Taking Great Pictures of Our Pets

The ASPCA is celebrating October as Adopt a Shelter Dog month. As part of the festivities, there's a photo contest, and as a part of that, some tips for how to take great pictures of our pets. I'm quoting the main steps here, I like the direct approach which makes me feel even I have a decent chance of getting a great picture of my brood if I follow through on the guidance.

The Great Outdoors: Natural light is your best friend when photographing animals. Shoot outside. Always try to avoid using a direct flash, which often results in no eye detail. An animal’s eyes are the window to his soul, and you want to see them. If it is impossible to take a dog outside, try to find natural light inside—next to a window, etc.

Made in the Shade: When shooting outside, avoid harsh, direct sunlight that washes out detail. Opt instead for shady spots or overcast days. Make sure that you are using a “film” speed that will allow you to shoot in lower light without things becoming blurry. Most amateur cameras have intuitive “ISO” or “ASA” settings that automatically adjust to changing light conditions, but you can also set these manually. Very simply, the higher the ISO number, the faster the “speed” and therefore the less light you need. Beware of going much beyond 500 or so though, because you could get really grainy, pixilated photos. Experiment with what works best with your camera.

Up Close and Personal: Make the shot about the dog, not the wall behind him. Most cameras have a macro or close-up feature on them. This enables you to get closer than usual with your camera without everything being blurry.

Trick and Treat: Most dogs are highly motivated by food. Even the most untrained, nervous shelter dog will usually focus temporarily on the food you are holding. If you have someone helping you, get them to hold the treat over your head while you’re shooting in order to get a nice straight-on face shot. If you’re alone, use one hand to shoot and the other to maneuver the treat and the dog’s gaze.

The Dog Whistler: The idea behind photographing animals is to catch them in a state of simply being themselves. High-pitched squeals, whistles, meowing, bird calls or any odd noise that isn’t threatening often immediately grabs their attention and natural curiosity. Be ready with the camera—these candid moments don’t last long!

Patience Is a Virtue: It often takes many, many shots to get just the “right” one of an animal. (For this reason, I recommend always shooting digitally.) Plan to edit through as many as 20-40 images per dog at first. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll find that you fall into a routine and will need to take fewer photos. You may also want to get someone else to pet or play with the dog, and then photograph them while they are engaged in this enjoyable, disarming activity.

Practice Does Make Perfect: Some digital cameras can shoot many frames per second, but most are bit slower to respond. In these cases, you need to know your camera and learn how to anticipate the fleeting moment you want to capture. If there is a half second delay between when you push the button and when the camera takes the picture, that delay should become intuitive to you the more you use the camera.