How To Take Better Photos Of Fido

Nothing gets an “ahhh” quicker than a cute pet photo. Unfortunately, it can also be one of the most frustrating ordeals to get that photo. Below are some tips to make pet photography more enjoyable for both you and your pet.

Consideration for your pet
Before we go further, most important thing to remember while taking pet photos is the welfare of your pet. Yes, your pet will tire of being the subject of your study and he/she will tire even quicker if they are not enjoying the photo shoot.

Strike a pose
If you have a new pet, begin to train that pet to pose for photos right from the beginning. You can condition your pet to strike the pose when you say a command word such “picture” or “camera” or anything else you choose to call it. The key is practice, practice and more practice. Practice both the posing and the actual taking the photos so your pet will get used to the camera. Whenever possible take your photos with the flash turned off. Pets quickly tire of having that bright light repeatedly flashed into their eyes.

Rewarding good photo behavior
PAfter taking your pet’s photo, be sure to reward that acceptable behavior with a treat your pet enjoys. Make the photo session an enjoyable experience for both you and your pet. Also, if your pet knows a treat will follow a photo session, he/she will be more willing the next time to do it again.

Indoors or outdoors
Whether shooting indoors or outside, use natural light whenever possible. Normally it is a softer, less direct, light resulting in photos with less harsh shadows.

If you are shooting outdoors, try to control your background or throw it out of focus if it is distracting. If your pet is not of the cage or habitat variety, you can make a simple non-distracting background from a solid color bed sheet, bath towel or craft paper. If you pet is a tree climber, you can use the blue sky as a background.

If the weather is not conducive to taking photos outside, you can always pose your pet near a window or patio door and take advantage of the soft light filtering in. If you are going to shoot in an area not normally frequented by your pet, spend a few days getting your pet used to this area before the photo session.

Selective focusing
With any of the photos, you can blur the background by zooming in with a telephoto lens. These lenses inherently have a small depth-of-field so the background will blur. A telephoto lens also gives you more room to work without having to be right in the animal’s face. Be sure to focus on your pet’s eyes. If the eyes are in focus, the picture is a successful shot.

Viewpoint

Another technique is shoot from your pet’s eye-level instead of always shooting down. If the sun is in back of your pet, you will have to turn on your flash to fill flash mode to fill in the shadow areas and balance the light on your pet’s face.

Props
Props are widely used in pet photography. Fido, with one of his favorite toys, will make a picture you will long endear for years to come. If you are not using a favorite toy, the key to using props in pet photography is to introduce the prop early, so your pet has time to become familiar and comfortable with the prop.

Controlling eye direction

You can control the eye direction of your pet in many ways. For dogs, you can train them to look a certain direction when a whistle is blown a set number of times. A flashlight can also be used and they will normally look in the direction of the light.

For cats, usually a dangling toy will work or they will respond by looking in the direction a voice came from.

Caged animals
If your animal is of the caged type such as a reptile, you can create a photography box to use as a mini studio. Line a cardboard box with a solid-color fabric or paper to avoid having to work around the wires of the cage. On the open side, place a piece of glass or acrylic. You can shoot down into the box or through the clear panel.

The best way to light this setting is with a bounced off-camera flash. The bounced light will be softer and the flash will freeze any sudden movement of the animal. If you are shooting through the clear panel, avoid flash glare by either using a polarizer filter or shoot at an angle to the clear panel so the light will bounce away from the flash and not back into the camera. Here again you could move the photography box near a window or patio door and take advantage of the natural light instead of using the flash.

Aquarium animals
For pets living in water, such as fish, you can use a flash, but it is better to use it off-camera and held over the top of the aquarium and pointed down into the water. If you have a light colored gravel on the bottom of the tank, the lighting will even out with light being reflected off of the bottom. If the bottom of the tank does not have light-colored gravel, try surrounding the outside of the tank on three sides with a light colored paper to get the light distributed as evenly as possible. If the tank happens to be near some natural light, you can try to use that also.

The key to pet photography is to make the photo session as enjoyable for both you and your pet. Part of that enjoyment is ensuring nothing you do to take the photo will harm or endanger your pet. Otherwise, all of a sudden it is no longer fun for your pet and it will be reluctant the next time to pose for pictures.

Pet photography produces some of the most-treasured photos you will ever take. Using the techniques above will assist you in capturing those treasures.

If you liked this article, visit our Sunlight Digital Photography website for more tips and techniques. To further your digital photography skills, consider purchasing one of our digital photography ebooks. All of them are instantly downloadable, so you can start reading right away.