Can’t Escape the Pup-arazzi
People often complain that pets only have one flaw: they don’t live long enough. Any person who enjoys the company of animals would agree with this. Your time with your most devoted pets is brief, so you do all you can to make them happy, show them how much they mean to you, and keep them safe.
The time a pet owner spends with their animal companions is always the most memorable and enjoyable of their life. It’s easy to feel like time is flying by too quickly when it comes to pets, what with all their adorable antics and cute little quirks, and you’d give everything to be able to save those precious moments in a picture or film forever.
Most of the professional photographers with whom Sirwiss collaborates are used to dealing with both children and animals, so they can assist you in capturing the priceless and memorable moments with your pet. Those who like experimenting with the camera lens on their pets and would want to understand some of the tactics used by our experts to perform what they do best may find this post useful.
What is Pet Photography?
Taking pictures of pets is a lot like taking pictures of children. You won’t have much fun with pets if you can’t handle being around young children. As with photographing children, you can’t tell your subject to strike a certain pose or to stare directly into the lens. Given the necessity for a camera body that can capture fast action, the gear you choose for pet portrait photography is an unusual hybrid of items more often associated with portraiture and sports photography. Since animals are unpredictable in their movements, you should be able to acquire the general composition you want before snapping as many photographs as possible.
How to Take Amazing Photographs of Your Pet
Despite the obvious influence of animals’ innate charm, there is a great deal of effort put into every pet shot. The information in this piece will help you take stunning photographs of your pet that accurately portray his or her unique personality.
1. Keep “Best Time” In Mind
As a photographer, you’re probably accustomed to planning shoots around conditions like the weather and available lighting. Photography of pets, however, requires a whole other strategy. Each subject’s preferences and daily habits must be taken into account in addition to the usual considerations of lighting, environment, and other elements. Keep in mind that your subject’s mood may fluctuate throughout the day, which will have an impact on the photographs you take of them. In order to get your dog to “smile” for the camera, you should wear it out first. A well-fed cat is far more likely to sleep peacefully for the camera, so timing their meal with your photo session is essential.
2. Patience is Key
The secret to stunning photographs of cats and dogs is patience. Pets can’t be used as models because, unlike human models, they don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish or how they can assist. Just what instructions encourage your canine companion to light up with joy? To what extent can you influence your cat to seem thoughtful? The answer is: you don’t. You need just wait long enough for the desired reaction to materialize naturally.
3. We Learn by Practice
It’s common knowledge that mastery comes only with plenty of practice. Taking pictures of more animals can help you become more proficient in working with them. It’s important to work on your interpersonal skills by spending time with them even when you’re not taking pictures. In the absence of a camera, you’ll have a much better opportunity to comprehend their expressions and responding appropriately. Example: knowledge of the differences between the wag of a dog’s and a cat’s tail can come in helpful during your photo sessions.
4. Prepare for the Shoot
The first step in setting up a photo session is to have the scene ready before you even think about pulling out your camera. To get the best possible shot of a pet, many photographers want to perform the shoot where the animal feels most at home. Most ideally, they’d be in a setting where they could just relax and be themselves.
Make sure you plan out the photo session before you start taking pictures. Don’t worry so much about the precise compositions instead concentrate about the feelings you want to elicit. This will free your mind to focus on the emotions and mood you need to capture, rather than getting hung up on achieving a flawless image. Remember that your model may not feel like cooperating with you if you’re trying to take photos when they want to do else. If this occurs, give yourself permission to try something new.
5. Pick the Right Camera and Lens
Unlike astrophotography, there isn’t a “best lens for pet photography.” Just like everything else, your gear will be chosen by the individual demands of each picture session. Each sort of camera lens will come in helpful in various scenarios. A “nifty fifty,” or 50mm, lens is your best bet for indoor photography since it is quick and produces pleasing bokeh effects.
A telephoto lens is fantastic for outdoor and action photographs, as it enables you to shoot wonderful images of your pet in movement. Unlike human images, having a really bright lens with an extremely shallow depth of focus isn’t needed. Too much blurring of long snouts and swaying tails will result when shooting at low f-stops.
It’s ideal to have your lens set at f/5.6 or higher and utilize the ISO settings to keep the shutter speeds quick. This isn’t to mean that you can utilize inexpensive lenses as you’ll still want super-sharp photographs and rapid autofocus. Last but not least, employing a wide-angle lens leads in intriguing perspectives that may provide more character to your images.
6. Pay Your Model
Nobody works for nothing. That is correct. You must compensate your pets in order to be a good sport. Working with some of the most gorgeous pets will only cost you a packet of treats and perhaps a squeaky ball. Use food to make pets feel at ease, and toys to encourage excellent behavior. This will increase their liking for you and encourage them to allow you shoot shots for a little longer when they grow weary.
7. Use Their Curiosity to Your Advantage
Have you ever heard the saying that curiosity killed the cat? Dogs too have an inquisitive attitude, which may be a fantastic advantage in your compositions. Let them be as they are and just wait for the next new item to pique their interest. Rather of intentionally directing their attention to the camera, this will result in more spontaneous and genuine reactions. A wide-angle lens, for example, combined with a subject who is interested in photography might result in some really fascinating close-up photos.
8. Get Down on Their Level
It’s common knowledge that images filmed at eye level are more engaging and sensitive. The subjects of your pet photography sessions will often be lot smaller than you, therefore it’s vital to remember this. It doesn’t mean you have to snap shots of your cat from the same angle, however. For certain shots alone, maintain your regular standing stance.
9. Focus Intently
The eyes are the focal point of every good picture since they reveal so much about the subject. Puppy eyes are also irresistibly adorable. Regardless of the subject matter, it’s always important to get the eyes sharp in a picture. However, pet photography presents some challenges. The most likely reason for this is that your pet won’t sit still long enough for you to focus comfortably and effortlessly. Low apertures will blur either the nose or the eyes. A smaller aperture or shooting from the side can help you get both of them in focus if you’re going for that effect.
10. Be Mindful of the Light
Photography is literally about light. Lighting a location shoot is a more challenging task. To begin, you should avoid using flash. Light flashes often scare animals enough to ruin the shot, and they may even harm the eyesight of younger animals. If you must use artificial light, use consistent lighting settings and camera accessories like reflectors to soften it. Large lights on stands and beauty dishes will be difficult to work with, particularly if you’re attempting to capture a belligerent pet. Natural light is nearly always preferable in these situations, although you may want to have one or two off-camera speed lights on hand for fill or effects lighting. Set up your photoshoot outdoors or near a large window if shooting indoors.
11. Master the Exposure
You may only get one shot at the perfect composition, so capturing it with the correct exposure is crucial. It’s true that shooting in RAW may help salvage some less-than-perfect photos in post-production, but you shouldn’t count on it. While your pet’s coat color may easily fool your camera’s meter, you should learn to shoot with caution. Although black animals often seem gray because the camera reads them as being in a darker background, white ones often look lifeless because the backdrop is too bright. To correct for this metering issue, use exposure compensation.
12. Eliminate Any Distractions and Catch Their Attention
There isn’t much it takes to divert an animal’s attention. The amount of distractions in your environment should be kept to a minimal, if not entirely eliminated. You should either find somewhere peaceful, away from other people, or clear the place of distractions. Nevertheless, you and your camera are also potential distractions. Moving as slowly as possible is a good way to avoid drawing attention to yourself.
In the world of pet photography, noisy toys and strings are considered indispensable. To grab the animals’ attention in a more casual manner, use strings or other toys, while surprising them into an attentive posture is fantastic for getting action shots. You may purchase squeaky toys and make the sounds with your lips to get your subject’s attention and get them to gaze into the camera. Use the preceding suggestion to divert their attention.
13. Use Props
The cuteness of pet photos with accessories is undeniable. Dogs with bow ties, cats in gift boxes, and any other animals sporting headwear. On the other hand, the correct accessories may make your pet feel more at ease and secure throughout the picture session, adding an extra dose of adorable to your final product. Provide a safe hiding spot, leave a favorite toy or bed nearby, or both. Do not attempt to force them to hold or use any props; doing so might hurt them and result in a ruined photo session.
14. Capture Their Personality
Every animal has its own distinct personality, just as people do. If you’re shooting someone else’s pet, be careful to inquire about its personality and spend time with it beforehand in order to observe it for yourself. Examine any recurrent actions, gestures, emotions, or expressions. They likely do it at home, so their owners will recognize it in the photographs. The owners will be satisfied if you are able to capture these specific details.
Concentrating on what makes each subject distinctive will result in photographs that are more natural and distinct. Do not attempt action dog photography with an elderly, sedentary dog, for instance. The same holds true for feline photography: attempting to get a still picture of an active kitten will certainly result in blurry images and a great deal of irritation.
15. Overshoot
Animals constantly move. At inappropriate times, they blink, turn their ears, wiggle their whiskers, and look away. These motions are sometimes too rapid to detect while filming. Yet, getting home after a session and finding most photos are bad is the worst sensation.
To circumvent this, your camera should be functioning as quickly as you are. Use burst mode and take many images of the same scene. Use the quickest shutter speed available. If your shutter speed is 1/250th of a second or faster, you should be OK. That’s about the average speed for a photo session, so you’d be correct to think “wow, it’s fast”. Consequently, you might benefit from an increased ISO compared to your usual use. ISO 400 is a reasonable starting point, but if your camera can handle higher ISOs (up to 640 or 800) without sacrificing image quality, do so.