5 Tips To Improve Your Pet Photography
Other than baby photos, pictures of pets are among the most popular in any household. Unfortunately, they also tend to suffer the most from poor quality or, as we term it in the trade, snapshot-itis. You may have this problem if friends start walking away fast when you mention the latest photos of your cat or if your dog’s loving brown eyes end up glowing green like some malevolent demon in every shot you take.
Well, here are 5 surefire tips to help avoid snapshot-itis
1) Change angles
Most pet photos are taken from the perspective of a human being looking down while the pet looks up. Bor-rinnnnnng! Try something different and get down at their level or, if they’re moving, pan with them as you take the shot.
2) Stick with natural light. Turn off or cover the on-camera flash
On-camera flashes are evil. They flatten everything out, cast harsh shadows and are the source of the infamous glowing green pet eyes. If you have to use a flash go with an off-camera one and bounce the light off a ceiling or wall.
3) Stay out of direct sun and shoot in the morning or late afternoon
Contrary to popular belief, bright sunlight is not a photographers friend. It wreaks havoc with your exposure and you typically end up with lots of nasty shadows in places you don’t want them. I avoid photographing subjects outside in direct light except first thing in the morning or in the late afternoon before sunset when the light is angled low.
4) Don’t wait for the perfect moment and don’t be afraid to take lots of shots but…
Most of us are shooting digital these days so you can essentially take as many pictures as you want. With pets, unpredictability is the rule of law. You never know how a shoot is going to go. All you can do is be there and hope you catch the moment. This requires taking a lot of shots in quick sequence and culling through them later for the best one.
5) …make sure you edit yourself
Some of the most important work happens after you shoot. It sounds cliche but less is more. It’s easy to become enamored of the 100 pictures you took of Spot playing with his new ball but chances are your friends won’t feel the same way. Limit what you show people to only the very best.
Mark Rogers is a San Francisco-based professional pet photographer. His most recent work can be seen on his Smile Like a Dog blog and you can also follow him on twitter.
Thanks for the tips!
Great tips! Although the best tip is….if you live near Mark Rogers bring your dogs to him for a professional photography session, bol. Wish we were closer.
Thank you for the tips, I am into photography and these help a lot when taking pictures of your animals!
#4 definitely. Just keep shooting and the perfect shots will emerge 1 out of every 1,000 or so
Great tips! Choosing lighting and getting on your knees to take pix of animals from their perspective is key. Photographing pets is a challenge, but if you get their attention long enough with treats (get a friend to distract the dog while you take the shots), the results will be rewarding!
Here’s a picture of my sweet Geppetto, a Bernese Mountain Dog.
Bringing pets to higher surfaces helps if you don’t want to clean the floor with your clothes when photographing!
Great tips! Choosing lighting and getting on your knees to take pix of animals from their perspective is key. Photographing pets is a challenge, but if you get their attention long enough with treats (get a friend to distract the dog while you take the shots), the results will be rewarding!
Here’s a picture of my sweet Geppetto, a Bernese Mountain Dog. http://www.thedailytail.com/?p=2500
Bringing pets to higher surfaces helps if you don’t want to clean the floor with your clothes when photographing!
On a 1-10 scale theese tips work at a 8 thanks so much
I love the tips! It gives me a different point of view when I’m taking pictures of my dog! Thanks!
These are all fantastic tips.
You can see a slew of photos (edited down of course) here at Simone’s website :
http://web.me.com/polyps/Simones_Home/About_Me.html
Just click the photo album you’d like to go to.
Cheers and THANKS!
Thanx, I needed that.
Great tips, thanks so much! And quite timely – just today I purchased an external flash to experiment with for better pictures!
A couple additional tips:
#1. Conscript the help of an assistant–a friend or family member who can stand out of camera range to engage the pet’s attention with sounds, treats, etc.
#2. Focus on the eyes. Sharply focused eyes can elevate a so-so photo to one of artistry. The eyes are the windows to the soul, and this saying was never more true when it comes to photography portraits.
#3. Pay attention to setting and background. Try to position your subject in an area or against a backdrop that either adds to the aesthetics of the composition (i.e., in a field of flowers instead of in a patch of dead grass) or provides a neutral background, one which will not detract from your subject.
#4: For portraits, go for bokeh! “Bokeh” is the blurring of the background so that only the pet’s face and/or body are in focus. Achieve this by using a large aperture (i.e., small f-stop number) or positioning your subject with some distance between the subject and the background to force the background out of focus.
As a groomer, I am always taking pictures and those tips are very helpful. Thanks for posting them.
Question:
When I get down to my beagle’s level, they both run up to me and I get great pictures of their noses! Any tips on how to keep them at arms length so I can get those cute faces instead?
Thanks
The same advice holds true for photos of children!
If you have a DSLR camera and the kit lens, try getting a basic 50mm 1.8 (about $100-125 for any brand). You’ll get much more of that “portrait” look with the out-of-focus background, and it’ll be much easier to shoot without flash as well.
But Tip #5 is by far the best and most important. EDIT! Just because you’re in love with your dog (or you child) doesn’t mean others are. No one but you wants to look at 300 photos of basically the same thing. Boredom sets in quickly. Take LOTS of photos, and keep only the BEST. Pro photographers will tell you that maybe one shot in a hundred is a real keeper.
@Hauskat – Get an assistant to play with your dogs and draw their attention away from you. Oh, and protect the lens of your camera while they’re snuffling it!
@Hauskat: You can also set the timer on your camera (or if you’ve a dSLR, you can get a remote shutter release) to release the shutter automatically. First, position your camera on a low tripod (like a Gorillapod) or just use a box or something level and sturdy, then you yourself can serve as your own assistant to keep Fido the desired distance from the camera lens. It’ll take a bit of trial and error, but it’ll solve the problem if you do not have an extra body to help serve as your assistant.
Thanks for the tips. My 2 American Eskimo’s love getting their picture taken. It’s hard for me to take pictures of anything else when they are around because they will find their way into the shot.
My biggest problem was the glowing green eyes so I will be trying Tip 2 tonight because I want to caputre their beautiful brown eyes espically my male who eyes are similar to the color of whiskey.
Hi I live in ecuador, excuse the spelling but they are not as much English, but I love these (tips). but I do not have such problems with the pictures of my dogs and a special call my teckel matilda She likes to be in front of the camera and makes a lot of cases when given orders to turn your head and more. never good for that train but once he began APAN clothes and accessories you wish and from that time he likes to take pictures.
ah, and I want to perform (tips) to control the German shepherd and I have a very messy and he has 2 years
hola yo vivo en ecuador ; disculpen la faltas de ortografia pero como ven no se mucho ingles ,pero me encantaron esos (tips).pero yo no tengo ese tipo de problemas con las fotos de mis perros y en especial de una mi teckel llamada matilda a ella le gusta estar frente a la camara y hace mucho caso cuando uno le da las ordenes de que gire su cabeza y mas. bueno nunca la entrene para eso pero una vez le comenze aponer ropa y accesorios y le gusto y desde ese momento le gusta que le tomen fotos.
ah y quisiera que realizen (tips)para controlar a los pastor aleman ya que tengo uno y el es muy desordenado el tiene 2 años
Great tips! Love your gallery!
Great tips!!! Thank you so much especially the green eyed monster tip. LOL
thx for the tips!! it’s always hard to capture my dog…
thanks for the great tips, now my parents can get better pictures of me in action, BOL
I find that if you dont cover your face with the camera you will get much better photos. I dont even look at the screen. I just hold the camera at the right angle and snap a bunch of photos then crop them down. I get great photos like this. I think they get too freaked out when you cover your face and try to hold their attention. I also make silly noises to get cute head tilts and perky ears. I know I look like a fool when I do it, but the photos are worth it. I work with a dog rescue and have tried this on a bunch of dogs and it really works.
Another good tip that I learned is that most dogs respond to “Do you want a treat?” “Do you want to go outside?” etc. So if I just say the first part, “Do you want….” my dog will look at me with a nice expression. Treats are always helpful too!
When my dog’s sitting still but looking towards distant sounds, I line up the shot without calling him yet. Since there is a split-second delay between pressing the shutter and the (digital) camera snapping the shot, and since my dog responds immediately when I call him but looks away again just as the photo ‘takes’, I now press the shutter just as I’m about to call him. It takes practice and lots of attempts, but I’ve been getting some wonderful shots of his face as he responds to my call. This sounds complicated but it’s not: Snap the pic just as you’re about to call your dog. Practice your timing and you’ll get great shots. I agree with the author – cull photos very strictly indeed. (Then cull some more!) I’m happy if I get 2-3 in a session. It’s hard to delete my baby but delete him I do!
Keep it fun! Give lots of praise and treats and if your doing a “set-up” shot still be on the ready for ‘happy accidents’!
thx….need to take pics of my dog so.. it will help!!!!!!!!!!!
These are great tips, thank you!
I do take tons of photos and cull the not so good ones.
And use the best for Lilly’s web albums.
I admit I cheat a bit with Photoshop, but it sure makes a difference.
Yet, this album here I have not Photoshopped any of the pix.
Thanks again, this is a fun site.
Jane
I like the idea about not covering your face with the camera. When I put the camera to my face, Millie actually turns her head away from it! Also, any suggestions for photographing a black dog? For every 30 or 40 photos I take, I only get one or two good ones, if that!
omg these r the best tipz ever!!! Now I can take awesome pictures of my dogs!!!
Use one of those plastic squeakers from a squeaky toy to get the dog’s attention. I hold it behind my head as I’m shooting, so the dog looks right into the camera. It helps to get a nice alert expression, with ears cocked forward.
If you have a digital SLR, invest in a telephoto lens. It will let you get in close for action shots and tight candid portraits.
as a petsitter i am always taking pics of my clients pets to post on my website and this was great info to make my pics much better=)
Thanks
All great tips, which I use on a daily basis for my pet photography!
You can see some of mine here:
http://tinyurl.com/melqmk
thanks for the tips :} there wooftaskic bol !! for i’m always takin pics of my dogs and i must admit im gettin better
I’m a huge fan of Mark Rogers. One thing that I tell my clients is to chose the “action” setting of their camera, pan slightly ahead of their dog, and then shoot away.
The most common complaint I hear from clients is that by the time their camera takes the picture, their dog is long gone because they’re playing and running. This helps a lot and is easy to figure out and makes a huge difference.
Kimberly
Thanks for the tips-I’ll try anything at this point in time. I have five greyhounds. If I want a picture, I have to find a friend willing to hold their leashes and hide behind them to keep them together. Ricky and Quake think that the camera is something to eat, Lou is more interested in the friend and Colby and Tracy just want to flee.
Great advice! Check out my “Faithful Friend” gallery to view examples of my work. *Smile*
If you’re photographing a cat or small dog, put it on top of a blanket with a heating pad, set on LOW. They’re more apt to feel comfortable and stay put.
Take collars off if you can. I find them distracting. However, on a black dog, a colorful collar can help differentiate the head & neck.
I am heavy into photography too and I am fortunate to have a Nikon D2X professional camera so my camera will shoot around 9 frames per second or so I have a lot of shots to choose from.
How do you keep your dogs from licking the lens when you’re trying to take their picture?!?!!??!
I am at a complete loss when it comes to taking pictures of our dogs. I generally wind up with a blur of a tail or simply the ground where the dog used to be.
A few years ago, Afghan Hound Resue of California became involved with a very large rescue operation and in the need of many homes. We called on Mark who graciously donated his services to capture the true story of or rescues. thanks to Mark and his extradorinary talents, we were able to find the “pawfect” homes for our rescues.
You can see his wonderful pictures of our rescues here http://markrogersphotography.smugmug.com/search/index.mg?searchWords=Afghan+Hound&searchType=InUser&NickName=MarkRogersPhotography
From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you Mark!
The pocket digital cameras are too slow for any kind of action shot… Still shots are fine.
Photograph black dogs away from direct sunlight.
You can web search this topic too…
Use longer focal length lenses if wet tongues are an issue! ;>P
Interesting!
Our dog Osito is deathly afraid of having his picture taken. I think it has to do with the flash reminding him of thunder and lighting. How do we get him ok with having his picture taken?
Great tips … however: what about terriers? they must
present a challenge to other owners … my Airedale is
extremely fast, outside & soooooo difficult to catch inside;
unless of course, he’s asleep on the bed, head on pillow,
with remote by his side! Tks for advice.
Thanks for these good tips. I envy you–think it would be so much fun to be a pet photographer! I’m going to share these in my “Things I Learned This Week” post tomorrow on my blog at http://www.zemeks.blogspot.com with a link back here.
Love the tips!!!
These are GREAT tips — thanks!!!!
Some dogs will tilt there head when you say certain words, but here’s another way to get your dog to tilt his/her head for a photo. — a harmonica. Since it’s a bit difficult to hold the camera and play the harmonica at the same time, you’ll have to either have someone else play the harmonica or place the camera on a tripod. I found, however, this doesn’t work for all dogs … well, it didn’t work for mine. All she did was come towards me when I played it. It did work for my sister’s Dobie, though. It was toooo cute.
These are GREAT tips! I shoot a lot of pictures of my Jack Russell for his blog (www.stamperdog.com) and work on my stomach a lot when I do! Thanks for all the good ideas to better.
I train dogs and i found that it is easier to get photos when i get my dog into a lay and he will look away so cute! or i have my camera handy when playing in the yard. I think it is the easiest to have another handler then you can crop them later out of the picture. Just some ideas that i do for my business pictures.
Excellent tips—I especially agree with the last one!
THANKYOU!! I hate flashes too, they take away the quality of the picture!
These tips are great to learn how to take a relaxed and natural approach to dog portraits. Really good tone!
I have found that if you make strange “throaty” sounds right before you snap a photo you can catch the best inquisitive expressions with perky ears and all! Some dogs familiar with invisible fences shy away from camera noises that beep before the exposure because it mimics the sound that warns them to stay away from the fence line. So maybe stand a little farther away and zoom in…
Have fun!
uio
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