What Happens If It Rains on the Day of Your Dog Photography Session?

Cloud cover doesn't necessarily mean bad photography weather. The right clouds can soften the light and create beautiful conditions for portraits.

3. Rain Is a Different Story

Clouds and rain aren't the same thing.

Unless we've specifically decided that photographs in the rain are the look we're going for, actual rain generally isn't particularly friendly to a portrait session.

Dogs get wet.

People get wet.

Hair and clothing get wet.

My camera equipment gets wet.

And the entire look of the photographs can become very different from what we planned during your consultation.

A few random drops aren't necessarily going to send us running for the cars, but steady rain is another matter.

The goal isn't simply to complete the session because we put a date on the calendar.

We want to create the photographs we planned while making sure your dog and everyone involved can actually enjoy the experience.

If rain is going to prevent us from doing that, we'll look at our other options.

4. Sometimes We Can Change the Time Instead of the Day

If rain is predicted, postponing the entire session isn't necessarily our first option.

Weather can change considerably over the course of a day.

Maybe the morning looks terrible, but the weather is expected to clear later.

Maybe showers are supposed to arrive in the evening, and moving the session a little earlier gives us the window we need.

When my schedule and the available light allow, I'll try to be flexible.

Sometimes moving a session earlier or later by a few hours is all we need to avoid the rain and still create the outdoor session we planned.

There are limits, of course. Outdoor photography depends heavily on light, so moving a session isn't simply a matter of finding any dry hour on the forecast.

But when we have some flexibility, changing the time can sometimes solve the problem without changing the day at all.

5. If We Need to Reschedule, We'll Find the Best Option We Can

Sometimes there's no getting around it.

If steady rain or storms are headed our way, moving the session to another day may be the best choice.

I'll make every reasonable effort to find another date that works.

Fall can make that a little more challenging.

September and October are some of my busiest months, and the schedule can become pretty full. Prime weekend dates and the best times for outdoor light aren't unlimited, so moving a fall session isn't always as simple as finding another open Saturday afternoon.

That's also one of the reasons I encourage people hoping for a fall session to book their dog photography session well in advance.

But we'll look at the schedule, the forecast and what we planned for your session and figure out the best option available.

I'd rather put some effort into finding another opportunity than force a session into weather that isn't going to give us the experience or photographs we wanted.

Fall is one of the busiest times of year for outdoor dog photography, which can make flexibility especially helpful when Mother Nature changes our plans.

6. What If It Rained Before the Session?

This one is a little different.

Rain overnight doesn't automatically mean we can't photograph the next day.

If the rain has stopped and the conditions are otherwise good, we may still be perfectly fine.

The bigger question can be the location.

Some places handle rain beautifully. Others become a muddy mess.

Trails can become slippery. Fields can become soaked. Low areas can collect water. And if we're photographing somewhere heavily wooded, everything may stay wet considerably longer than an open area.

This is another reason location planning matters.

We may decide the original location is perfectly usable, or we may be able to choose somewhere else that gives us similar photographs without requiring you and your dog to trek through six inches of mud.

Unless, of course, your dog considers six inches of mud the greatest possible outcome.

In which case they're probably going to be disappointed in me. 😂

7. Your Dog Gets a Vote Too

Weather isn't only about whether I can create the photograph.

Your dog has an opinion too.

Some dogs couldn't care less about a little rain. Others act like getting wet is a personal attack.

My dog, Jake, falls firmly into the second category. If we're out for a walk and he sees someone's lawn sprinklers running ahead of us, he will literally try to pull me across the street to get away from them.

Apparently, being a 90-pound pit bull doesn't make you immune to the horrors of lawn irrigation. 😂

So I'm pretty confident Jake would have some thoughts about me asking him to spend an hour posing for photographs in the rain.

And that's something I'll consider with your dog too.

Temperature matters. So does wind. A young, energetic dog may be perfectly comfortable in conditions that aren't appropriate for an older dog or a dog that's particularly sensitive to the weather.

Just like everything else during a session, I'm paying attention to the dog in front of me.

A technically workable weather forecast doesn't necessarily mean it's the right weather for your dog.

Jake would like everyone to know that lawn sprinklers are dangerous and should be avoided at all costs, which is why he loves his couch.

8. Wind, Heat and Other Weather Can Matter Too

Rain gets most of the attention, but it isn't the only weather condition we're watching.

Strong wind can create its own problems, particularly in exposed locations.

Extreme heat can be uncomfortable or even dangerous for dogs, which is one of the reasons summer sessions may need to happen very early in the morning or later in the evening.

And as we move toward winter, extremely cold temperatures can create another set of considerations.

The question is always the same:

Can we safely and comfortably create the photographs we're trying to make?

If the answer is yes, we keep going.

If it isn't, we adjust.

9. And We Have a Studio

If Mother Nature really refuses to cooperate, we may have another option.

Depending on what we planned for your session and the type of photographs you want, we may be able to move things into my studio in Natick.

That doesn't mean a rainy forecast automatically turns your outdoor session into a studio session.

They're very different experiences and create very different photographs.

But having a studio gives us another option to discuss, particularly if finding another outdoor date is difficult.

For some dogs and their people, keeping the original date and creating something completely different indoors may make more sense than trying to find another outdoor date.

And if you're not sure how the two experiences differ, I've written an entire article about choosing between a studio or outdoor dog photography session.

Outdoor and studio sessions create very different photographs, but having an indoor option gives us additional flexibility when the weather refuses to cooperate.

You Don't Need to Watch the Weather for Me

As your session gets closer, you're certainly welcome to check the forecast.

I know you're going to anyway.

But you don't need to spend the entire week staring at three different weather apps trying to decide whether we're going to be able to photograph your dog.

I'm watching it too.

If the forecast starts looking questionable, we'll talk.

We might adjust the time.

We might move to another day if the schedule allows.

We might consider the studio.

Or we might decide that those clouds you've been worried about are actually going to give us beautiful light.

Weather is one of the variables that comes with photographing dogs outdoors, but figuring out how to work with those variables is part of my job.

Sometimes Massachusetts weather does exactly what it promised.

And sometimes Massachusetts weather laughs at all of us.

Either way, we'll figure it out.

Planning an outdoor session and wondering what happens if the weather doesn't cooperate?

That's one of the many things we'll talk about while planning your session. We can discuss the season, location, timing, your dog and the type of photographs you'd love to create before we ever put a date on the calendar.

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