[Ralath]

You could be the photographer that has to take this picture:

Consider the supreme challenge that faced Bruce Curtis of Imagine Photography of Malta, official pet photographer for Saratoga socialite and extreme dog owner Michele Riggi.
For this year's Riggi family Christmas card, Curtis was assigned to photograph 40 dogs and 7 Riggis. Most of Riggi's dogs are Chihuahuas, Papillons and other palm-sized breeds and Curtis has the eye-popping Riggi mansion on Broadway in Saratoga Springs as his backdrop.
"But it's not like I can do the shot in 10 minutes like the mall photo places," Curtis said. Family members started getting antsy after about 15 minutes, but Curtis could only work so fast when he had to position and coordinate so many moving parts.
In addition, eight of the little Riggi dogs have issues. They get stressed out when they're in close proximity with the other 32.
Curtis set up his lights and cameras, grouped the 7 Riggis and 32 dogs — leaving gaps for the troubled eight — and worked feverishly for a full hour until he got what he wanted.
"We use no treats at all because that just makes it worse," Curtis said. "I use a monotone voice and never shout. It's the same technique with the dogs that I use with babies."

Back at his studio, Curtis digitally inserted the absent eight dogs using Photoshop. He carefully matched lighting and background in the openings he mapped out before the shoot. It required another five hours at the computer to drop in the eight phobic dogs for the finished photo.