Everyone loves taking photos of their beloved dogs. Holidays4Dogs just love pictures of dogs and we have hundreds and hundreds of lovely photos of our own dogs, as well as clients ! Dogs are just adorable, but it can be tricky taking really good photos of them. If you want to know how to take great photos of your dog – read on for some brilliant tips and tricks.
Say, “Cheeeeeeeese”.
Everyone loves a good photo of their dog and it’s hard to resist sometimes – but they’re not always the most cooperative subjects. Bringing out your dog’s character in a photograph is every photographers aim – but you don’t need to be a professional to achieve this.
Today’s smartphones have many features which mean you can take some really cracking photos of your pooch, without having an in-depth knowledge of photography.
Strangely, some dogs will sit still and pose as soon as the camera/phone comes out. Some dogs learn to associate their owner holding up a phone with sitting still, – or looking cute! Especially if they get an ear scratch, or a treat afterwards!
Others aren’t quite so good at keeping still and it’s easy to end up with a whole heap of blurry photographs.
Keep it fun.
Always try to make sure it’s fun for your dog. If you force your dog into positions, they’re likely to be uncooperative and won’t enjoy the experience. As a result, you won’t capture your dog in the best light. Watch out for signs of stress like lip licking, or flattened ears.
If your dog loves toys and treats, these are great tools to help you capture your dog looking attentive. If your knows cues like, ‘sit’ or ‘down’ – all the better. You could try holding a treat up above the phone and you’ll get your dog looking directly into the camera.
Don’t get frustrated if you can’t capture the perfect shot – there’s always next time.
Putting your pet in the spotlight – Lighting.
Make sure
you’ve got good lighting, because this can really enhance your photographs.
Using natural light is often best. Avoid using flash as this can cause your dog’s eyes to shine in the photo – making them look a bit eerie, rather than cute!
Also, flash photography may frighten your dog – so they won’t be too keen on having their photo taken in the future.
Try and avoid too much light behind your dog – which will just create a silhouette outline.
If you take a photo of your dog with a bright window behind, for example, this will just ‘bleach’ out the image.
However, soft glow light, like sunset, early morning, or dappled light through trees, can make for an ethereal, back-lit photo. This can really show off your pooch in their best light.
Dressing it up.
Taking a nice picture of your pet means capturing them in a relaxed and natural pose. Dogs don’t always like being dressed up and can find clothing restrictive. By all means find some nice backgrounds, or use objects to enhance the photograph. Perhaps your dog could sit on a hay bale, or fallen log? Maybe you could surround your dog with all of their toys or, catch an action shot with them playing in the sea?
The low down.
Another good tip is to get down to your dog’s level. In the same way you would take a picture of a person from eye-level, do the same with your pet. Taking photos from above can distort your pet and doesn’t really put them in the frame. Also, we see our dogs from this angle every day, so it makes the photograph less interesting.A Burst of energy.
Most smart phone cameras have a ‘burst’ feature which allows you to take multiple photographs rapidly, one after the other.
This is ideal for action shots, but can also give you more chance of capturing THE shot when your dog is motionless.
It’s easy, then, to go through all the photo’s and pick out the best.
Making adjustments.
Smart phones are usually equipped with different filters and tools, which means you can make adjustments to your photographs for a more pleasing appearance.
Most can auto correct light and contrast, which can help if you haven’t got this quite right. Cropping too, can also make a dull photograph look more powerful and interesting.
Wide angles can create some super dynamic – and funny – photo’s. If you don’t have a wide angle lens on your phone, you can create the look by getting closer to your subject, while keeping the background in. Try framing your shot creatively by including foreground elements to give depth to the photograph.
We hope you’ve enjoyed our tips – time to get creative with those photographs of your pooch!
