If you have actually tried to take a photograph of your pet you will have discovered that it isn’t as simple as you may have thought at first.
Taking photographs of them while they are sleeping isn’t truly a issue, but as soon as they wake up and are running close to causing havoc you will need lightening fast reactions in order to get a decent image shot.
There is a phrase often quoted, especially on television about ‘never working with kids or animals’. Even if your pet is becoming a bit mischievous or is full of energy, you’ll want to take great photographs of them and if you’ve lots of patience you will be rewarded having a spectacular portrait which you will want to cherish forever.
There are a lot of exotic pets out there such as snakes, bearded dragons and chinchillas, but for most of us, generally have a cat or a dog.
It’s so rewarding to capture the personality of your pet inside a portrait. This can easily be achieved because they know you really well, are comfy with you and are least most likely to be anxious, especially if they have a camera whirring and clicking in their faces.
For the best images you ought to roughly follow the exact same fundamental principles as you would when taking portraits of individuals:
- Make certain you shoot at the animals level (in other words, not directly from above).
- Focus on the eyes
- Fill the frame
- Use a somewhat longer lens and avoid getting distracted or busy background or direct flash.
You want your dog to become as organic as feasible within the portrait, so take the picture a little further away and shoot utilizing a telephoto lens. The animal well be less anxious and the result is going to be a far much more organic picture.
Lighting
Organic daylight is usually your optimum choice and resulting in a much much better image.
If, for example, you want to pick up the texture of your pets fur, you will need to use pretty directional light coming from one side. As with humans, the best pet portraits are frequently taken with the topic sitting next to or near a window.
Tip: If your pet has dark fur, you will have to be careful as it might fool your camera’s metering system so you might need to alter the AE-C setting to lighten it somewhat, utilizing the ‘ ’ setting.
Just as you would with individuals, when getting pictures of your pet it is essential to attempt to capture the character of your dog within the picture. I’ve seen some pictures where somebody’s adorable cat looks positively demonic on the photograph or their lively, cute dog appears either rabid or completely docile.
If you’ve ever taken a photograph of a baby you can use comparable tactics for your dog: use a favorite toy to attract their attention, or make funny noises or gestures to get a reaction.
As mentioned earlier in most cases photographing your pet not only requires patience but you’ll need lightening fast reactions so that you can be prepared to shoot at any moment.
This applies even more in the case of little pets such as hamsters or rodents. To make things simpler, it may be much better to have somebody hold the animal whilst you take the picture. With careful cropping using a program like Photoshop you should be able to erase the image of the individual holding the animal from the frame.
Just as you would with any type of photography where the subject is moving and you have to snap the image quickly, you need to combat potential problems for example focus or camera shake by using a quick shutter speed and getting plenty of shots.
In case you stick to these ideas you will manage to shoot a stunning portrait which will capture the characteristics of your dog, and something which you will treasure forever.
How To Photograph Pets
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