You know the Birth of Venus, right? That gorgeous Botticelli masterpiece depicting Venus emerging from the sea to ride to the shore on a shell, blown by the zephyrs and clothed in finery? I was lucky enough to see it in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence quite a few years ago and it left a lasting impression. Botticelli, you have a future in art, I think! Don't let them tell you otherwise!Well, I'm between pet shoots right now, just working on some corporate and acting headshots, and I got to missing my animals. I thought of lovely Luna, the border collie mix I adore and who has been the subject of so many of my practice composites. Now I won an award for the photo I was thinking of so Luna had ...

DISCLAIMER: To be honest, just because I've been posting a lot of composites on the blog lately doesn't mean I like the regular pet photography sessions any less. I love them, I really do. I assure you, I love it. It's just when you have a chance to create something out of your own imagination in collaboration with a client, there's a certain magic that can happen.With that in mind, I wanted to show you a composite that a client wanted created for her company's holiday card. They are talent scouts and the previous year, we took the three of them against a gray backdrop and planted them in a jungle scene. Now because there were only people involved that year, I didn't post the image on my ...

My previous post of my composite image Phoebe at Sea met with a little flack, to tell you the truth. I know, some of it had to have been in jest, but I had a few people concerned that Phoebe wasn't going to make it out alive. That her kind of dog sort of sinks, not swims. She was too far from shore. She needed a rescue boat or a piece of the shore in view. She was from the Titanic. (Huh?)She was rescued, I tell you, rescued! Rescue dogs are rescued and Phoebe is a rescue dog!!! Originally from a bad breeder, she's now living the dream!Plus, it's a make believe image, I don't have to tell you that.So shortly on the heels of Phoebe at Sea, I created one with my cat Kiwi. Now I'm not playing ...

Oh, it cracks me up every time I write this, which turns out is fairly often, but AVID readers of this blog -- get it... avid... we don't have any avid readers of this blog! -- know I love doing pet photography composite work. It's really fun because you can put a dog or a cat in a situation they would never be in. Then you put in the minute details to sell the whole of it. I did another one tonight based on the artist rafy A's Surreal Fantasy Manipulation Tutorial.Now for those avid readers, you might recall another pet photography composite I did back in March called Luna at Sea. I still love that one but it's completely different. Just go back and forth between the two of them, you'll ...