My fiance and I are having our engagement pictures taken, and our number one main goal is to get great shots with our dogs so we can use the pics to incorporate the dogs in the wedding. We'd like some off-leash shots, and we need to have the dogs somewhere they safe (most important) and won't be overly excited, since, as any dog owner knows, dogs behave best when they're calm or tired. They're both well-trained, and know all the basic commands, plus a few tricks, but we've never tried letting them off-leash in public, and don't think it's the safest idea for both our dogs. Because of that, we are pretty much limited to our own backyard for the shoot. During the spring and summer months, our backyard is absolutely gorgeous--all abloom with knockout roses, crepe myrtles, and our lovely magnolia. But now, the roses are dead looking and the grass is all brown. We thought about off-leash dog parks, but we're concerned that our dogs will be too excited in those places, and not many of them are much nicer than our back yard this time of year.
We're going to make do with what we've got, since the dogs are the most important thing anyway, but I would love to hear some ideas about props and other suggestions that could help us get great shots despite the dead-looking plants. I've already bought a great quilt for us to lay on, but does anyone have any other suggestions? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.