Pet Photo Tips

How to Take the Best Photos of Your Pet at Home

There’s a saying in photography that the most difficult clients are either children or pets. I have written endlessly about how to photograph kids, so let’s focus instead on how to take the perfect photo of your pet at home. From camera details to ‘posing’ your pet, these are my top pet photo tips guaranteed to get your tail wagging.

Camera Settings

In general, the same basic photography rules for people will apply for pets. That said, there are a few technical details to keep in mind.

High shutter speed is a must. Requiring a pet – or worse, multiple pets – to sit still is a difficult feat. Make your job easier by keeping your shutter speed at 1/320 or faster. This will make sure that you capture every wagging tail in crisp focus.

Choose a deeper depth of field. Most photographers nowadays choose a very shallow depth of field for portraits. With a depth of field of f/3.2 or less, the goal is to blur out the background. The problem with this setting is that your pet doesn’t understand that he needs to remain within a certain range of focus. Since your pet is going to be moving all over the place, make sure you have a depth of field of f/4 or more so that Fido is always in focus.

A zoom lens makes things easier. For my shoot with Holly and Robby, we had puppy chaos from start to finish. Trying to run after the little rascals was near impossible, but my camera could keep up because I had a fast 24–70 mm lens. I could zoom in or go for a wide shot as necessary. Do yourself a favor and give yourself the most options possible with a lens that can do it all. For puppies, as well as for weddings, I always recommend the 24–70 mm lens.

Posing your Pet

I’m putting the word ‘posing’ in quotation marks because we all know this is pretty much impossible. What I mean here is how to get that Instagram-worthy shot from a pet. Here are my suggestions.

A tired pet is a posable pet. Dogs have much in common with children. It’s best to get the zoomies out first and let your dog tire himself out a bit before the shoot begins. Give your dog a long walk (plus a few snacks) to cut out any energy or food distractions. The calmer your pet is, the more likely your pet is to follow directions.

Coordinate directions between humans and pets. All too often I run into the issue that the pet and the adult with the pet are not looking into the camera at the same moment. The reason? The human pet owner is trying to get the pet to look into the camera. No; that’s my job. I’ll handle the dog; you just keep looking into the camera.

It’s a frustrating scenario and I find that humans are the least trainable species on the planet. The solution is to explain to the humans that you, the photographer, will be solely tasked with getting the pet to look into the camera.

Plan your activities. A photo shoot should be a fun play date between you and your pet. Plan for walking, playing, throwing the ball, or whatever else you do with your pet. The idea is to document you and your pet together having a great time.

Go for the squeeze. A hug between pet and owner is a great way to get a close-up shot with both species looking into the camera. Hold that squeeze for a few seconds and maybe give some extra treats in case your pet is not a fan of hugs.

More animals, more chaos. A group photo for fur families of more than one pet is a difficult shot. Try your best, and let the owners know that they may need to be sitting with a smile on their face looking into the camera for a long time before you can get all the animals to look into the camera at once. But once you have that shot out of the way, it’s going to be much easier to focus on each animal individually. Furthermore, solo shots will give the other animals some time to decompress.

Locations

Refine your location. Dogs, as with children, will naturally gravitate towards the most most unphotogenic, worst lit area in any space. Refine your photo location, be it a living room or a backyard, to a small area that is well lit and looks good from every angle. You will be chasing the pet all over, so you want to make sure that no matter where you stand with your camera, you are getting a good angle and good light.

Pick up the poop before the shoot. Remember how I said you will be running all over the backyard? Make sure you have thoroughly hunted and disposed of any poop in the backyard. Trust me, there’s nothing worse than crawling around in the grass and then realizing what you just crawled through.

Have a clean bed ready. Pets are not likely to simply sit on a blanket for a posed shot. However, a fluffy, clean bed is tough to resist. Make sure the bed has been thoroughly washed and looks presentable.

Things to Bring

A lint brush. If you are going to be playing with your pet, then you are going to be covered in hair. This is just a given, but a lint brush will help you take care of the most egregious fur issues. Pro tip: wear clothes that don’t attract as much fur. In comparison, fabrics like velvet and corduroy will have you looking as furry as your pet.

Photogenic leashes. Every item is going to be photographed, so just make sure that the leash, toy, whatever looks as good as it can.

Treats for the talent. Photo shoots should be fun, so that means extra treats for very good boys and girls.

Plenty of water. It’s tough to be a model, no matter what species you are. Have plenty of water ready and take breaks as necessary.

Prepare to get licked. One of my favorite shots during Holly and Robby‘s shoot, was when the puppies came directly up to my lens. Be prepared and have lens cleaner handy.

Squeaky toys. Nothing gets a dog’s attention faster than a squeaky toy. I recommend bringing a variety of noisemakers. You will want to have one squeak toy that only you have access to, and perhaps another squeak toy that the dog can actually play with and get messy.

Bubble machine. Personally, I find that puppies don’t care about bubbles. But perhaps if you up your game and bring a bubble machine, then you can get your pet’s attention.

Hand wipes. Photographing pets requires crawling on the ground and getting dirty. Come prepared.

Meet Holly and Robby

It was such a pleasure to photograph my friends, Holly and Robbie. These two live in south San Antonio, on a quiet street with a lovely backyard. Holly and Robby are true animal lovers, and I was lucky enough to capture the love they gave to a homeless, pregnant mama dog and her subsequent litter of puppies. These pups are the cutest little things and have so much personality. In addition, Holly and Robby’s other for children – Cirrus (Great Pyranees), Cari (Mastiff), Cleo (mini-Schnauzer), and Cosmo (mutt) – are equally photogenic.

Our shoot was actually split into two sessions: the first with just the puppies, and the second with the rest of the family. Luckily, the puppies have all been adopted through the kindness of a north east animal adoption agency. Holly and Robby chose to keep the cutest one of the bunch, little Cosmo, who is getting along well with his brothers and sisters.

Conclusion

Perfection is definitely overrated when it comes to pet photography. The bottom line is that a pet photo shoot should be a fun play date between you and your pet. There are some ways to capture the perfect moment, including making sure your camera is set correctly and that the background allows for you and your pet to move at will. Bring lots of treats – for pets and for humans – and good photos will always follow.

Enjoy the images, and I will have more photo adventures for you next week!

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Are you interested in scheduling a family portrait in San Antonio? Drop me a line and let’s chat about how I can help you. I have hourly rates, and all photo shoots include editing and high-resolution files.

To view more images from my ‘fur’ family photography portfolio, please visit my website – KellyWilliamsPhotographer.com