March 2015
The challenge of getting your pet to say cheese!
Have you ever tried to take good photos of your pet only to be left with a blur because they have run off? These tips should help prevent that happening again.
Bring the pet’s favorite treat or toy, think out of the box with this too, is there a pair of socks, or a shoe or ball of wool they shouldn’t play with but love to? These items are ideal to get their personalities shining!
Get them relaxed! To get your pet to feel relaxed, in front of the camera, try starting the shoot familiar family members, or with their favorite family member to play and distract them from this unusual event. This will put them at ease and soon they will forget the cameras there.
Be prepared to be really silly to get the portraits you want, making noses or using key words your pets respond to can really get their character across in a picture, for example ‘dinner time’, ‘walkies’, ‘who’s a cutie?’, squeaky toys etc.
Play to your pets personality and quirks. Does your pet lie like a diva across a cushion? Or do they look just like someone famous when you put an accessory of them? Try thinking out the box with your portraits can get some great end results.
Get down to the animals level! Remember what it was like as a child constantly being surrounded by tall adults, its the same for pets get down on their level and they will soon feel reassured to show their real character
Use props and people. Small animals look great next to larger objects to really get a sense of scale, see images of the puppy in his owner’s hands. This is a great way to look back and appreciate just how tiny your pet was when they are fully grown!
Focus on the eyes. To create a portrait that really captivates the viewer, its important to capture a connection with the camera and getting eyes looking into the lens is a great way to show this.
Be patient – pets can pick up on something new or different going on which can make them anxious or not themselves, be patient and wait until they are relaxed and their personalities will come out!
Showing human traits. Does your pet sometimes do things that you thought were beyond them? For example collecting the post for you, flicking through the pages of a magazine or giving you humanistic expressions? Setting up scenarios to capture this can result in some really unique moments captured.
LASTLY resort to naughty treats, the kind of things you wouldn’t give them all the time but you know you’ll get their full attention with to capture on camera!!! If all else fails you could look to using a professional photographer.
Explore our pet photoshoot packages.