The ninth challenge in the Embark Pet Photography Challenge Series was “Say What?”.

The goal: capture a doggy head tilt. Here's the final image I created for this challenge:

I thought I had this challenge in the bag because I can get my husky to do the most exaggerated head tilts anytime I say the magic words: “Do you want to…?” My plan was to complete two challenges in one day, combining this one with the Front Runner challenge since I was using two different dogs.

I took my lab out first to do the Front Runner challenge, and that’s when the problem started. It seems my husky was very upset that I took his sister outside for a photoshoot without him. He proceeded to cry, howl, and throw a full-on tantrum while she had the best time running toward me as I tried to get the perfect shot.

By the time it was his turn for the Say What challenge, my husky was completely worn out from all the drama. Instead of giving me his signature tilts, he just sat there and offered only the tiniest head tilts, which is basically nothing at all. Of course, since he’s a husky, this might have been pure payback for not including him in the earlier session.

For this shoot, I used my 70–200mm lens with a shallow depth of field to create that dreamy bokeh in the background. I tend to edit on the darker side, but I’m still experimenting with my style and figuring out what feels like me.

After much persistence, I finally got one image with the perfect head tilt, the one you see at the top of this blog. I wish I had been able to capture more light in his eyes, but he was looking down at me, and the sky couldn’t decide whether to rain or shine. Unfortunately, I didn’t have another chance to reshoot for this challenge before the deadline, so I had to make do with what I had.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes peek at his photoshoot:

Once I finished editing, I felt like I had handled the color cast better than in past challenges. To be sure, I asked my wonderful Embark colleagues for feedback. They loved his head tilt and thought I did a fairly good job with the color cast, though they pointed out a slight green cast that could still be corrected. I also received some helpful post-production lighting suggestions, which I implemented, and I really liked the final outcome.

The judges loved my husky’s head tilt and how engaged his expression felt with the camera. They also mentioned how the tail creates a triangular flow in the photo: the nose points toward the tail, and the tail leads your eyes back up to the ears, which they thought gave the image a really nice feel.

That said, they felt the tail wasn’t an essential part of the composition. Because I left space for it, the balance of the image was slightly off. They suggested cropping in a bit from the tail side, extending the left, and darkening the tail so the eyes wouldn’t be drawn to it.

Another note was about contrast. The image is quite high-contrast, and while that gives it a bold look, the judges felt it made the eyes lose some connection. Since his eyes ended up looking hooded with the tops of his eyeballs in shadow, they suggested lowering the contrast to bring out more engagement in his expression.

This image made the shortlist, which was exciting enough on its own, but when it went on to place in the Top 20, I was absolutely ecstatic! It was such a rewarding feeling to see that my skills are improving and that I’m moving in the right direction.

One of the most eye-opening moments was when a judge pulled the contrast down during feedback to show me the difference. I instantly realized that’s exactly what I’ve been trying to achieve in my edits but wasn’t sure how. Turns out, I’d been moving the slider in the wrong direction all along! 😂

Here’s my Top 20 image side-by-side with my final submission so you can see the subtle but powerful difference their suggestions made.

This challenge not only gave me a photo I’m proud of, but also a breakthrough in understanding how subtle changes can make a big difference in connecting with the viewer and bringing out a dog’s expression.

I can’t wait to carry this lesson forward into the next challenge!