Rocky Coastline Stroll is an image that is so near and dear to my heart. It is much more than just a dog walking through the water at sunset. It is a portrait I envisioned and dreamed of for almost 2 years,. It showcases the subject while capturing the absolute beauty of our state. As a tried and true Mainer (or Mainah as we say here!) I always strive to create portraits that have the perfect blend of pet-portraiture and our incredible landscapes. Anyone who is from Maine, or has visited, will know what I am talking about. There is just something so special about this state.
Originally when I thought about this image and how I wanted to create it, I had been dreaming of capturing an absolutely striking dog wading through the iconic rocky coastlines that are present in Maine. Did I know which dog? At the time, no. Nala the Dogue de Bordeaux, also known as a French Mastiff, is an uncommon breed, and I knew that while large, Nala was incredibly striking and feminine in her own way. I immediately knew after meeting her that her combination of strength and beauty was something that I had a feeling would work for this shot.
To make matters tougher, Maine weather is temperamenta! When you only use natural lighting, luck has to be on your side for an epic sunset. As my session approached with Nala, I was hoping we would have just that. Somehow everything lined up perfectly with a beautiful dog and a beautiful sunset! As a dog photographer, you learn that sessions tend to be quite fluid. I always allow the dog to take the lead. This ensures they are comfortable, not nervous, and that they are truly enjoying the experience.
As we made our way through the Nala’s session from location to location, and as the sun turned from the gorgeous golden hour lighting into sunset, I knew it was our time to head to the beach. Thankfully, Nala was completely up for this! As we strolled along the beach, we had to be mindful of the rocks and ensure that the area of the beach where Nala would be wading had safe footing. We discovered this rocky stretch of coastline and then started a game of fetch! And this is where the magic began.
Overall this image was technically quite complex as we had a mixture of waning light, action shots, and shooting at a fairly wide open aperture. I believe I may have been at f2.8 or wider for this image. It is really a tough balance to open your aperture to let in enough light so your ISO is not pushed too high, but also wanting to capture the dog’s face fully in focus from nose to ears. And with only natural light, no external flashes are involved to help balance the light.
To start, I initially found the settings I was happy with to capture Nala in action, while slightly underexposing the image to preserve as much of the natural texture in the sky and scenery as possible. After having Nala chased the ball a couple of times for her game of fetch, I scrolled through my images quickly to ensure she was in focus and I was happy with the results.
Without changing my settings, I proceeded to bracket the background to capture all the details of the scenes. I usually do two stops down and two stops up for my bracketing. This was quite difficult with the waves rolling in and constantly moving in between brackets and required a lot of blending and merging in post to recreate the scene.
The editing process for this wasn’t overly in-depth but did involve a lot of compositing and merging of bracketed images. It also involved a lot of color toning, as I was not only trying to enhance the sunset that we had, but harmonize the colors throughout the image. Nala’s coat color was the perfect complimentary color to the blue tones in the water and darker parts of the clouds. This, combined with the residual golden glow as the sun was setting in the sky and reflection in the water allowed for the color to flow throughout the portrait.
This image was a dream come true. It brought so much joy to see a dog so thoroughly enjoy themselves and also be able to create art out of something as seemingly simple as playing fetch. I am so thankful to have been able to create it, and share it in competitions across the world.
This image received an Imaging Excellence award, and a GIA nomination from IPC. It scored a perfect 100 at the Maine State PPA Competition as well as Judge’s choice, Top Scoring Image in the Competition, AIM Animal Image award, and was one of the images that helped me earn the title of Maine Overall and Pet Photographer of the Year. It has been published in Tog Spot Magazine, and scored a Top 10 in the Tog Awards. It also received a Silver Award from the Portrait Masters.
