Photographing Dogs

Snapping Dogs!
　
　
We all love our pets, especially our dogs this fact is undisputed.

Pictures of them are a fantastic memory to keep forever, but how do we go about getting these photographs? Well we could pay a professional photographer to take a portrait of your pet a perfectly reasonable thing to do, this however, could be expensive in these financially troubled times. Another option is to have a go yourself, this option can be fun and also make those memories more complete and fulfilling, not to mention hugely satisfying by doing it yourself.

　
Firstly when do we do this? The best time is now, there is never a better time to do it than now, for many reasons. Age is a big reason, possible accidents and illness are other good points, otherwise it can become one of those regrets, things that you never got around to do, so why not ‘seize the day’.
　
Next what equipment do we need? The answer is almost any camera will do, but for good quality results, a fully focussing single lens reflex camera will do the job. Nowadays a digital camera is the ideal, but older film cameras can still be used very successfully. A digital camera is better for many reasons: you get to see the results straight away on the camera screen, if its not what you want you can start again and keep going until you get exactly what you want . The cost of this is negligible whereas with a film camera you have a finite number of pictures available on each film and you then have to wait until its processed to see the results. If you don’t get exactly what you want that moment is gone forever and another time will have to be planned.
So on many fronts the digital camera can be the most successful, and give you the most confidence with your results, before you finish your ’shoot’. On a technical note the higher the number of ‘mega pixels’ in your camera the better looking your final print will be.
Now where do we take the pictures? A professional studio with its controllable lights can make any pet look fabulous, in the main we don’t all have access to these so we need to control where we take our picture in relation to our light source i.e. mainly the sun and sky.
　
As a rule black or dark dogs are better in bright sunshine as the harsh bright light can make their coats really shine for the photograph, whereas the opposite is needed for light or white dogs they photograph better in a shady area or perhaps on an overcast day, in this way their coat will show more detail than in the sunshine.
　
So do we do it in the home or in the garden? Generally speaking both will work, it does depend on the space available and the size of your dog. Small, lap dogs look cosy and cute on cushions or sofa’s, larger dogs look better sat on the floor. If you have a full length window or glass patio type door then just using the light coming in through this glass can look great on any dog giving much more pleasing results than your standard camera flash. Using this type of area also restricts the space that your dog can ‘escape’ to, particularly if its unhappy about the photographic process!
　
You may feel that you don’t want a stiff formal looking portrait, to capture this moment in time. This is where the do-it-yourself type portrait comes up trumps as you can spend as much time as you need to get the results that you want.

Dogs can look better photographed outside. Either an action type image, sitting or standing photo. If your garden is nice and tidy, and perhaps not too cluttered, then it could be good. The first thing to look at is the background you will use, invariably a continuous, non cluttered one is better than a fussy one. By cluttered it could mean garden furniture, children’s toys, lots of brightly coloured flowers or general garden rubbish, it all detracts from our main point of interest the dog! As a general rule the less things to view in the background, then, the more your attention is focussed on your subject (the dog). This will lift a picture from being OK to a become a fantastic portrait. The reason for saying this the less going on in the background the more our dog will stand out and be the main point of interest in our picture.
　
With this in mind, if your garden is difficult to use effectively then perhaps on a walk in a park or countryside may give better results.Now before you go yomping across great swathes of this fair land in search of the perfect backdrop for our master portrait, take a few moments to consider what kind of picture you want to achieve, this is all part of the planning sequence. Ideally this can also be practiced in the privacy of our garden. Do you want the dog to sit, stand, walk, run or jump, catch or bound over a fence etc? Its helpful if you have an idea what you would like to do then we practice, getting the dog to do, what you need it to do inthe picture. At this point I must point out when you get it sat, stood or whatever, you must then be able to achieve this, a distance from the dog to photograph it! You wouldn’t be the first person to get every aspect perfect, setting ,lighting, pose, all miles from home only to find that you can’t move more than a few inches away from the dog rendering it impossible to take a photograph!
This is not a disaster, forewarned is forearmed as they say at this point we need help, a partner, friend or family member is what is required. You then need to convey to your new assistant, what you need him or her to do with the dog, exactly as you did it, to get the dog to sit, stand or whatever, whilst you get yourself in position to take the perfect picture. After this it is just a matter of practice and timing to get it absolutely perfect.

If you say want your dog to stand in the photograph your partner must hold it in place, perhaps stroking, gently calming Fido making sure to not get it excited or boisterous, whilst you frame it perfectly within the camera viewfinder, then, when you are ready your friend must ease away
Gently, perhaps a light stroke or two first then gently easing back carefully, so as to not make the dog startled, as soon as they are out of your viewfinder, take that picture.

Your dog may rush off, that’s OK, you took the picture. All you have to do now is to now transfer to chosen background and repeat the procedure if your dog runs away then get it back and do it again, do this as many times as you can. Another consideration at this point is do you take close-up type portraits or full length I always suggest you have a go at both, a head and shoulders picture looks great as a smaller picture whereas a full length will look better larger on the wall giving you lots of choices and more ideas at the editing stage. Now hopefully amongst them will be the one !!!!
All you have to do now is choose which one and send it for printing.