It’s one thing to photograph a dog sitting still—or even get a dog to sit still in the first place. But Rob Sirota manages to capture a joyful expression as this dog soars through the air. Any sort of dog photography always impresses us for this reason. Without further ado, let’s hear from Rob Sirota in this week’s Member Monday.

About the Photo

This is Roxy, she was photographed for one of my clients Pet Food Express, which is a pet food store based in California. They have a program called The My Mutt Program. Customers who make a charitable donation to a pet charity/rescue etc. can have their pets photography made into a poster which is then displayed largely in one of their stores for at least 6 months. More information can be found on the My Mutt Program website.

I try to theme my shoots, which means I do what the dog loves to do to show off their fun traits. In this case, Roxy loved doing agility. I have had dogs that have gone to the beach, played with their toys or just showed their love to their owner. These photographs are not limited to dogs and cats, I have photographed hamsters and lizards to name of a few different animals. As you can see I am always down on the ground when photographing these animals.

roxy the dog jumping mid-air

Gear and Software

Most of my shots are done with a Nikon D850. This image was done with the D850, the Nikon 105 ƒ1.4 at an aperture of ƒ2.8 with a shutter speed of 1/5000th and an ISO of 200. I used the open aperture to get a nice background blur and the fast shutter speed to capture the motion. The images are then brought into CaptureOne for basic editing and then off to Photoshop for the final edits.

Photography Preferences

While I am both a people and pet photographer, I love dogs! I also do most any other things I see as beautiful including some landscapes and my background of Sport and Concerts. But dogs are my love!

Photography Inspiration

I am inspired by all of the KelbyOne instructors. My photographic journey has been for 30 years and I am constantly learning. 

Favorite KelbyOne Class

I love watching classes on light, like those from Joe McNally and Dave Black. Light is the foundation for any picture and I try to get it right. I also love to learn about the tools like Photoshop.

Rob Sirota’s photography work can be explored on his website, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Interested in seeing your work on display to the entire KelbyOne community? Submit your best photos to us: https://members.kelbyone.com/get-featured/