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Adoption Portraits

Lesson 21 from: Pet Photography

Arica Dorff

Adoption Portraits

Lesson 21 from: Pet Photography

Arica Dorff

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Lesson Info

21. Adoption Portraits

Lesson Info

Adoption Portraits

I kind of wanted to get into depth with what we dio for adoption portrait. So they're complementary portrait that we offer to all the rescues and shelters in town. Not everyone takes advantage of it, but it is always available. It's complimentary. I have the people come to me. Some of you are probably doing this a lot of your doing adoption portrait's and they're great. It's a great way to build your portfolio as well. If you're trying to start out and, like, maybe try out new backgrounds and do things like that, I hear from a lot of people that I can't get them to come to me. So in the beginning, if you can't get them to come to you, you got to get off your booty and you got to go down there and do it yourself. I know you are saying you're getting to the point where there's such a value because she you do so many adoption Portrait's with the shelter. They see the value in it that if you can't go there anymore, they're gonna get a volunteer to bring animals to you. So you might need to...

do that in the beginning if they won't bring animals to you. If you have, like a home studio, go down there and actually do the portrait yourself. But adoption Portrait's air Amazing. It's amazing how much it helps animals get adopted. And when you see these other snapshots that people there taking and the animals are out of focus and their eyes, they're doing the big glow and people just can't connect with that. And in the day and age that we're in with Internet and Facebook and social media, Ah, lot of people aren't going to the shelters. They're actually finding the animals online. So that image that's online is that animals only chance. And if you're a kill shelter, that's literally your only chance before you get put down. And there's so many photographers who want to help. And unlike just go to the kill shelters and photograph those animals because if they, some of them don't even get an image online and then they get put down before they even get that image. And you really need to make sure that those images air great in their lit well, and you have that connection, you have that focus because people will fall in love and go I need that docks in on the pink couch with the necklace I need that docks in literally. So, like I said earlier, if you're gonna do adoption portrait's, do them, do them for the right reasons. Make a decision before you start. If you're just doing it for marketing, please don't do it because the animals really need you. So do it for the right reasons. Continue to do it. It brings so much back to you. You're getting your images. My images are all over Las Vegas. Everyone knows who I am because I shoot for all the smaller rescue groups as well, besides just the shelters. So the breed specific rescues and some people don't. It's such a great way to raise awareness because some people don't know. Oh, there's a be shown rescue. Oh, there's a basset hound rescue. There's a lab rescue. I didn't know that. So it's a great way to just raise awareness as well for your clients. But your images I always put my logo in the corner. E. Mail them out, make sure that your branding them you're saying no, you have to brand those I mean, you're donating your time. You have to put your name on those haven't. And I think that because at the beginning there's certain standards and policies not to do that. And but now that you know we have a fabulous working relationship, it's amazing. Staff are amazing people, but I think that I could ask that it's discreet and small. And if I'm going to give back as a result of that, I think it's one of those things that's not taking away from the animal. It's not like look atyou, advertising that animals getting the same amount of attention. It's just that if someone wonders who took the portrait, hope they can look down in the corner and there's your name and you should have a relationship by this time and you're doing such a service for them, you should have a relationship to where they're like Oh my gosh, of course, please. We want to sit. You know, we want to tell everyone who's doing these, so I'm gonna show you a slide show some of the adoption portrait that we've done these air sessions that we've done in our studio, and I'll talk a little bit more about how we do it, option portrait's and how long they take and how many we do a week and things like that. But when you see these, they are a lot more cute sea, then some of the work that you've seen on my website, and this is really what's necessary for these animals. If you are just doing plain brown Muslim playing black Muslim. I'm not saying they're not going to get adopted because those and those pictures are better than what the shelters taking. But there's no way to make that connection if you can do all my gosh, the blue couch and they had their paws crossed and you put him in that little basket. And what was the guinea pig in the vase? Hard. Everyone in Las Vegas knows who hardly is because they put him in a vase. You know, if you justice on a white background, it would have just been like, Oh, guinea pig. So these are a lot more cute, see? But you can still do it an elegant way, and it's just a way for people to remember them. So Okay, Okay, cool. So but no, that's the thing that I want people to look at and go while it's beautiful. But with these portrait's, I'm okay if they look at it and go, Oh my gosh, that's so cute because they're going to remember them. So I always try and make sure a lot of times the animals air coming from the shelter and the people don't really know them that well, or they just came into the rescue that day and they're bringing him in for portrait's to get him on the website, so sometimes they don't know them that well. But if it's like a foster family and they know the animals always asked them, issue a girly girl or she kind of a tomboy or is he really? Is he shy and whatever, and try and match the backgrounds to those things like, I don't want to put a dog that's like a rough and tumble girl on a pink couch with pearls. Religious doesn't match your personality, so I just wanted to be something that when people see it, they really can connect with them. So adoption portrait's, like I said, are always complimentary. People want to support businesses who give back to the community, so that's not the reason I'm doing it. But you are gonna look so good in the communities eyes. You're getting great images. A lot of the image that you saw are things that I used on my website there, my gallery images because I'm like, Oh, that was the best shot I have on that couch and it was a shelter dog. But it's a quick five minute session. We have a standing appointment with the Nevada S P C. A. They come in because they're bigger shelter. So they come in every Tuesday morning at 10 30. They have an hour reserved every Tuesday morning. So however many animals they can fit in one car is what they bring in those days. The smaller rescues just call us when they have animals come in. And that's usually the same day or they're calling. And hey, can we come in tomorrow? And I just fit those in between my sessions. I'm not waking, making them wait. It's not a big appointment thing. It's like, Yes, I'll put you in. We have minutes in between these two appointments. Perfect. Um, sometimes if there's like the same Bernard rescue. Yeah, we need, like, 1/2 hour in between just because there's going to be so much hair and there's so much cleaning of all. But it's like a little docks. And I'm like, Oh, yeah, yeah, you're good. Five minutes. But I take the images. I edit them, just like I would not for like, a wall portrait size. I'm not making it that perfect, but I am cleaning things up. If they have, like Major to your stains and things like that, I don't want to alter them because I don't want people. Teoh. I think there's this huge tumor and you took it away. But you can soften things. I mean, if they got their arms shaved, but they just had surgery. That's just a temporary thing. You can kind of soften that so people don't look at that as an imperfection. So I emailed them toe all the rescues, and we put our logo in the corner and they're just regular Facebook size images. That's all they need. They're not printing them. So, um, website Facebook. Pet Finder. So just regular, you know, six by 8 72 dp I with our logo in the corner, But I do always put our logo. Like I said, It doesn't take away from the animals. I don't want to make it distracting. I always pick a color that's gonna compliment the whole thing. But we do get a ton of business aton of business from doing adoption Portrait's and just people Like I said, the rule of seven. That's one of the seven people just that way. See, your image is everywhere. You're all over every website, you know, they just they know who we are from that. So you're doing a great thing. And there's a lot of these animals to who have been in the shelter for months. Six months, eight months. Just sitting there. We do a portrait. They'll get adopted in like, 48 hours. It's the most amazing thing. And just with social media, to you have a question. Do you do a lot of what you're talking about? I do about 20 pets a week, and sometimes they want to use them for print, And I'm wondering if and I imagine with yours to use your wonderful so you have an understanding with them that maybe they can use something for like? Yeah, Like the adoption brochures? Yeah, like S P C. A. For example. They do like for their newsletters. Brochures. I just give him whatever high rise they need any time. So it's just it's still free. It's complimentary. There's if even if they had it and they're they're so good to me. I mean, they'll call me and be like, we're doing these postcards for this little event, and we were going to print it through this place. Is that okay? Is there a certain texture paper you care for? That's how they should be treating you. And that's what they're going to say when you ask them about the logo, because they you're doing such a good thing for them. And in my eyes, I'm like, Oh, my gosh, you guys do so much for me. You're like blasting out my portrait specials every time I do it, telling people how great I am, giving me complimentary booths at their events and things like that. But it's a mutual relationship, So yes, hi rez all day for them because, yeah, it's for their newsletters and things like that. Him? Yes, please. Another question. I had so much experience doing this like tight face shots vs body shot to have a lot of variety. Do you getting feedback from the shelter? Since the VAT SPC is so huge on which ones work better Or, you know I usually take a variety. Don't just take. I don't just email them one unless they only got one. Just email them the best one. But if there's three really cute shots, I'll send them through really cute shots and let them make the decision on. If it's better. Is a head shorter, full length. So you're not, really, I mean, if there's animals that have imperfections, like if they have three legs or something, you do want to show that you don't want to hide that maybe on a client like they're gonna want a head shot. But for adoption purposes, you do want to show all those things. So, yeah, so sometimes I am sending him three shots

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

Pet Photography Slides.pdf
AricaDorffPhoneCallScript.pdf

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

I've watched A LOT of CreativeLIVE courses and Arica is by far the most effective and talented instructor I've seen. She's also got an extraordinary ability to photograph animals and their humans while remaining calm and in control. Even if you're not a pet photographer, this is a fabulous resource. Putting aside how amazing it is to watch her photograph in what seems like impossible situations and get the shot time after time, she also gives a lot of great information that applies to any professional photographer, whether they photograph pets or not. She's truly an amazing talent and I hope she does many more workshops -- I'm not a pet photographer but I'll watch all of them.

CB
 

Arica's presentation was extraordinary. Such an incredible amount of valuable, practical information on everything from the basics of how to run a business profitably to how to attract and maintain value-oriented clientele to actually working with and photographing a variety of pets and their people. Arica demonstrated time and again during the live shoots that she was in mastery of both her techniques and her subjects, and in a way that felt simultaneously relaxed/casual and businesslike. That last session with the horse, duck, chicken, rabbits, dogs and people was a challenging balancing act and she pulled it off flawlessly. Finally, I appreciate all the detail she provided, such as names of vendors and how and why she uses each one. Absolutely no filler, all substance. I am in the process of taking my own pet photography from sideline business/ volunteer work to profit-making status and the timing of this program could not have been better for me. I'm a huge fan and look forward to more from her although it’s hard to imagine that there is anything left for her to cover about this topic because in this course, she did it all. A natural talent: smart, great on-screen presence, honest and a true teacher. Thank you, Arica!

a Creativelive Student
 

Hi I am an aspiring pet photographer. I own 6 dogs and 4 cats that have been rescued in some way. I have learned a lot just by practicing with them. Arica's course today and yesterday showed me what I was doing wrong and everything that I was doing right. I impressed myself that I actually was doing very well. lol. I do have a web site http://squeakynes.wix.com/lisas-creations ,and if you can review it and give me some positive critism, it would just be terrific. There is a tab titled pets etc. My email address is under contact me. Thank you in advance. I tried to watch other courses but none of them would keep my attention. I had no problem with Arica AT ALL. I definitely will attend all and any other courses she offers. Her courses made me realize this dream of mine is just what I am suppose to do in life. I have a lot of the same qualities as Arica and my passion for animals. But...............I WILL NOT photograph snakes, no way. lol Arica, you TOTALLY ROCK. I look forward to the next one. xoxo

Student Work

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