Robbie by Will Manning

Tim Flach, professional animal photographer: "I think this image works well."



"The employment of black and white separates this image from many others, while shallow depth in field helps the viewer to navigate from the carpet to the eye of the dog.
This photograph represents to me, with the choice of the King Charles Spaniel: the archetypal lap dog in it's natural habitat i.e. domestic". - Tim Flach


5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
I used a Canon 5D MkII dSLR with the Canon 85mm f/1.8.

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
I shot wide open at f/1.8 and ISO 1600 because of the low light environment. The shutter speed was 1/100.

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
I used Adobe LightRoom 2 in conjunction with PhotoShop CS4. There was not much post processing on this image, though - just a slight boost in exposure, a little contrast, and a black and white conversion.

Q4. Who is the model?
The model is my dog, Robbie! He's pretty old now, but my whole family loves him.

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
I was just walking around with my camera, and I decided to snap a few shots of him. He was finally sitting still, so that made it easier. I also wanted to play with the depth of field on the 85mm f/1.8.

Extra Q: Please share an interesting or funny fact (if any) that happened while working on this photograph.
I thought it was kind of funny that he was looking at me while I was taking it... I was lying on the ground across from him, and he seemed kind of confused about what I was doing.