Have Pets, Will Travel

Helene Goldberg makes her rounds with the mobile Animal Studio and the Tamron 17-50mm VC lens.

Article By Jennifer Gidman

Images by Helene Goldberg

Helene Goldberg doesn’t just photograph pets—she pursues them.

“We go to different pet retailers in the area and set up our ‘events,’” she explains. “We’ll put up a display of pet pictures, along with our flyers, and advertise the day we’re going to be at a particular store. Customers can schedule appointments for a sitting at the store for the date we’re going to be there; we give the pet store a percentage of what we make.” The Animal Studio also travels to special fund-raising benefits and animal-related causes, including Abington Hospital dog walks and events for the Fox Chase Cancer Center; she also arranges for private sittings at customers’ houses.

Helene recently started using the Tamron SP 17-50mm F/2.8 VC lens for her pet portraiture and was pleased with the results. “I wasn’t sure how this would work with pet photography, as it’s a wide angle,” she says. “I really love it. I have another wide-angle lens that’s not a Tamron lens, and when I’m shooting something, the lens doesn’t seem to know what it’s focusing on, and I often get distortion. With the Tamron 17-50, though, I don’t get those problems: Everything’s in focus, with no distortion.”

How Helene shoots depends on the situation and the venue. “ I usually try to shoot at the animal’s level, so I’ll set my tripod as low as it can go and shoot straight at them — I typically shoot at f/11, 1/60th of a second,” she says. “For a portrait, I just think that looks better. If I’m doing a private sitting at someone’s home, though, I have more flexibility and time — I can do some different angles and more candids; I want to give the customer in that case as many poses as I can to choose from. At private sittings, I’m also able to use the natural setting of the home as the backdrop.”

When she’s harnessed into an in-store event, however, Helene has to work under more stringent time and logistics restrictions. “If I’m at a store, I’m usually able to give the customer one or two poses,” she says. “Then I pull the images up on my computer, where clients can pick the one they want, as well as choose a digital background if they want.”

And just because Helene doesn’t have the option of situating the pet in its natural environment at the retailer locations doesn’t mean she can’t get creative with backgrounds. “We used to use a brown muslin backdrop, or a grey one if I wanted the background neutral,” she says. “Now I use a blue-screen background: Blue-screen looks nicer than green-screen, so the customer can keep the blue background or change the background digitally to anything she wants.”

Getting the animals (which are usually dogs and cats) into the correct position can be challenging. “I usually do a full body shot, and it’s not always easy to get a dog to be in the exact right position, because I always want the pet to be comfortable in its pose,” she says. “So I try to get the animal to maybe face his body to the side where his owner is. Then I try to get the pet’s attention with a couple of noises I have under my belt; the noises get the animal’s head to turn and stare straight at my camera. I want their eyes looking at the camera and their ears up — you have to get that eye contact for a good portrait.”

The attention-getting tactics Helene uses depends on the animal. “Some noises I do vocally; sometimes I use my duck call,” she says. “I also have a squeak toy, but I use that as my last resort, because then the animal usually wants to play with it! Cats are a little more challenging, because loud noises scare them, so I’ll use something like soft little bells instead. My husband helps me get their attention, too, and assists me in making the animals feel relaxed and comfortable.”

Because the animals that attend the in-store portrait sessions are in unfamiliar surroundings, Helene employs a variety of techniques to calm skittish nerves. “Most animals, I have to say, are pretty good,” she says. “However, even if the animal isn’t nervous, I’ll have the owner stand off to the side of the backdrop, so the animal knows the owner is right there. Sometimes the owner may have to pet the animal for a while; I also have a lot of treats to offer!”

Even after initial reassurance, there are other factors that might spook Helene’s subjects. “I use two strobes that I bring with me in my portable studio to the stores,” she says. “Some of the pets might be scared of the flashes, so what I’ll do is sit there and show them the strobes a few times while I’m talking to them and trying to calm them down. If they’re really scared and I’m afraid they’re going to run off the set unless they’re on a leash, I’ll have the owner hold the leash straight up in the air and then Photoshop it out later.”

Photographing animals, says Helene, is a lot like photographing young children. “They don’t really understand why they’re there,” she says. “You have to have a lot of patience. Once I see the pets are being distracted and their attention span has lapsed or they’re getting tired, then I stop. If the animal is into it, I’m into it—I don’t force them to pose.”

To see more of Helene Goldberg’s images, go to www.theanimalstudio.com.