Looking for pet photography tips that will help you with dog photoshoots and cat pictures? Check out these professional pet photography tips.
What is Pet Photography? It is a fun and profitable niche business that allows you to combine a love of animals with technical skill in photography. Many families and pet owners are very interested in including professional pet photography of their pets into their own session or within family portraits. Yet a pet photoshoot is totally different than one dealing only with humans! So find reading along with our best tips should help you in capturing those furry friends.
Let’s face it, pet photography poses are hard to get…..just like kids sometimes! They don’t like to sit still, they have an itch or just want to go to…oh wait…SQUIRREL! Anyway, most of the time pets are just to distracted or wanting to love up on you or their owners. If I am photographing a family portrait with pets, I always ask if they have a favorite toy or treat and ask them to bring it along to their session. I will explain in detail what I do with these below!
Here are some of my tips and tricks to “getting that perfect shot”.
Professional Pet Photography
1.) Relax – both you and the pet. One of the best things you can do around a pet when photographing them is relax. Animals are very sensitive to their surroundings and strangers. So if you are at a location other than their home, chances are they will be skittish. Take some time and let the pet get used to their surroundings. If you are relaxed, the pet will be too.
2.) Get to know each other. I always make an attempt to take a few minutes with the pet before I begin photographing to get used to the pet and to allow them to get used to me. Pet them, feed them their favorite treat, talk to them or throw a ball, they usually warm up pretty quickly if you are relaxed and loving. I especially take this time for dog photography.
3.) Let them get to know your gear! Let them check out your camera, no seriously. Chances are the pet has never seen a camera like yours and this big black thing that makes all kinds of strange noises can be intimidating! Let them sniff it out while you hold it, that way when you do finally start photographing they are used to the clicks.
4.) Be calm and make sure the owner is too! There is no quicker way to confuse or frustrate the animal than to have orders being shouted one right after the other, animals love to please, so keeping a calm and loving voice along with your body language will do you wonders!
5.) Getting their attention. I love to talk to the animals softly, tell them what a good dog he/she is, ask them if they would like a treat (most dogs know what you are talking about), or softly say the animals name. Talking to the animal will get him to look at you and usually perk up his ears. Even soft whistles or clicks will do the trick!
Hold a treat in your hand or their favorite toy! I know with my Border Collie, Rebel (pictured below) I hold a stick right above my camera to get his ears to perk up and him to actually look at me!
6.) Focus. Whenever you are photographing a human or animal it is always best to focus on their eyes. A human/animals face is usually their focal point, I don’t know anyone who looks at a photograph and says “oh what nice feet they have!”. You always want the eyes/face to be sharp, not blurry with their feet in focus. Most DLSR cameras now have to option to manually choose your focal point (see your owner’s manual for more details), letting the camera choose for you may work sometimes, but not always, so manually choosing your focal point is your best bet.
7.) Have fun and shoot!
Now that I have shared my best pet photography tips, the fun begins! The best tip I can give you is to just have fun with the pet, if you aren’t having fun, neither will they. Don’t be afraid to try new things when shooting anything! Try a wide angle lens or a macro, who knows what you can discover or learn when you experiment!
I love what photography vox says about capturing connection between the pet and the owner! Don’t forget to include the family and caregiver of the pets in your professional pet photography.
Are you curious what the best camera for pet photography is? Maybe curious how to capture a running dog with the correct shutter speed…read more here –> 6 Tips for the Best Pet Photos
Heather Shirley Heinlein says
Great tips! I always want to catch some great shots of my dog and 2 cats and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I will be pinning this for later 🙂
LaShawn Wiltz says
I see pet photos and WISH i had a pet to take photos of! Unfortunately, My son’s allergist hasn’t given us the go ahead yet, so I’ll just live vicariously through others!
Susan Mahlburg says
Pet photography (by far) is the only type of shots that I feel can rival, and sometimes excel past, newborn photography. So much personality captured in the eyes, and I feel like some dogs just KNOW how to ham it up for the camera.
GlitznGrits says
These are some great tips. I love how the focus is on the dogs but you still get the background and the feel