By: Danielle Hallow
“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.” –
Ansel Adams
I’ve loved photography as long as I can remember – and I’ve loved animals even longer!
Photos of our pets provide us with entertainment through sharing their funny antics with others; they are a visual diary of moments to remember the love they bring to our lives for years to come, as well as serving as important tools to help in times of trouble if they were to go missing (perish the thought!).
Having both studied and worked in Photography I took the tools I’ve learned throughout the years and applied them when taking the ridiculous amounts of photos of my pets that I do, to make sure those image memories are the best they can be.
Today I wanted to share a few small tips to help you get the best shot possible, no matter your tools; be it using a DSLR camera or a mobile phone.
1. Lots of Light.
Animals move a lot and to minimize motion blur light is needed. When using a DSLR this is when you’ll have the shutter speed higher and with point and shoots cameras or phones that auto-adjust, having lots of light is how to get a sharper image.
Try as much as possible not to shoot with the sun or light source coming from behind your buddy because this means you will not clearly see any of their fur-tastic features, well, unless you are aiming for a silhouetted image of course.
Also, when it comes to needing light, use the flash setting on your device as a last resort. Not only can this startle your model, but it also illuminates areas and casts shadows that will take away from the cat and probably end up showing off those crazy glowing cats eyes too!
2. Be the Distraction.
This tactic comes from my time in studios photographing small children! Create a distraction by any means necessary or alternatively have a helper do so for you.
Our animals all respond well to noise. So when I am ready to take the shot, if you want them to be looking at you and they aren’t, call their name (‘Aurora, Aurora, Aurora!’) in a high register or make a high pitched ‘Lalala’ noise to grab their attention.
You may feel silly but it works…most of the time! Though it may also cause them to run toward you – which helps in the long run to get those fantastic action shots. This method, along with holding up a favourite toy as a focal point or jingling keys, treats etc are tried and tested methods as well.
3. Reward your Model.
Of course, once you get the model to do what they were meant to you should thank them. It doesn’t always have to be in food or treat form, but if you were shaking a bag of treats maybe you should give them a couple! To be fair good girl/boy praise and giving them the toy that was being used as a distraction is good enough for most pets.
4. Think Fast!
Do everything you need to do at light speed! Okay…maybe not that fast haha!
When you are sneaking a snap of them unaware during nap time or catching them red-handed licking the butter off your plate, work quickly to edit settings changes, or ‘auto’ options can be used.
If your device takes sequence shots you could utilise this option by taking many of the same shot and then upon looking back on them keeping the best of the bunch.
Acting fast isn’t just for those using bigger cameras obviously. It’s just as important to get that shot quickly even when being sly with a mobile phone before kitty changes their mind and zooms off to hide elsewhere.
5. Keep it Candid
This is down to personal preference but with animals in general natural, candid, in the moment photos are preferable over making them sit and pose; because lets be real how often are they in those posed positions? Especially with cats who aren’t known to be the most cooperative with things they haven’t decided to do themselves.
If you aren’t just taking a quick snap but are more so heading out to take some photos of them, just let your pet go about their day and snap along as they go. To catch them unawares (Bananas in Pajamas anyone?? haha) you could even call their name while they are playing or sitting on the window sill and capture the shot just as they turn to look at you – it makes for some fab candid images.
There we have it, a few of the techniques and such that my 10 animals and I use on a weekly basis to get great photos and document their lives. I actually had quite the job narrowing down some photos to include as we take so many. You can never have too many memories though eh?
I’d love to know your thoughts on this. Do you take regular portraits of your pet? If so how do you get them to cooperate? And do they actually cooperate?
Remember these aren’t ‘professional photography’ tips but just my personal experience on how everyone can enjoy photo time with their furbabies.
Have fun photographing!
Danielle is one of our fantastic supporters and mother to ten animals! Danielle and her husband love to spend time with their family of 3 snakes, 2 leopard geckos, 2 cats, 2 guinea pigs and a dog. In their spare time, Danielle and her husband are avid walkers, wildlife watchers, DIY/Crafters and also enjoy watching movies. Both are huge fans of Disney, Harry Potter and all things magical. Danielle has been a blogger for over 12 years and a photographer for around the same amount of time; both professionally and as a hobby – so, of course, she has plenty of photos of her pets!
Cats Protection Tyneside Adoption Centre 