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Image by basykes

Pets are part of the family and everybody loves taking pictures of them, but getting that perrrfect picture (pardon the pun) of your best friend can prove harder than expected.
Whether you use a camera phone, compact camera, or DSLR, the tips below will help you improve your furry friends photographs.

1. Patience is a virtue. ‘Never work with children or animals’, or so they say. However if you are patient, and take your time, you can bag some fantastic pictures. Follow your pet around with your camera, if your pet is playing or is mischievous, try to capture them without disturbing their playfulness. Have plenty of toys and treats to get them relaxed.

2. Ground Zero. Most people take photographs of their pets standing up and looking down at them.
To capture your pets personality, trying sitting or lying down on the ground, and take the picture at their level.

Image by fazen

3. Avoid distracting backgrounds. TVs, kids toys, the ironing board, branches, etc are all very distracting in a photograph. Before you take your shot, check that the background is plain and simple. If you see something distracting than either move it, change your view point, or move your subject elsewhere, persuade them with a treat.
If you are using a DSLR, a long lens is better as you can sit further away from your pet, which will make them feel more relaxed, and you will also get a nice blurry background. If you don’t have a long lens, then use the widest aperture that you can, for example F2, F4, F4.5 etc.

4. Fill the frame. When taking a photo of your pet, zoom in or get close, the best portraits are either, head and shoulders, or all of the body. Try not to cut your pet off at the torso as it makes the shot very unbalanced.

Image by Seamusmurry

5. The eyes are the key. The most important part of the photograph are the eyes. It’s the light and the eyes that make the image. When taking a photograph of your pet, focus on the eyes to get them sharp.
Tip: if your camera has the ability to lock the focus, you can focus on to the eyes by pressing the shutter button half way, then recompose your picture then press the shutter button fully.

MJ Mac

6. Variety is the spice of life. Shoot your pet in both portrait and landscape mode i.e.
horizontal and vertical format.

7. Avoid flash. Photographs using natural light gives the best and most flattering pictures. If you are taking pictures of your pet outside, then keep away from direct sunlight as it is too harsh, try to capture them under some shade, in the morning, or later on in the day are the best times, as the light is more subtle.
If you are inside, try and use the available light from the window. Sometimes however, you will find it is just too dark indoors and you will need to use Flash. Using direct on camera flash will give you the worst results as you will get harsh background shadows, or an unnatural looking photo. If you can bounce the flash off the ceiling a wall or move the flash off-camera. Unfortunately for camera phones and most compact flash cameras this isn’t an option, so trying using a combination of the window and flash for more natural photos.

Last but not least as I always say, don’t be afraid to experiment, try different shutter speeds, apertures, angles, compositions, go lower down, shoot from higher up, the possibilities are endless.

Have I missed something, do you have any tips? Then share them with us in the comments.

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This entry was posted on Friday, March 21st, 2008 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Photo Tips and Techniques. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.