How to Photograph Your Pet

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By Patricia Gilliam
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Photograph Your Pet

Pets are very fun to photograph, and there are few easy steps you can take to get unique shots compared to the standard "looking down" shot most pet owners take. In this article, I'll share ideas that I think are helpful.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

A pet
A camera (the photo for this article was taken with a very high-end camera phone)
A blanket or other backdrop
Adobe Photoshop or similar program that will allow you to crop and edit your photos

Step 1

First, it's very important to set-up an environment for taking your photos. Lighting is a big thing--animals with dark fur for example need a strong light source to have clarity in your shot. You may have to take several shots to get this right. It's better to do this with your camera than in post.

If you have a high-end digital camera, go ahead and get a white balance using a light meter or an expodisc (you may need to go to another how-to article to learn how to do this).
Step 2

Give your pet time to get used to the camera--young animals especially are curious and will want to come toward it as you're trying to get a shot.
Step 3

Get down on the pet's level. You can get angles and detail that you're not going to get otherwise.
Step 4

Take multiple shots, even of what appears to be the same thing. This is especially important if the pet is moving around while your photographing them.
Step 5

Bring your photos into a program where you can take out all the "junk" in the background. You can also adjust the light levels of the photo if needed.
Step 6

Share your photos with others. I've included a few links below you may want to check out. Have fun!

Comments

Created2Share said

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on 11/11/2008 Thanks for the info. I raise Lhasa Apso's, see www.lhasaz4u.com for adorable pics :-), and find myself taking many of the same shot and thankful I do. When editing, often I find one may be blurry, or in a group pic, three out of four babies are looking at the camera and the other was searching for an escape route, so I just crop and photoshop the wanderer in with he rest for one adorable pic where they all are focused on me. Seldom, but it does happen, do I get the perfect puppy face at the same time on the same shot. Great advice about getting to the pups level, makes a world of difference in the final pic.