The pictures from todays photo shoot are a perfect reminder to me of why taking photos of puppies can be so overwhelming and time consuming.  For me because our puppies are raised in our basement (It is a walk out basement) We just don't have the best lighting to ever get many candid shots doing the every day things.  We will sometimes take some candid shots but because of the lighting I like to do the whole photo shoot thing.  Thinking that I would spend less time today for the photo shoot I decided to do group photos.  Usually until the pups are about 4-5 weeks if I do photos I do group photos (I can usually get them to sleep with some work and patience) because editing the photos for me is so time consuming and editing 3-6 group shots would "ideally" take less time than editing 3-6 shots of 7 different puppies.  This time the girls did not want to cooperate at all and just to get the 3 pics of our girls that I do have taken me about an hour (that is from the time I take the very first photo until the last photo I take.).  Today I could not get them to sleep and hold still like I usually can with my two week old pups. With group photos I always set it up with a heating pad under them to help aid me in helping them stay sleepy.  Today I constantly needed to try to get them to eat again to try to get them sleepy but  it was a lost cause.

When we take photos of our puppies it is usually an all day ordeal and often times it is spread into two days. Today we only took photos and I didn't even edit any of them but when we do this again once they have turned 5 weeks old this will be our process.

We start by bathing them, then towel dry, brush, towel dry again then air dry. Now they need time to decompress and relax after the bath as well as finish drying.  We try to make bath time a good experience for them but they are still a little weary for their first bath even if we have spent time helping them get used to the noise and feel of the water. After or while they are relaxing we give the hair in the corners of there eyes a trim so it does not stick out in front of eyes in the photos. We will also sometimes take this opportunity to give them a sanitary cut on their backside to help keep the poop from sticking to their bum. Next trim the nails so that their is less likelihood of the getting caught on the blanket that we may use under them during the photos. Next we feed them some solids, then let them out to use the bathroom and then nurse on mom to help make them sleepy. A puppy with a full tummy is much easier to keep their attention. Then we set up an area for pics and if we remember we stock it with squeaky toys, treats, wet-ones and a brush.  This is one of the hardest parts surprisingly because depending on the time of day it can be very difficult to get the right lighting. Often times we have to constantly move our set up just to be able to get the right lighting. During the winter months we need to take pics inside and certain times of the the day are better than others to help aid us with the lighting. If the litter is made up of multiple colors of puppies we will need different lighting for different color puppies.  (I am certain there has to be a more simple way to do this but we have yet to find it. I did recently add a light box and this seems to help tremendously. Now I don't seem to have to constantly move during the photo shoot) but lighting still is not ideal so pics continue to need editing to help bring out the true color of the puppy and to be able to see their eyes.  Depending on if I have a helper retrieving the puppies for me the next process of actually taking the photos usually last between 1-2 hours. Once the photos are done they are downloaded onto the computer to sort through them all. It usually takes about 50 photos of each pup just to get 4-8 good or decent photos. Finding those good photos and eliminating all of the others takes quite a bit of time.  Often times I will need to do a little editing on my computer to the photos before I can decide which ones to keep.  When the photos are dark (they almost alway are because a flash usually washes them out and my camera sometimes chooses to use the flash and sometimes not but usually not) It can be difficult to know if the photo is good until you can see the eyes better so I will lighten them. On occasion we then have to go back and take addition photos of the pups because we find that one pup pics just didn't turn our for one reason or another. When I have eliminated the majority of the photos I then transfer the remaining photos to my phone where I have my collage app and photo editor app that I like.  To help with the editing of the website and to make that go quicker and easier I make a collage of each pup. After they are done being edited and put into a collage they get transferred back to the computer where I can upload them to the website which takes approximately an additional 1-2 hour to do. Granted this process in an all day (or two) event because amidst the whole thing life still goes on and diapers need changed, kids need to eat, and errands need to be ran along with the other half million responsibilities that go alone with being a wife and mom of 5.  That being said, I wouldn't change what I do for anything.  I love doing what I do and while there can sometimes be some parts of what I do that are not my favorite, seeing and knowing what these puppies do for all of our families is the greatest reward anyone could ever ask for and makes all those other things fade away into the background.  Our puppies have enriched the lives of so many people and I love hearing all about it.