Stuck at home? Capture pet photos while sheltering in place

I was walking around the house the other day and felt the need to pick up a camera again. It has been about a month since I have worked and I needed to get my creative juices flowing. We decided that I should capture photos of our dog Cooper doing what he does best. Nothing!

You see, when Cooper is not out for a long walk with us, he is generally lounging around the house. His big activity each day is moving from one chair to another..  It is comical to watch him in his selection process as he moves from chair to couch and back to another chair.

Our 8 1/2 year old labradoodle is looking a little fluffy right now, with our daughter calling him the walking white cloud. But since all the dog trimming places are closed, this is how he will be for a while.

And hey, the job of a photographer is to tell a story through images, and so I set off to do just that.

(Canon 5D Mark IV, 24-70mm lens at 70mm, ISO 800, f/5, 1/60 sec)

I started with Cooper resting on the couch in our living room. He usually rests his head on pillows...

(Canon 5D Mark IV, 50mm lens, ISO 1000, f/2.8, 1/125 sec)

...or he plops his head down on the arm rests.

I started with the Canon 5D Mark IV with a 24-70mm lens and then I switched to the Canon 1D X Mark III with the 70-200mm lens to get in a little closer.

(Canon 1D X Mark III, 70-200mm lens at 200mm, ISO 800, f/2.8, 1/160 sec)

Later I caught him resting on the couch with that "how long is this shelter in place going to last?" look. I got down low on the floor to shoot right into his face, and waited for him to raise his eyebrows, so I could get the light in his eyes.

(Photographer's note: You will notice that in most of the photos you can see catch light in Cooper's eyes. Having that little bit of light in his eye really brings life into the subject. The hard part right now is that the dog groomers are not open and we can barely see his eyes.)

(Canon 1D X Mark III, 70-200mm lens at 200mm, ISO 1600, f/2.8, 1/500 sec)

Believe it or not, once in a while Cooper will decide to lay down in his dog bed. I caught him here hanging out with his favorite tennis ball.

(Canon 1D X Mark III, 70-200mm lens at 88mm, ISO 1600, f/2.8, 1/640 sec)

He does play with dog toys but not nearly as much as playing with his stuffed animals and other household items.

Heck, Cooper even tried doing Yoga with all of us. He was especially good at the downward dog.

(Canon 1D X Mark III, 70-200mm lens at 75mm, ISO 6400, f/2.8, 1/500 sec)

Since we are all running out of things to do here, my daughter decided to throw a plastic water bottle for Cooper to play with. It is his new favorite toy.

(Canon 1D X Mark III, 70-200mm lens at 75mm, ISO 6400, f/2.8, 1/500 sec)

He is like a child, where we get him dog toys, but he prefers the other stuff.

(Canon 1D X Mark III, 70-200mm lens at 102mm, ISO 800, f/4, 1/1600 sec) 

Before the rain started, I got Cooper outside for some action shots.

(Canon 1D X Mark III, 70-200mm lens at 150mm, ISO 400, f/4.5, 1/1000 sec)  

I got Cooper to sit down long enough to get this portrait of him in the backyard. I used the rule of thirds to get shoot him off center.  This particular photo really captures Cooper's personality.

For all of you looking for something to photograph, try capturing photos of your pet to tell the story of who they are.

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