We all love our dogs, cats, or any other animal that can be a pet. Thanks to the Internet and the powerful smartphone that we have in our pockets, we can share that bond and love we have with their pets with friends, family, and even strangers online. With just a click of a button on your phone camera, you can get a beautiful picture of your little loved one and you can easily share it with anyone you want.
However, if you are running a blog, a photography website, or a more serious Instagram profile, you probably want the pet photos from your phone to be a little bit more professional. But, that can be hard to achieve. Dogs or cats are not exactly the best models. They do not know how to pose and they are not as obedient as real human models are. You need to take over 100 shots just to get one good picture.
Fortunately, a lot of people have already gone through the trouble of trying to make the perfect pet photo. So, instead of experimenting with yourself, here are some tips and secrets that you can use as a guide to help you make better photographs.
Get familiar with your camera app
If you truly want to start taking professional photos, it is time to get a little bit more familiar with the camera application on your smartphone. Yes, there is more than just one mode of shooting. In fact, today’s camera apps are so advanced that you can adjust them with all kinds of different settings that are similar to a real DSLR or something even better.
So, what I wanted to do is just open up the app. Once it is open, scroll to the right and click the more option. On most Android devices, you will see the “Pro” mode. This mode will allow you to adjust the sensitivity of the sensor, shutter speed, focus, aperture, white balance, exposure, and a couple more.
Once you get familiar and understand what these settings actually do, you can start taking the next steps to capture your pet at the right moment.
Pets look great in natural light
The biggest secret to taking a professionally perfect photograph of a cat, dog, or any other animal is natural lighting. Without natural light, most images will look bland. The animal cannot be portrayed properly without enough light.
Of course, you can always try using the flash on your phone or turning on more light bulbs in your house, but I do not think that is enough. So, that is why I believe that it is best to take such images next to a window, a terrace, or even outside. Naturally, this only applies during the day. When the sun is not out, your only option is artificial lighting.
Stay calm
Cats or dogs are not exactly very patient. They will listen to your commands until a certain moment. Once you overdo it, they can get bored and will turn their attention to something else. This is especially true for cats.
So, here is the biggest secret when it comes to taking better pictures of your pets. Just stay calm. Instead of making a whole fuss about the process and making them think that something interesting is going to happen, just stay calm and make your movements smoother and slower.
By doing this, your pet will also stay calm and will reduce the amount of movement they do. Once they start moving around, taking a good photograph is impossible. Even in a well-lit room.
Consider hiring a professional
If all of this seems too complicated for you, there is one alternative that can fix all of your problems. Just hire a professional that deals with this type of photography. A professional will have a much better camera than the one you have on your phone and will know exactly what to do with your dog or cat to ensure that the image will come out clean as suggested by Pupparazzi.
But, if you want to make keep this photograph a session between you and your pet, continue to the next step/secret.
Keep a treat nearby
One of the best ways you can grab the attention of your pet is with food. They always want to eat and are always ready for a reward/treat.
However, I do not suggest having a treat on you all the time otherwise they can get annoyed and lose interest if you do not reward them often enough. But, you should always keep one in your pocket. So, whenever you see a good moment and you want the pet to look at the camera, you can pull out the treat and they will immediately focus on it.
If you want a direct look at the camera, you should hold the treat above or under your smartphone.
Pick the location
Your dog, your cat, or whichever kind of animal you keep as a bad will be the most important object of these images. But, the background is just as important. With a bad background, you cannot create a good photo.
That is why it is essential to find a place where you can do your photography session. Otherwise, the pics will not look good at all. The clutter everything there is in the background and tried to keep the image as simplistic as possible. The background needs to be there, but it also needs to be subtle.
Reward when your pet stays still
Since you are reading this article, I assume that you want to take even more photos of your dog or cat in the future.
Instead of going to the same hassle every single time, you can start teaching your pet to be obedient and calm during photo sessions. The best way to do that is to reward with a treat every time they stay still for more than a few seconds. This way a pet can learn that they are doing a good thing when it is calm.
As you can see, taking a good photo of your dog is not that difficult as it seems. You just need to know the right secrets.