm lens for very nervous animals and horses at a distance. My lenses are all top of the range, but if I was still photographing for a hobby they wouldn’t be, for sure you get better quality from the top end gear but you only really notice it when you print big.

My lighting kit is really important. I use some old Bowens Gemini lights, and newer Paul Buff Einsteins, and I trigger them with wireless Pocket Wizard triggers.  If you can’t afford studio lighting gear you can get a long way with trusty flash guns, and you can get these 2nd hand relatively cheaply — thats what I used when starting out!

I never go anywhere without doggy treats (we make our own) and squeaky toys, my Sekonic Lightmeter is always with me, and if I am photographing outside I always use a polarising filter.

Ayesha Kelly what are your tips for shooting outside the studio with no equipment other than your camera (i.e. a more informal shoot at the pet owner’s house, or at an animal shelter). particularly in regards to lighting. thanks!

Ayesha I very rarely photograph without any lights. Even with our outdoor photos, 95% were done with lights. I personally would never go into someone’s house or a shelter without lights, what do you do if you get there and their house is really dark? Sure modern cameras have excellent high ISO performance, but images can still be noisy and I find that you need much higher shutter speeds for animals than you would humans, which means higher ISO settings, and visible noise in prints.

I would rather take the chance out of it and take lights with me. Even cheap 2nd hand camera topping flash guns are better thn nothing, its what I used when starting out. Learn about bounce flash and off camera lighting (which can be achieved with a cheapish chord) and don’t rely on there being nice light when you arrive on location!

Some photographers get hung up on only using ‘natural light’ but I don’t — I use any light thats available, and if its one of my lights I know exactly what I can do with it to get the effect I am after. This approach suits me, there is no right and wrong here, just what is right or wrong for the photos you are wanting to create.

If you are outside using 100% natural light (and lots of photographers do) make sure you are using the best light. The best light happens around sunrise and sunset, so get up early! Another reason I love the studio I’m not much of a morning person. If you are in someones house, find a room with nice big windows without direct sunshine coming in, and use that light — it should be great for photos.

Justine Perante how do u take perfect photos with the animals that is hard to take a photo?

Thats a lovely comment Justine but I don’t think I do take perfect photos — I am constantly looking at ways of improving my photography, and I hope that the best photo I ever take is the last photo I ever take. Thats the beauty of photography, on one level its as simple as pressing the shutter, but on other levels it takes a lifetime to master!

I don’t find animals difficult to photograph, its natural for me and I just love it. Some critters move really quickly, some seemingly erratically, and having some clue as to what they are likely to do next really helps. For example, I photographed a Phascogale recently, his instinct was telling him to climb, so we positioned him a metre away from his carer, knowing he would likely move towards his carer to climb up her arm. He did, so we could set the lights and focus knowing where he would be. Through observation, I noted that he kept coming up to the lens, climbing inside the lens hood, so I reset the lights and focus and as he came up, I moved the camera back and got a photo oh him looking at the camera. If I had just tried to follow him as he moved randomly, I would never have got such a nice photo.

Thanks for all the questions, I really enjoyed answering them, I hope you got the information you are after! If you have any more questions please do send them through, perhaps if we get enough we will do a follow up blog.

Cheers

Ken  — Photographer at Zoo Studio

The Dog Owners Choice Awards is run by the Master Dog Breeders and Associates (MDBA), and this is their fifth year of running. The award isn’t actually about our photography, as Julie Nelson  CEO of  MDBA announced at the awards ceremony, they don’t look at a single photo in deciding who wins. What they do look at are client testimonials, and they look at what each photographer gives back to the dog community at large. This award is really all about what our clients are saying about us, both private clients and the organisations we work with such as the RSPCA and Little Paws Kitten Rescue. It is testament not only to the high levels of customer service we provide but also how our clients feel about their portraits once they are hanging on their own walls at home.

Reading these testimonials really made us feel that all the hard work we put into providing exceptional customer service and the attention to detail we provide in our final products is really really appreciate by our clients. We are so happy to have won this award, and I am so proud of my wife Beck who is responsible for the customer service! Julie Nelson from MDBA also said that what really shone through this year was just how much community work dog photographers are doing, helping charities and dog causes in general. We are delighted to share this award with the wonderful K9 Kate of Perth.

The Queensland Professional Photography Awards (QPPAs) are all about the photography. Zoo Studio entered four images, as hundreds of Queensland professional photographers did, and they all get judged in front of a room full of experienced professional photographers. Nobody knows whose photo is being judged, it’s 100% anonymous, it’s just about the photos. We were delighted to get three of our photos acknowledged with Silver Medals! Our approach to these photography awards is different to some photographers, in that we only enter client photographs and don’t undertake special projects just to get award photos. All our photos entered are always taken for a client and taken during a normal session, and of course feature pet portraits. This way its not just my progress as a photographer that is getting measured, but Zoo Studio’s day to day client work that is getting measured and awarded.  Zoo Studio is ALL about pet portraits so that is what we enter, and as a result these awards mean so much more.

We enter quite a few competitions every year, but without doubt the QPPAs and their big brother awards the Australian Professional Photography Awards are the toughest to do well in, and mean the most as a result. Every Australian professional photographer wants to do well at the APPAs!

It is with the very greatest of pleasure that we can announce the growing of the Zoo Studio team, Julie Rodger  has joined us! Julie has been working with animals for a number of years (but who is counting!) and we are really delighted that she is bringing that knowledge and love of animals to Zoo Studio. In Julie’s life to date she has worked as a Vet Nurse and Senior Vet Nurse, Dog Trainer, Dog Walker, registered Wildlife Carer, and Foster Carer. Julie’s job at Zoo is Manager of First Impressions, meaning that you will most likely talk to her when you call us up and meet her at the photo sessions.

Julie’s Interesting Facts;

- Julie has two gorgeous dogs Bro and Mackenzie, and two beautiful cats Gus and Macie
- In 2010 Julie was voted Vet Nurse of the Year for Brisbane
- Super Jules! Julie once gave mouth to mouth resuscitation to a goat who nearly drowned, and got a lung infection as a result
- Julie has trained with Ms Fitness Universe
- She was sacked from her first job for being too short!

In the photo with Julie is a Brush Tailed Phascogale that Julie has been looking after, she called him Phinius. Phascogale’s are a small marsupial, carnivorous, and very very quick! We had to get some photos…

Over the last few weeks we have done a couple of sessions that are a bit away from our norm, Cockatoo Chaos asked us to get some photographs of their birds that they could use for both marketing their business and as portraits of their feathered babies. We of course said YES!!, who could resist the opportunity to have so many beautiful Cockatoos in the studio?

Our brief was to capture some portraits of the birds that showed their cheeky personalities in a way that would appeal to the children (Cockatoo Chaos is in the education business), and get some spectacular eye-catching photos that could be used in promotions at fairs, and on Facebook. That meant birds flying around the studio — always fun!

Every time I photograph birds I am amazed anew at just how much personality and intelligence is packed into such a small frame. People have traditionally presumed that birds don’t have much ‘upstairs’, its an insult to call someone ‘birdbrain’, but the reality is they have just as big personalities as dogs and cats, they have the problem solving abilities of a five year old child, and they can be extremely playful and fun to have around. Of course they need training and lots of attention, just like a 5 year old, but if you invest the time you get in return a very loving and playful mate.

And they just look so beautiful when they fly. They are works of art in themselves, worthy subjects for any Degas statue, the shapes they form when in mid flight are breathtaking. And this is where Photography is such an excellent medium for revealing these fleeting poses, where they are too quick for the human eye, the camera can make sense of them.

The technical challenges in photographing birds in flight in a studio are huge; they are too fast for my camera’s auto focus, they move incredibly quickly so getting photos sharp is a real challenge, and getting the lights placed well for the birds when they fly differently each time is interesting! However if you can get all of this right, you can end up with some incredible photos and the end result is very rewarding. To get a flavour of what happens in the studio during such a session, we prepared a behind the scenes video which you can see from here

We are delighted to have received so much critical acclaim and so many awards for our bird photos, and we hope to see you with your birds in our studio soon.

The Floods came just as we were planning on being back in the office, instead we found ourselves out at the RSPCA Fairfield shelter helping in the post floods cleanup. The RSPCA used our photos of the devestation they suffered to help raise critical funds in getting their facilities up and running again, we were so pleased to help.

At the beginning of the year, we invested significantly in new studio equipment which has enabled us to offer much more action and play photography. Got a dog that just can’t sit still? A cat that likes to jump and twist and play? A bird that loves to stretch their wings and fly?

We can now capture these images  in the studio in pin shape details in a way we just couldn’t before.

The feedback from our clients and the joy and smiles on their faces from our action, playful photography has made it all worth it!

It was a big year for Zoo Studio with Award in 2011. We entered several competitions as we like to measure our progress as a photography studio against the very best photography in Australia and from around the world.

Our photos of birds in flight did very well, with a photo of Charlie the Eclectus Parrot winning us a Silver with Distinction medal at the Australian Professional Photography Awards.

As a result Ken was made an Associate of the Australian Institute of Professional Photography. This is a huge honour and one of which we were very proud.

We also entered the Photo District News ‘Faces’ Competition, which is the only noteworthy international photography competition with a specific section for Animal portraiture. When we found out we had won the Animal Portrait category, we were excited, but then finding out we had won the over all Grand Prize Winner of the entire competition — well that was huge and more than just the icing on the cake. Several thousand photographers from all over the world entered, and we had won the Grand Prize from all categories!

Our photos scored highly in the International Loupe Awards, getting into the top 50 and winning 2 Silver Award Medals and 5 Bronze Award medals.
We were also a finalist in the Canon Creative Asia competition.

In August we took our photography on the road for the first time, visiting Melbourne. We were delighted to book out our available sessions in just a couple of hours. This pattern was repeated in November too.

Beck and I both LOVE Melbourne, for the shopping, the eating and of course the lovely people and pets we met while we were there.

To round the year of nicely we were invited by the RSPCA to join Premier Anna Bligh and others on a train ride from their old shelter at Fairfield to their brand new state of the art facility at Wacol. If you are in Brisbane and haven’t yet seen it, you have to go for a look! Even if you aren’t looking for a new furry family member, they have a great store World for Pets where you can buy anything you need for your existing pets, with all money going to the RSPCA. It is the best animal shelter in the southern hemisphere and all Australia should be proud of it.

So what does 2012 have in store? Well as last year we have our plans, keep an eye on our blog and Facebook page to see how our plans unfold, but I am also sure something surprising will happen again. We will be back to Melbourne and this year we will also be going to Sydney, Canberra and Townsville. Do get in touch if you live there and are interested in a session.

Have a great year and hopefully see you in our studio somewhere in Australia!

HeARTs Speak is an international organization founded in the USA which promotes animal adoption by connecting artists with shelters and animal relief organizations. Through the services of it’s professional photographer members volunteering their time, HeARTs Speaks hopes to increase the number of animals adopted and reduce the numbers that are euthanized and ultimately, to save and better the lives of animals and people.

In early December 2011 Zoo Studio were super excited to become part of this growing international team of animal lovers and professional photographers. If you would like to find out more about HeARTs Speak visit their website here or join them on facebook here

The International Loupe Awards is a well respected international photography competition, that attracts thousands of entrants from all over the world.  Following on from our successes in the Australian Professional Photography Awards (1 Silver Distinction and 2 Silvers) and the PDN Faces Competition (which we won), we are really ecstatic with how 2011 has turned out for awards for Zoo Studio.

We are the Grand Prize Winners for the PDN Faces 2011 International photography competition.

Photo District News, the largest professional photography magazine in the USA, recently held an international photography competition for portraiture, the PDN Faces competition. We entered, as it is really the only international photography competition of note that has a dedicated Animal Portraiture category. There were thousands of entries, including some of the very very best photographers anywhere, giving us the chance to see how we are staking up globally.

We won!! Not only did we win the animal portraiture category (the only Australian photographer to make the finals), but our photo was selected by the judges as the very best in the whole competition winning us the Grand Prize! All photos entered came from our standard client photography sessions, not from specially setup sessions with trained animals.
Here is the winning image of Cheeky the Eclectus Parrot, his Mum is very proud and so are we.

He scored 1 Silver with Distinction, and two Silver Medals. As a result, Ken has been made an Associate of the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP). This is a real honour!

The APPAs is the most important Australian photography competition, and is the competition which every Australian professional photographer worth their salt enters. As we always do, these photos all came from our normal client photo sessions, not specially setup sessions with trained animals.

Here are the photos Ken entered and scored with.