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Step 1
Use food to lure your pet's attention toward the camera. Show the pet the food and then hold it up to the side of the camera. This at least gets them looking in the direction of the camera for the portrait.
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Step 2
Position yourself low to the ground--creating a better, more natural angle for the portrait. This also causes the pet to more likely to look your way and make eye contact.
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Step 3
Increase the shutter speed. Try a shutter speed of 1/500ths of a second. This stops the action in the portrait and compensates for animals who will not sit still.
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Step 4
Set your aperture, the number followed by the letter F in your camera settings, to a lower number. This lets in more light to compensate for the fast shutter speed and reduces the depth of field so the portrait focuses on your pet and not the background. An aperture of F2.8 is a good setting to start with.
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Step 5
Turn off the flash if taking a portrait close-up of an animal's face or if capturing the portrait of a pet in a glass cage. The flash will cause glare off of the animal's fur or the glass.
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Step 6
Start your portrait session while your pet is asleep. Gently wake them up and quickly snap some pictures before they jump to their feet. This works especially well with cats. Snap your fingers to get their attention and then snap a picture.
