Any advice for photographing animals?

Question

Volunteering for the local shelter to do some photographs of the pets they have in for their website. Any advice for taking picture of pets? What is more appealing to people.... action shots, cuddle shots, close ups? Should I attempt to capture personality or should I keep the photos standard so people can come in and gauge the personality on their own?

Answer 1

I do shelter shots from time to time. Do them fairly closeup, the expression should be toward the camera if possible. Make sure the image is sharp and clean without a distracting background. Unless the dog's body is interesting in some exceptionally beautiful or offbeat way, I usually do head shots. For cats, heads only. I try to avoid cage bars. Thank you for taking part in something important and worthwhile, hope you enjoy!

Answer 2

When doing shelter work, you are working with emotions. Take a full viariety of shots of each animal in various situations if you are able. A few "sad" photos are fine but try to capture the possibility of happy times also.

Once you have your shots, look at them and pick the ones that make you want to take that animal home with you.

Since it is work for the shelter, get them involved in the process to help choose the photos that will work best.

Answer 3

I wouldn't worry too much about trying to capture personality in the shelter shots. Most people go out to the web to look at what type of breeds or mixes they have.

Judging personality should be done at a meeting setup with the shelter. The shelter is going to want to get people to come in, and if the dog they saw on the site doesn't match, then they will try and see if another animal does. You don't want to lose them at the website or flyer.

Answer 4

You have some very good answers, but I'd like to add a few suggestions. Go eye level, whether you raise them up or lower yourself. Some animals think they at at the vets office when raised and panic, so you just might have to lower yourself. Avoid your in camera flash, you'll get green eye (far worse than red) Black animals are the toughest and cross lighting is really the best for them, if you can't do that shoot raw. You can always add catch lights in shop later; put them on a seprate layer and lower the opacity of that layer til they look right. Bring a little container of dry rice or beans to shake to make the perk their ears up. Treats help with pups, too. A nice long cat toy, like a peacock feather is a great aid. Baskets help keep kitties in one place and look cute. When you're ready to take a dogs picture, bark. (yep!) I think you'll be great at it!

Answer 5

I see you are an animal lover. Well first of all, if your photographing a dog, then make sure it is in a comfortable position or else it will jump an wiggle it's tail too much. Pretty mauch the same with all pets. If you want personality like clothes and stuff, dont pierce you're pets ears or something. Make them comfortable. If you want an excited personality get a treat.

Answer 6

I think close-ups would be more appealing. You want to elicit the response "How cute...".

One of the animal in its cage with a close-up should cause a sympathetic response from the viewer.

Answer 7

Portrait shots are generally best for people and animals, Fill the frame. (Head shots)

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