Creating sensational photographs of your pets using leading lines

Is there a specific thing in a photograph that catches your eyes when you see it? Something that makes you focus on a specific area or subject of the photograph? Well, the photographer would have made either a decision (conscious or not) to create a composition that draws your eye there.

One of the composition techniques that we as photographers often use is "leading lines". It means what it says it is - leading lines literally is lines that run through the scene you are photographing to lead your eyes to a specific area or subject in the image.

When I photograph dogs in various locations around Canberra, I do think about the composition, but sometimes I do kind of capture things in the moment too. Sometimes some locations create more interesting composition that others, especially in urban and city settings.

Above is a photo of Merlin the Corgi I took a few months ago. Merlin is one of the dogs featured in my Canberra Paws Calendar contest. In this photo, it might not seem obvious but there are some leading lines that will direct your eye to the main focus, in this case, Merlin himself.

Below is the image with some red lines that I drew on top of the image to demonstrate the leading lines that are in the photo.

Did you see these leading lines? What did you think? Were there others that I didn't see but you saw? Let me know in the comments.

In August, I attended a pet photography workshop ran by two renowned pet photographers (who I really look up to and so inspired by), Charlotte Reeves and Craig Turner-Bullock. The workshop really helped me develop my art and techniques in dog photography as we really went in depth about areas requiring improvements and then practiced on developing these out in the field and photographing dogs in Queenstown.

One of the things I really want to focus at is my composition. I got to try different things during these workshops and I created some images with different composition techniques including leading lines.

Here are some of the images I captured - hopefully you can see leading lines used in these images.

So hopefully now you know a bit more about the process and thoughts that go into creating these images. It's not just about snapping the images although there are moments where you do that too!

I love playing around with different composition styles when I go out and photograph pets and sometimes I also like to break the composition rules too, because you know, rules are meant to be broken!

I want to create and capture amazing photos of your dogs, cats or any other pets so you proudly display them in your home and treasure forever.

Let's book a free consultation appointment so we can chat about your pet and how we can create and capture stunning images of your pet to display in your home.

Book a no obligation consultation appointment

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Check out my fellow pet photographer's blog circle. Next in the circle is Kylee of Kylee Doyle Photography shares how to let anxious pups draw the line on unwanted attention through petting consent.

Make sure to follow along and click the link at the end of each post in the blog circle until you eventually find your way back here.

6 Comments

Oct 6, 2022, 1:42:37 PM

Tracy Allard - Wow, what a location! Love those images, looks like you had a great time at the workshop (and got some stellar images!)

Sep 23, 2022, 2:07:25 PM

Cahlean - I love the leading lines of the buildings to the pup and the mountains. And the fudge one is really cool!

Sep 23, 2022, 12:40:03 PM

Darlene - LOVE that mountain spot! Beautiful! And that Frenchie looks so regal :) Love the dog looking up at the fudge - cute! Great examples of leading lines!

Sep 23, 2022, 9:35:18 AM

Elaine - That first photo of the Frenchie on the street between the buildings is gold! Great study in leading lines.

Sep 23, 2022, 7:38:00 AM

Terri Jankelow - Great leading lines examples!

Sep 23, 2022, 5:14:03 AM

Kim Hollis - Love the urban photos with the mountain in the background and the pup looking up into the window is priceless!!! You had to be thrilled when it happened.

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Creating sensational photographs of your pets using leading lines

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