I love doing workshops! Imagine being surrounded by inspiring and creative women from all over the world, all united by a shared passion for styling and photography. That’s exactly what happened at my recent workshops that I hosted in my private home.
The energy was electric as we explored the endless possibilities of still life, flowers, and interior photography. I was truly amazed by the creativity and openness of my students, and it was an honor to share my own expertise and passion with them.
This year, I’m super excited to host two new workshops in the coming Spring/Summer season, diving deeper into the world of still life, food, flowers, mindfulness, styling and photography. And it all takes place in my yellow home and studio in the beautiful Marselis area, in the center of Aarhus, Denmark.
These workshops are super interactive with plenty of hands-on training, and the opportunity to get personal coaching + feedback. I will show you exactly how I work with photography, including how I plan, prepare, style, shoot and edit my images.
In my workshops I also share my ways of working mindfully with photography. As photographers, we often get caught up in the technical aspects of our craft and forget to tap into our own unique creativity. Mindfulness allows us to quiet the noise and distractions in our minds and focus on the present moment.
As we rush through our daily lives, it’s easy to miss the small details and beauty in the world around us. By taking a mindful approach to photography, we can train ourselves to slow down and truly see what’s in front of us. This can lead to capturing more meaningful and impactful images.
Mindfulness can also play a role in self-acceptance in the creative process. It’s easy to get caught up in comparing our work to others or feeling discouraged. Mindfulness helps us to let go of these negative thoughts and focus on the present moment, allowing us to approach our photography with a sense of curiosity and experimentation.
In other words; The workshop will be a game-changer in the way you approach creativity and work with photography. You will never again feel stuck in a creative rut or doubt your creative abilities!
So if you’re looking for inspiring new ways to work with your photography and get creative in a fun + empowering environment, this workshop is for you.
My workshops are open to all levels of creatives with a passion for still life photography. No matter your current level of experience I will help you reach your photography goals.
Don’t miss your chance to join. I host only a few workshops a year and I would LOVE to see you!
If there’s one thing my dogs love almost as much as food and sneaking into my bed, it’s being photographed. As a photographer working from home they’re always with me, and every chance they get they photobomb the scene I’m shooting. A workday with them is never dull!
For these photos, I was planning on shooting an interior scene, but as soon as I started, Mr. Bowie jumped into the scene. First, I tried to get him out of the frame, but he was very persistent, and I gave in. I took a few shots to make him feel included. Then Conrad got jealous and wanted in as well.
French Bulldogs are very much like small children in their personalities. They are super curious, want to follow your every step, and be included in everything. And they always want what the other dog is having; if not there will be drama 🙂
So my interior shoot turned into a little story about Conrad and Bowie. It gave me the idea to share some tips on photographing your dog and training it to be comfortable with the camera.
My dogs are very experienced models. They are nine and seven and have been used to the camera since they were puppies. Today, they are almost too good, meaning that when they sit in front of the camera, they pose like a statue staring straight into the lens.
Especially Mr. Bowie (the white dog). He can sit still in the same position for a long time, which is quite funny, but doesn’t always give the best pictures.
Encourage Interaction & Movement
When dogs (or people) sit in a static pose, there’s a chance the atmosphere will become too stiff and lack charm. When there’s movement and interaction with the subject, there’s another vibe; a feeling of personality, mood, and emotions.
So I do what I can to make him look in different directions. My best option is always to bring in Mr. Conrad (the black dog) and get them to interact with each other.
The funny thing about dogs is that they have different personalities, just like humans, and I’ve also noticed that some dogs have more facial expressions than others. Conrad can “speak” with his eyes and ears. His ability to express himself and show his personality is extraordinary. Mr. Bowie, on the other hand, mostly has this zoned-out face. He also has dementia which doesn’t make it better. So every dog is different to work with, and therefore, you need patience and empathy for their personality.
How toTrain Your Dog to Pose
Every dog can learn to be a great model. Even if your dog is older, he can learn it. The key is to connect the camera with fun, positive attention, encouragement, and the final bonus; the treat. I’ve trained both puppies and older dogs, and my strategy is always to teach the dog to “sit, look and wait.”
To teach the dog to “sit, look and wait” he must first learn to sit. Assuming your dog can already sit on command, the next step is teaching him to look at you on command.
Sit down on your knees so your eye-level is higher than the dog but not as high as when standing. Show the dog that you have a treat in your hand. Then bring your finger up, point at your eyes, and say, “LOOK.” (Using fingers to show dogs what you want them to do is super important because dogs are very good at reading hand signs).
You want the dog to look at you, and focus on your eyes – not the treat. As soon as the dog looks you in the eyes (even just a little bit), he gets a treat. You give positive reinforcement and say “Good Boy” (or girl). The dog will become better and better at keeping eye contact for longer the more you practice.
When the dog can master this with you sitting down in front of it, you can begin to stand up and then move away from the dog. Always point at your eyes while you say “LOOK”.
When your dog can look at you on demand, you begin training it to master “WAIT”. While the dog sits, place a treat on the floor in front of him.
Point at it and say “NO”. Now stand up and take a step back while you hold your index finger up in the air in front of you and repeat, “wait, wait, wait….(pause a little to train the dogs’ patience)….then say in a louder voice, “get it!” Now the dog gets his treat – a reward for waiting.
Teaching the dog to wait with patience is properly the most important part. It gives you a calmer dog to work with, and if the dog gets impatient during the photo session, you just lift your index finger and say wait – this will remind the dog to be still and be patient.
The last step is to introduce the camera. Now you test this with your camera in your hand. Hold the camera up next to your eyes and say, “look”. The exact moment the dog looks at your eyes or the lens it gets a treat, a cuddle, and you say “good boy”.
Practice this moving further and further away. The goal is that you can have control over the dog from a distance just by saying wait, look and showing your index finger. That’s how I trained all my dogs, so I hope this might work for you and your dog.
Shoot From The Dogs Eye Level (not your own)
The best way to bring out your dog’s unique personality and create a more intimate perspective is to get down on his eye level. Make sure the camera focuses on the eyes by using single point autofocus area and moving the focal point over the one eye closest to the lens. Using natural light like a window also tends to make the eyes sparkle. A large window that’s not directly facing the sun will work best. Window light creates softer light and will be more flattering.
Best Camera Setting For Photographing Your Dog
I always shoot handheld when I photograph my dogs, and because they are so good at sitting still (most of the time) I can shoot with a fairly low shutter speed, but I never go below 1/100. I also like to shoot wide open with an aperture around f/2.8. This will help the dog stand out more from the background.
If your dog has a hard time sitting still, or if you want to include more movement/play/fun in your scene, use a faster shutter speed. Set your camera to shutter priority mode or manual mode, and use a shutter speed of at least 1/250 if possible.
For action shots, you can turn on the burst mode and the camera will take a sequence of fast images. This will give you a better chance to catch a great shot of your dog jumping, playing, running or cuddling with a person.
Edit Your Photos For The Best Result
Some dogs are more challenging to photograph well than others simply because of their fur colors. Let’s use my own dogs as an example: Conrad is black, which means he will stand out in a bright white interior scene. This can sometimes make him appear very dark, and I have to do some extra editing work to soften his dark fur, so he looks more natural in the frame. Other times, when he’s placed in a darker scene, he will almost disappear, and I can only see the white in his eyes.
A white dog like Bowie is also a challenge. I have to be careful that I don’t shoot too bright; otherwise, his white fur will be too highlighted and lose details. On the other hand, if I shoot too dark, he will look “dirty” and have a greyish tone. Bowie also has red undertones in his skin that I need to reduce in editing – otherwise, it can create unevenness in the photo.
Dogs with brown, creamy, and grey fur are easier to blend into a scene simply because they have milder tones. Black and white always bring a little extra challenge, but you can make it work with a little bit of extra editing work.
That’s it. I hope this was helpful and that you will have a lot of FUN photographing your dog.
Happy shooting,
Warmly, Christina
✅ FREE 5-DAY PHOTOGRAPHY COURSE
If you love photography and want to take better photos. I’m here to help. With my FREE 5-Day Mini-CourseI’ll take you behind the scenes to uncover the how-to’s of capturing BEAUTIFUL images using simple + easy-to-follow steps.
If you’re ready to get creative + transform your photography, this FREE course is for you.
I LOVE editing photos. It’s my meditation and such a HUGE part of my creative style.
I dare say that image editing is 50% of the process to achieving a signature style.
As a photographer working with just the available light, the conditions are not always perfect enough to achieve beautiful images straight out of camera. (almost never in fact).
Yep, it’s called REAL life!
Here’s the good news. Withthe right skills, you can create stunning images that wow potentail clients, blog readers and Instagram followers.
When you master editing you can finally create show-stopping images that people can’t get enough of and it will help grow your creative career tremendously.
Today, I want to share 5 must-know editing tips.
Are you ready? Here we go:
#1. Take Time to Experiment
The number one most important thing to remember when learning something new is to allow yourself to experiment. Learning photo editing is FUN but it’s also a process. You got to start somewhere and then progress from there. So do yourself a BIG favour and be playful. Test, try, re-edit, repeat.
Get familiar with your your photo-editing software, and learn to stop worrying and enjoy editing. Take it one step at a time and decide to learn to master just one editing technique at a time. Great photos will come, some failures will happen but, if you love the process itself, you’ll never see your efforts as time wasted.
A great way to experiment is to emulate the style of one of your favorite photographers. This is not to copy but to have something to look at as a reference for what’s possible.
When you’re just starting out it can be hard to trust your eyes, simply because it takes time for the eyes to develop the feeling of what to look for. Did you do too little? Did you go too far? Having a photo to look at while practicing can help you discover how bight and colourful or how moody and desaturated your image could actually be.
#2. Edit Only The Best Images
One of the biggest secrets to building a magazine-worthy portfolio is to master the art of curating your photos. When you curate you select the best of the best images. Let’s say you photographed a bouquet of flowers or a cake and you end up with 197 photos of the same object, your finest job is to get those down to 10. Or even better 2-3. I know this sounds scary and in the beginning years this is a struggle for many photographers, so just know you’re not alone.
Rank your favourites images by going through them fairly quickly to make a selection based on intuition and feelings. Maybe set a time frame for yourself of 15 minutes and just do it. It’s really good practice to narrow down fast. Then when you have your curated collection ready look through them one more time and pick 1-3 images to edit.
#3. Watch Your White Colors
When shooting with only natural daylight, your images will often come out looking a bit dull and flat. That is something you will see especially with white areas present in your photo. When you look closely the white color looks more grey or dirty even. Fixing this is key to beautiful, fresh, and stylish images.
To get clean whites you first need to fix the white balance in the photo. If you study your photo closely you will notice that in most cases it will have a color tone affected by the elements in the image, or affected by the daylight conditions. This means if you have the color green in your photo and you took the picture on a sunny day, you photo will most likely be warm in color tones with a green hue. And this will affect the white in the image.
Use the temperature slider in your editing software to adjust the warm/cool tones and try to get it as close to real white as possible. Next, use the basic tools like levels, curves, brightness and contrast to eliminate any grey-ish looking areas.
In my Lifestyle Photography Academy I teach a very unique technique for painting with light. This is a way to paint brightness and darkness into your images almost like a painter painting on canvas – and this is truly the best way to create your own masterpieces. But you can get a long way just using the basic slides and buttons in Lightroom and Photoshop.
#4. Pay Attention To All Colors
I often get asked how I or other photographers achieve their specific style. Maybe you have a favourite photographer and you just love their editing style. You might be wondering if they are using a specific preset. And yes, in some cases they do use presets. I also like to work with presets, but it’s super important to know that presets are just icing on the cake.
So if planning, styling, photographing AND editing the image is like baking the cake. Then the preset is the cherry on top. The entire editing is NOT the cherry on top; that’s the preset. Make sense? No preset will rescue your photos if everything else is not working.
So in order to create a specific editing style you first need to pay close attention to the colors present in the scene you are about to photograph. If you want to create a soft, romantic, pastel look be sure to add colors that support that look. In this case white colors and patel colors will completment this and help you achieve that look in the final editing.
If you are more into creating dark and moody photos, consider using dark colors like brown, black and grey. Colors blend with the available light and that is why it has a HUGE impact on the look and style you create. Color is ultimately an artistic choice, so don’t go in thinking there is a wrong or right answer. The right answer is the one you find aesthetically pleasing.
#5. Rock The Basic Tools
The best gift you can give yourself as a photographer is to learn the nitty gritty of image editing. Don’t rely on expensive presets. Most presets are a hassle to work with because they often need adjustments to fit your individual image. Get acquainted and comfortable with what all the buttons and sliders in your editing program and it will transform your photography like nothing else.
That’s it for now. Happy creating!
✅ FREE 5-DAY PHOTOGRAPHY COURSE
If you love photography and want to take better photos. I’m here to help. With my FREE 5-Day Mini-CourseI’ll take you behind the scenes to uncover the how-to’s of capturing BEAUTIFUL images using simple + easy-to-follow steps.
If you’re ready to get creative + transform your photography, this FREE course is for you.
