Dog Photography: Capturing the Perfect Dog Photograph

Dog Photography: Capturing the Perfect Dog Photograph

If you’re into photography and you have pets that you love, you might previously have considered taking professional photographs of your pets. Unfortunately, taking photographs of pets isn’t as easy as it sounds.

When it comes to taking photographs of pets, so many problems can arise which get in the way of your capturing the perfect photograph. However, there are some things that you can do to try and enhance the photographs that you capture.

Here are my tips for capturing the best pet photographs that you possibly can.

Get down with your pet

Photographs are meant to be candid, not forced; making your photos as candid as possible is something which a lot of photographers aspire towards.

When working with pets, there are ways that you can make your photos more natural. One such way would be to get down to your pet’s level. No doubt you’re a lot taller than your pet, so if you don’t get down to their level then you’re going to end up with a lot of photographs that look less natural and angles may look odd.

Instead of looking down to your pets when photographing them, get a glimpse of what life is like on their level. Not only will it be a fun experience for you, but it also means that the resulting photographs will feel a lot more intimate and personal, instead of it being obvious they were taken by you.

Get the lighting right

No matter what your photographing, where you’re photographing it or how professional you want the photographs to be, there are certain things that each and every photograph needs to be a good photograph, and lighting is one of those things.

When you’re taking photographs, light is always going to be one of the biggest components. Light is even more so important when it comes to pet photography. How can you get the light that you need for your photographs?

Although you might just see attaching a flash as the best way to get adequate lighting for your pet photography, a flash isn’t the best way to create light for your photos. A flash can potentially distract and distress your pets, which can spoil your photograph regardless of how painstakingly you’ve set the picture up. A flash can also cause a red-eye problem or laser beam eye for your photographs, which can leave you with an ever-so-slightly creepy result.

Outside shoots, or naturally well-lit indoor shoots, are generally the best way to go. Outside photo shoots can offer the best lighting, so if it’s possible to have a shoot outside this is often a great idea.

Bring people in

As this guide is primarily about how you should photograph your pet, you might have presumed that their owners or families would have no involvement whatsoever. In fact,the opposite is true: if their owners are happy to appear in photographs with them, get the owner involved!

Photographs of the owners interacting with their pet can be truly touching, especially if the photographs are candid instead of forced. It also means that the family have photos to treasure for many years.

Get playful

A big part of a pet photo shoot is getting to know the pets that you’re photographing, so get playful!

Playing with the pets and getting to know them for a bit can help you to capture significantly better photographs. As pets start to trust you and enjoy your company, they will start to become out of their shell more. This means that they’ll be much happier to start interacting with you, so you can start to capture the photographs that show the real personality of the dog you’re shooting.

CONTACT REBECCA

If you are planning your wedding or another event that you would like capturing, give me a call and invite me into your world for a little while. Let’s create something amazing… If you have any questions or would like to check availability, don’t hesitate to call.