Shooting after the sun goes down is what the penultimate challenge of our Empower course is all about.

Heading out during twilight or later presents opportunities for creative photography, often resulting in images with captivating ambiance. An important part of this ambiance lies in capturing the details of the location, giving the images a profound sense of place.

Whether our challengers shot during the blue hour or in the dead of night, we wanted to see the dogs front and centre on location.

We've loved this challenge and the top 10, presented to you here are so inspiring, we're sure you'll agree!

- Charlotte & Craig 🐶 📸 ✨

Chantal Levesque | Chantal Levesque Photo

This is another really creative take on the Embrace the Night challenge brief. The addition of in camera movement adds a very stylised look and dynamic feel to this well crafted portrait.

Florence Araujo | Peanut & Bean Photo

A beautiful soft image. The twilight pastels work nicely with the tan fur of this dog. Lovely expression too.

Heidi Adler | Heidi Adler Photography

What a fun, colourful image. Nicely lit dog with a great expression. 

Hope Kuo

A simple portrait with a beautiful lightness, despite it being created during twilight. The dogs expression is very engaging and suits the mood captured at this location.

Immie Keizer-Westra | Keizer Fotografie

There's an ominous, almost otherworldly feel to this image, which is emphasised by the treatment of the greens. We enjoyed the fact the dog is not immediately obvious, but it is lit nicely with the warm light being most intense on the head and chest.

Keri Nakahashi | Keri Nakahashi Photography

This is a fabulous take on the Embrace the Night challenge. We really enjoyed the stars being transformed into sparkles of bokeh. The dog is posed perfectly looking up into the night sky.

Kim Hollis | BARKography

What a beautiful serene image. The colour palette is gorgeous. The dog's pose perfectly suits this composition.

Megan Thompson | Megan Thompson Photography

This submission really embraces the night! The overall darkness is perfeclty balanced to create mood but not make things too dark. the pose of the dog is fabulous and it is mirrored in the shape of that river glistening below.

Nancy Paynter 

What a fantastic image with tons of impact! The expression is great, the sense of place wonderful! The dog is lit really well too and the face being the brightest part immediately draws you in.

Stephanie Dalman | Boxers and Beer

There's a great mood to this image, the cool sky complements the orange tones in the dogs fur. The expression is quite inquisitive and draws the viewer in.

Are you ready to transform your pet photography in just 6 months?

The Unleashed Challenges are a series of 3 interactive challenge based courses, Embark, Emerge and Empower. Each one with 12 challenges running over 6 months. 

Much more than just a challenge, Then Unleashed challenges are an invaluable educational resource that will help you build up a go-to list of shots to help create variety in your work. Designed for anyone to be able to complete whether you just want to photograph your own dog or you are a professional pet photographer.

If you'd like to know more head over here to register your interest.