Holiday Pet Portraits
Practical and Creative Tips for Creating Memorable Photographs
With all the hectic activity around the holidays, the best way to insure you get great photos of your pet is to actually plan on it. Put “photographing Fido” on your To-Do list along with “visiting friends” and “shopping”. It’s too easy to tell yourself that you’ll get to it tomorrow. Next thing you know, the holidays are over and you’ve missed a great opportunity to have your pet photographed at this very special time of the year. However, with a little planning and some creativity, you can be sure to get great holiday shots of your precious pet this holiday season. Here’s how!
PART ONE: Be Prepared By Planning
As a professional dog photographer, my clients expect me to arrive fully prepared to take great pictures of their dogs. What often surprises them is that I also expect them, and their dogs, to be fully prepared for me. I will not be able to take stunning portraits if all elements required for such are not present. These elements are the very same you will need in order to take beautiful images of your own pet, dog or otherwise. Even if you are not a professional photographer, if you follow these fundamental rules, you'll be sure to get shots that wow.
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Know your camera
No matter what kind of camera you use; digital, film, SLR, point & shoot, or a throw-away, you want to be sure to not only read, but study, understand, and work with the instruction manual well before you plan to hold a photo session with your dog. This should go without saying, but you’d be surprised how many times I meet with dog owners to photograph their dogs and they bring along their own cameras and ask me how to use them!
Each camera has different features and all cameras have settings, some more advanced than others. These days you can not only adjust for film speed and lighting, but for image quality. I am constantly amazed at how much people go out and spend their hard-earned money on a camera, it’s related gear and accessories, but never actually spend time learning how to use that equipment to its fullest potential. If you are not getting the kind of images you want from your camera, failing to learn how to use it properly may be why. Don’t even attempt taking formal portraits of your dog,
or of anything for that matter, until you do.
•Understand Light
Decide if you want to photographs indoors or outdoors. Each requires different photographic technique. You don’t have to be a professional photographer to see the difference in the kind of lighting indoor and outdoor settings provide, or the difference in the images that are taking in these settings. Depending on the kind and wattage of bulbs, indoor lighting can be tricky. It tends to cast strange tones and often, too many shadows. This is why many pet photographers use either black & white format or an assembled set indoors, and why I photograph in natural (sun) light only.
I encourage you to try some outdoor shots of your pet and use Nature’s light to enhance your pet’s beauty. Early morning and late afternoon sunlight is the warmest and most flattering. Practice taking pictures during these times, when glare is less and you are sure to get depth in your images rather than flat, washed-out pictures. Put a stuffed animal in your backyard (or any place you plan to photograph your dog), and see how it looks when photographed at different angles and times of day. If the light is coming from behind the animal, does it look as pleasing as when the light is shining off to either side of it?
Whether working outdoors or inside, most people believe light has to be shined directly on their subject from the front. This is the most common assumption and the most common mistake. Yes, you can get fairly decent pictures, but you will also get ‘common’ pictures. If you want your pet photos to have a unique, artistic look to them, do what the pros do: use light to enhance your images, not overpower them. The use of light in photography is not hard to learn, but just like learning how to get the most out of your camera, it takes a little time. You’ll find this time to be time well spent, I assure you. Play with light and see what you are able to achieve with some practice. Practice with your stuffed animal model until you find a time of day and a placement of light that works for you. Once you do, you can replace the stuffed animal with your pet. Unfortunately, doing so is not as simple as it may sound….
•Train Your Pet
You may be photographing a cat, a hamster, a rabbit, or an iguana. If you can get your pet to sit still for a photo, great. If you have a dog, it is worth the time and effort it takes to train your dog to work with you when you are photographing him. I refuse to photograph dogs that are not well trained. By well-trained, I do not mean they have to fetch their master’s slippers or clean up their own poop. I simply want them to be able to ‘sit’ and ‘stay’ while off lead. You’d be surprised at how many dog owners expect me to be able to make that happen during our photo session when they can’t make it happen with their dogs normally.
Pre-training your dog may seem common sense, but again, you’d be surprised at how many people expect their dogs to magically behave when a photographer is on the scene. It doesn’t happen. If anything, a dog becomes less obedient than usual. A newcomer (me) is a great distraction for a dog, especially a newcomer with a bag of interesting smelling photo gear! Dogs usually want to climb all over me and investigate my stuff rather than sit still and be photographed.
Before you ever pull out your camera, get your pup used to sitting still for pictures. Train him to ‘sit’ and ‘stay’, regardless of distractions, and then reward long sits with a treat. If you need help with this, buy a book on basic dog training, go to obedience school, or hire a private trainer, but be sure to include “training your dog” on your
‘To Do’ list before attempting to get photos of your pooch. If you do not train your dog ahead of time, you will quickly become frustrated during the session, and, if shooting with film, you will waste quite a bit of it, not to mention an extraordinary amount of time chasing after your pup. Keep this in mind when working with natural light at its peak hours. That pleasing light only lasts so long.
Cats, hamsters, rabbits and iguanas are not so easily trained and present their own special considerations. Guinea Pigs tend to sit still while ferrets do not. You need to know how to work with your pet, and again, how to use your camera so that you won’t get too many blurred images should they be very active. You also need to take advantage of the times they are not so active, and this cannot be done by taking a tired kitty and putting her outside when you are ready to photograph her. The change in environment will be very stimulating to any pet, and can also be unsafe if you don’t have a fenced-in yard. It’s very important to familiarize you pet to the area you plan to photograph them in so they will not be so eager to explore or run around when it’s time for you to take out your camera and start shooting.
•Get You Pet Accustomed to Your “Photo Studio”
Whether it’s an indoor stage you’ve set up with a beautiful backdrop and some cute props, or a field of snow-covered pumpkins, you pet needs to be accustomed to the actual environment you plan to photograph him in. If the area of choice is a park, expect small children, other adults, and dogs to be present and to be distractions, especially people tossing Frisbees, balls, and people bicycling and rollerblading. If this is all new to your pet, photographing in this kind of environment may be something to aspire to, but not something to start of with, unless you can find a more secluded part of the park or slowly acclimate your pet to being in the park --- and being relaxed in the park. A nervous, hyped-up pet doesn’t produce pleasing photos. If your dog has play-dates in the park, this is no place to do pet portrait work. You’ll need a place your pet can feel safe, calm, relaxed, and can focus on you. For outdoor images, your own backyard is probably the best place to begin. Then, once he is used to the camera and all the activity that comes with being a pet-model, you can move onto more social environments.
•Get You Pet Accustomed to Your Camera and Flash
Once your dog is well trained, or your pet is relaxed in the indoor or outdoor photo location of your choice, you will also have to acclimate her to your camera and flash. If she has never seen your camera before, or seen you using it, it is very likely she will come over and investigate your equipment while you’re trying to take pictures of her. Even a well trained dog will break a sit-stay when their human pulls out what looks like a new toy, or starts snapping something that makes funny sounds and flashes light on it's face.
This will be a whole new experience for your pet and you want to make the idea of your camera uninteresting to them, while the idea of being still for a picture very exciting and even rewarding. A good way to do this is to drop small pieces of treats throughout your yard (assuming the area has not been treated with pesticide or other lawn and garden products) or wherever you plan to hold your photo shoot. Allow your pet to investigate while you snap away. If using a film camera, don’t load it. Just snap as if you had film so you don’t waste any during this phase. You just want your pet to get used to the sight of the flash, the sight of you holding and using a camera, and sound of your camera clicking away so they eventually ignore it. It is when they are ignoring it that you will have the best command over the type of images you take.
•Get You Pet Accustomed to Your Assistant
Now we introduce a third factor into the equation, the photo assistant. This is simply someone your pet is comfortable with you can hold them, brush them, get them still, stand behind you and make noises so they look toward you, and put them back in place when they scamper away. Once your pet is able to relax and have his picture taken without wanting to investigate your camera, without flinching at the flash, without breaking a sit-stay and running around like a lunatic, without wanting to explore their environment or investigate others nearby, you are ready to use your know-how in lighting and camera use, combined with creativity, to get some great holiday photos.
•Get your pet calm and focused
When you are ready to hold your first photo session, you will be excited. So will your pet. An excited pet is not a still pet. Excited dogs usually look all over the place, even when holding a sit-stay, and are often panting. What you want is a relaxed dog. How do you relax a dog? YOU WEAR THEM DOWN, NOT WEAR THEM OUT. This is a good rule of thumb no matter what kind of pet you have.
Take the edge off your pet and you will have better pictures from them. A good run or came of catch may work against you here, when all your dog needs is a stroll around the neighborhood. Perhaps your cat doesn’t need to bat around the catnip toy, but instead needs a soft brushing. Don’t over-do it, but do it. Get your pet relaxed.
Use food! Try feeding your pet before the photo session, but give them only 1/2 their normal meal. A relaxed, partially-hungry dog will work better for you than a dog on a full stomach, a tired dog, or a hungry dog. Feed your dog half their usual meal after taking a quick walk together and then get set up for your session. When you are ready to photograph, your pooch will be easier to work with and more willing to work for treats. Even a ferret will work for treats. If you have a pet who will perform for pellets, use their favorite foods to get them settled.
