We love our pets and getting some amazing pictures of them can sometimes be hard. Some are camera shy, some are too wiggly and sometimes the picture just doesn’t do them justice so we paired up with Robyn from Haute Dog Pet Photography and we came up with simple tips to help every day dog owners get some better photos of their pets.
Clean up the space so you don’t have an unsightly can of soda in the background of your living room picture or a plastic bag in the park. This simple step can make a huge difference to the overall picture and it only takes a minute.
It is best to use natural light when you are not an expert pet photographer. Flash can make your pet uncomfortable and you need to be very good to not get those crazy evil eyes. So setting up for an outdoor photo shoot or indoor in a brightly lit room will give you the best photos.
Change the perspective. “Photos of animals are so much more interesting when taken at their eye level, instead of your own. You walk around every day seeing things from 5 feet up – get down on the ground and see what it looks like to your dog!” says, Robyn.
Reward your pet. You want your pet to get paid for all their time as models. If photo time is full of treats and praise then odds are you’ll get your pet’s happy face every time.
Robyn also suggests, to incorporate play. “Most dogs don’t spend their lives in a perfect sit, so why not get in on the action?! For these shots, you will want to make sure you have a fast shutter speed. To balance this, you may need to bump up your ISO a little. Start around 1/1000 or higher for your shutter speed, depending on how fast your subject is and the direction of his movement.”
Going in for a close up? When going in for a close up there are a few things to keep in mind. Move slowly and be ready to contort so you don’t have to make your pet move. Once you are positioned correctly, focus on the eyes, after all they really are the window to their soul.
Patience is key to every pet photo shoot. Robyn tells us, “I have so many wonderful clients get stressed out that Fido and Rover aren’t sitting still, and dogs feed off of our energy. It is so important to stay calm and collected and make the photos an enjoyable experience for everyone, including the dogs. Happy, personality-filled faces are one of the hallmarks of Haute Dog Pet Photography, and we can only get that when the dogs are showing their relaxed expressions.”
We thank Robyn from Haute Dog Pet Photography for sharing some of her tips and her wonderful pictures. We hope you can get some great photos of your pet, but just in case, keep Robyn’s contact info for a professional pet photo shoot, it is well worth it!
