replacing a sky | southern ontario pet photographer - Modern Ontario pet photography

When I started Happy Tails, I didn’t realize I would also be starting a relationship with the Weather Network. Like most relationships, it has its ups and downs, and I don’t care to admit how many times my husband has caught me shaking my fist at the television, moaning “Why? Why?” or patting it approvingly and saying “Good job!” like it went outside to do its business for the first time.

Since most of my shoots occur outdoors, I am always checking the weather. Obsessively. Like I have a say in it or something. First there’s the long-range forecast, then the short-term and yes, even hourly leading up to a session. I admit that I have a problem.

It doesn’t always go my way and many times I have to do some rescheduling — not a big deal, but it’s always kind of a let down. Sometimes it’s questionable right up until the session time and there are phone calls back and forth with the client: “What does it look like where you are?”, “Exactly how dark is the sky?”

A lot of the time I get lucky and the rain holds off like it did with my recent session with Maggie. It was overcast, which is actually pretty great for photography, but as a result the sky was dull and lifeless. There isn’t anything I can do from a technical aspect to improve the situation. So, in special circumstances, I fake it. Here is Maggie’s before shot.

And here is Maggie’s after shot with a sky that I copied from a different photo.

The key is to use tricks like this subtly — if it looks fake, it’s no good. I always try to keep my photos as authentic as possible. I would never make drastic changes to the scene or the subject — it’s important that a pet looks like they always do, as their family sees them every day.

Sometimes I just have to give Mother Nature a helping hand.