photographing pets

[JoshD]

I was asked earlier today by a friend of mine to photograph his pet dog, as I only being doing photography as a hobby i dont really know what settings i should use, should i use flash or natural light? close up or distant? i don't have a clue any help you can give me will be such a huge help,

thanks

josh

[andy153]

Who was it said, "Never work with children or pets.........." ? Best of luck

[Alex1994]

OK, I'll try to give you a crash course. Do tell me what camera you have so we can give further guidance.

If you are a beginner put the camera into full auto mode so you don't have too many settings to worry about; children and pets move around a lot and resetting focus, aperture etc is nigh on impossible.

Regarding lighting, consider the weather. If it's sunny or even slightly cloudy, natural light will be fine. Backdrop matters a lot--try to eliminate 'parasites', things that don't look right, such as trash cans, cars etc. On the other hand if you see a great shot just take it!

A high shutter speed is also important, while aperture isn't. 1/60th of a second and shorter to avoid any blurring. Your camera may have a kids and pets mode or something to that effect--use it.

Get in close, either literally or with optical zoom. Digital zoom will seriously degrade the quality of the picture.

If you have a digital camera which I assume you do, don't be afraid to go overboard. Put the camera into burst mode. If you take 500 pictures, perhaps only 2 could have that special something. Get rid of the other 498 and you have a success!

[yelvertoft]

Originally Posted by JoshD

I was asked earlier today by a friend of mine to photograph his pet dog, as I only being doing photography as a hobby i dont really know what settings i should use, should i use flash or natural light? close up or distant? i don't have a clue any help you can give me will be such a huge help,

thanks

josh

Depends what end result you want to achieve. If you don't have any idea what you want the result to look like, it's very difficult for us to advise you how to achieve it.

[yelvertoft]

Originally Posted by Alex1994

Put the camera into burst mode. If you take 500 pictures, perhaps only 2 could have that special something. Get rid of the other 498 and you have a success!

That, is the counsel of despair.

Putting thought and imagination into what you want to achieve before you press the button will yield much better results.

[Alex1994]

Obviously, I'm not saying shoot away like a lunatic--burst mode is certainly no subsitute for thought. But if you have 3 of each shot it helps bring out the best.

[robski]

Josh it maybe worth looking at Sue Allen's (Greypoint) work as I know she is a dog snapper.

http://greypointphotography.co.uk/gallery_2.html to get a few ideas.

As far as exposure setting are concerned much depends on the dog it's self and the background. Is the dog light coloured or a black Labrador ?

Focus on the dog's eyes.

Don't rush in and start taking snaps. Sit and talk with the owner with the dog in the room for 10 to 15 minutes to get everybody relaxed and settled. watch the dog for a while and see what poses it presents. The dog may give certain expressions when the owner talks to the dog.

Observing the subject and timing the shot is half the battle.

One of my attempts http://www.worldphotographyforum.com...hp?photo=25277

[Birdsnapper]

Get down to the dog's level - kneel or even lay flat.
Try head shots as well as whole body.
You could try the sameshots at various apertures to control depth of field (depth of fielld is how much is in focus, front to back - the larger the aperture, the smaller the DOF; the smaller the aperture, the greater the DOF).
Don't worry if you don't get everything right - that comes with experience - just enjoy the shoot.

Well, apart from the fidgety nature of children and animals, a lot depends upon the color of dog and light of immediate surroundings.
I think close up would work more nicely when you are in a room and distant when you are out of any closed area. Try to cover as much space as possible, don't leave too much dead space at either of the sides.
The last thing i would keep in mind is i would stay at a bit above dog's head level and give as much prominence to eyes as possible.