1. Get down on their level. While you can take really cute photographs of your dog looking up at you adoringly :-), you’ll usually get much better results from a lower vantage point. I’m usually kneeling or lying on the ground during my sessions. 2. Choose an uncluttered background. Look for an area without distractions or clutter behind them to keep the focus on your beautiful dog. 3. Natural light is best. Indoor lighting can give strange color casts to your images. Play around with both bright sunshine – great for black dogs – and shady areas to see which you prefer. 4.Fill the Frame. Don’t leave a lot of empty space around your subject unless it’s part of your composition. Get up close and personal. Since I’m typically photographing dogs I don’t know well, I use a long lens during my sessions so I can zoom in closer without having to get into the dog’s space and maybe stress them out. 5. Get their attention. I use treats, toys, noisemakers, kissy noises (sometimes making quite the spectacle of myself 🙂 to get the dogs to look at me with a happy expression. 6. Capture their uniqueness. Does your dogs have a quirky smile, a floppy ear, a favorite toy – make sure to capture and celebrate all the wonderful things about them. 7. Remember to get photos of you and your dog together. They’re never with us long enough, remember to capture and celebrate the bond you share. 8. Let them play. Sometimes the best photos aren’t the posed shots but just dogs being dogs. Make sure to capture the candid moments that you share. 9. I saved the most important tip for (next to) last – PATIENCE. Dogs do things on their own schedule, we can’t ask them to “look at the camera and smile”. Patience is probably the biggest key to pet photography. Keep it fun, take your time with lots of breaks for sniffing and belly rubs. 10. And last but not least, if all of the above don’t work, hire a professional ;-). |
