Pet photography has emerged as one of the most beautiful ways to commemorate your time with your beloved pets. You can not only find these photos to be a great way to capture your memories, but tasteful photos can even be as good as artwork to decorate your walls. However, all this is very strictly dependent on the quality of your pet’s photos. If you have been taking many pet photos for your social media networks and none of them seems even close to professional-grade photography to you, the reason might be in not preparing your pets properly for the pics. Ask any professional pet photographer like Mr Dography, and they will tell you that even the most candid shots need a bit of preparation ahead of time. So here are 5 tips to get your pets ready for that professional level photo-shoot.
Keep it super fun
The first rule for pet photography is to keep it super fun and light for your pets. Do not expect them to adhere to strict commands during the shoot, you will actually get a lot less candid expressions out of them that way. Instead, make sure you have loads of toys and activities lined up around the area, so they can be kept engaged during the shoot and give you those adorable looks and reactions that you want to capture in the shots.
Relax yourself to relax your pet
If you have arranged for an on-location photo shoot, it is important that you remain relaxed during the photo sessions. Pets notice your anxiety and since they will already be adapting to an unknown ambience, your emotional cues will carry a lot of weight on how they will react to the session. Simply keep up upbeat energy but be relaxed enough to have your pet relaxing with you for those extra great clicks.
Arrange some time for the photographer with your pets
High-quality professional photographers, like Mr Dography, always arrange for a little extra time for the pets to be acquainted with them. This way the pets are better relaxed during the sessions and are more likely to react naturally during the photo shoot.
The expressions
If you are opting for a pet photo shoot by yourself, try the trick that all professionals use, focus on the expressions and the rest will follow. Professional photographers diligently focus on the facial expressions and cues such as whining or a little woof behind the camera that can get them to look straight at the lens just at the right time. Remember to not use a lot of flashlights as that will strain their eyes and might disorient them enough to get scared.
De-clutter the backgrounds
If you are arranging for a photo shoot at your own place to get some natural shots of your pet at home, don’t let the background be the usual messy. A de-cluttered background will help focus all of the attention on the expressions of your pet in the photograph.
Make sure to groom your pets before the photo session and just remember to have lots of fun during the session, which is the goal after all.