The general rules of portrait photography are always the same regardless of who or what your subject is. My subject here was more curious than willing to be photographed – nevertheless I applied my usual rules of engagement for this assignment.

In most portrait situations I will usually  focus on the eye nearest the camera, then adjust my depth of field dependent on how much of the other facial features I want to have in focus. My usual choice of lighting is to opt for soft daylight. However, on sunny days it does no harm to go with the flow and use the full sun to your advantage – it can certainly add some vibrancy to the photo. I may also use some subtle flash fill-in – but not in this case as I like the shadow on the left-hand side of the face (also a flash may have caused my subject to stampede)! Another useful tip is to converse with your subject throughout the shoot – in this instance rather than chat about the state of the economy, we just chewed the cud …