So I was recently commissioned to do a portrait of a client's six dogs and two Amazon parrots. Wait, what? Yes, that's right... a pack of dogs that weigh 68 pounds all together and two big birds. Sharon, my client, wanted dramatic. She saw one of the photos I'd taken of three Chinese Crested girls on black and wanted something similar. Yes, ma'am, I can do that!

Truth be told, the Chinese Cresteds were an unruly bunch that couldn't possibly pose together so I composited an image for Marlene, their owner, that shows the unique personality of each one in a single image.

Sharon's case was a little more unique. Whereas we used natural window light with Marlene's dramatic black, we needed to use flash with Sharon. And if you've ever had a little pack of dogs come swirling and nipping at your feet, you'll know six dogs in a single image isn't entirely possible without a large studio and a lot of handlers. And not to mention the parrots, who didn't really seem to like being together so much.

But we can still get that single image. It just takes eight images. Bingo!

The dogs were extraordinarily cute. Sharon has three merle girls -- Tallulah, Pepper and Sable -- and three hairless boys -- Quixote, Buff and Rudy. The parrots are Pesto, all green and 30 years old, and Poet, who has a yellow head and multicolored feathers. This was really a charming group. By the way, Pesto has great language skills that he's taught to Poet.

Sharon worked really hard during our session to get her dramatic images. She'd put a dog on the mark, they'd move off it immediately, she'd put them back and on and on it went. But it's actually really fun to shoot stuff like this. Oh excuse, me photograph stuff like this. She'd put a parrot down, it would walk to the camera, she'd move it back, it would walk to the camera. Needless to say, the shoot took a few hours. 

But because we shot on a black background, it was fairly easy to combine them into one image. Sharon, you wanted dramatic? You wanted all your kids in one picture? You got it! Mission accomplished, i would say!

Need a composite? I'm your pet photographer. I'm Diana Lundin, I'm a Los Angeles pet photographer, and I'd be thrilled to take your dog's photo -- no matter how many dogs you have.