Tips And inspiration For Including Pets In Your Couples Session

Please note: the images in this post reflect a very similar, but slightly different, older editing style.

I attempted to update our little family photos together (realistically since we have no children yet, this means a couples session with pets). We did something I recommend against for convenience sake and went to our local park; which is characteristically dead looking and very muddy this time of year. (Both of which, it was. RIP cute blanket because we didn’t have enough arms to carry the tarp I usually have in tow.)

We set up the tripod, then began the gruesome task of using timers and running back and forth and having no idea what we were looking like.

Let me tell you- there is a reason us photographers come in handy. Not being able to recognize what needs to be changed/if the camera should change position, to tap-focus cancel on the scene, adapt the settings, and direct as I usually do while juggling a very impatient dog and a wiggly cat who wanted very badly to climb to the top of my shoulders the entire time- was all quite challenging.

Every time you bring a furry friend to photos you can encounter some unpredictability,

but adding holding a very large wiggly cat the entire time, trekking through mud, and being the one taking the photos is an entirely new level of challenge.

I came to the session with a huge list of ideas I’d have loved to photograph, (we ended up only trying 3, very classic photos of the 4 of us because we are a mess- as you can see). IF you are looking to do a photo session with some pets and want some inspo, check out my Pinterest board featuring adding pets to your couples session HERE. Hopefully you’ll have better luck than we did! Or at best, have a professional photographer behind the camera as opposed to taking them yourselves.

Realistically I just hoped for ONE photo we could keep. It was so gloomy and these photos look a lot more like the dead of winter/fall, so we probably will try again once it starts to get a bit drier and nicer out. For our first time attempting something like this with these hooligan pets of ours; I was pleasantly surprised.

What do you think, how did we do?

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