How to Photograph Your Pets for a Portrait

Photo Credit: 123RF.com

You might think that the topic of how to photograph your pets is silly. Just pull out your cell phone and take the pic, right? Maybe, if all you wanted was a bunch of random pet photos on your phone. But that’s hardly the case if you want a photo worthy of a pet portrait.

Your pet’s portrait success will depend largely upon the images you supply the artist. It can be difficult to almost impossible to accurately capture the coloring and markings, let alone the personality of your pet if the lighting in the photo is bad or if the image is blurry. As such, I’m giving you the following tips taken almost verbatim from my How to Photograph Your Pets page. How convenient, right? Below are some tips you may find helpful in taking the best pictures possible to create the most successful portrait.

Resolution and clarity:

When it comes to the topic of how to photograph your pets for a portrait, resolution and clarity is first and foremost. Assuming that 99.99% of you are shooting with digital cameras, please make sure it’s set to the highest resolution. This will allow the artist to enlarge the photo quite a bit before it starts getting blurry. The more the artist can enlarge your photo, the greater the detail which is absolutely essential for a fantastic portrait. If you have a hard time getting a clear shot or your photos keep coming out blurry, it might be helpful to use a tripod. If you don’t have a tripod, rest your camera on something stable. This is super important! There really is no way to work around a blurry photo.

Lighting:

Lighting can make or break your pet’s photo. (Photo Credit: 123RF.com)

The best possible photographs are usually the ones taken outside in natural light. Indoor lighting can cast either a yellowish or bluish tint, depending on what type of light bulbs you use. The best photos are taken on a bright but partially cloudy day. If it’s not possible to take your animal outside, try taking your pictures next to a large window. Remember, when you’re taking photographs to always keep the sun at your back.

If it’s a cloudy day, don’t worry. This light is diffused and you can usually shoot wonderful photos with minimal shadows. For those of you shooting on the manual setting, if the cloud layer is relatively thin, you’ll be able to capture images with a relatively small aperture (large f-stop value). With thick and heavy clouds, use a larger aperture (smaller f-stop value) or increase the ISO setting. If you have a simple point and shoot type camera, there should be an automatic setting for this.

If your pet has a black or very dark coat you may want to wait for a very bright day. Overexposure in this instance may reveal details in his face and coat that may have otherwise been lost.

Composition:

Part of the puzzle of “how to photograph your pets” is composition. In other words, where does your pet take up space in the photograph itself and how do they fill that space? Go for different points of view. While straight on is fine, it can also be boring. Get down on the same level as your pet when taking photographs. Try a three-quarter angle with its head turned towards the camera. Although sometimes, a pet gazing off into the distance can also make for a lovely portrait. Try to center your pet in the frame without cutting off their ears, tail or paws. In addition to your “master shot”, take a few close-ups of your animal’s face. The more close-up, detailed shots you give the artist, the better able they’ll be to render your pet without having to make stuff up.

Portrait quality photos need to be close and clear. (Photos courtesy of Frank Ewing & Gary Kopren)

Portrait quality photos need to be close and clear. (Photos courtesy of Frank Ewing & Gary Kopren)

It is almost impossible for artists to use images where your pet is way off in the distance. Make sure that at the very least, your pet’s body fills the frame of the photo.

Also, in most cases, avoid photos where you’re standing above your pet with them looking up at you. That angle does not make for a great portrait perspective-wise. It makes your pet appear to have a huge head and a tiny body. It’s also an unnatural position for your pet’s head. Try going for eyelevel or just slightly above your pet’s eyelevel. Imagine the equivalent distance of your pet on the ground and you sitting in a chair. That’s about as high as you want to get.

Your pet and the camera:

If your pet has never seen a camera, give them time to get used to it. They may be curious and want to come towards the camera. Dogs especially will want to have a sniff first. It may be helpful to have someone help you with the photo shoot by using a squeaky toy or treats to get their attention. This can be an excellent way of centering your pet’s attention and eliciting an expression from them. Take LOTS of pictures! The more you take the better the chances are of you capturing exactly what you want. And personally, I’d rather have too much than too little to work with.

Selecting your photographs:

You may decide you like one particular photograph over all the others or, you may decide you actually like a combination of several. It is possible to utilize more than one photo to create a single portrait under certain conditions. For example, if you wish to use the head from one photo and the body from another, the lighting and angle must be consistent in both photos in order for them to be combined. It is also possible to eliminate certain elements such as a collar or leash. But other items such as a pet sweater or ball in the pet’s mouth, are not possible to remove from the final portrait. In this case, it is better to not photograph your pet with these items in the first place.

Multiple pets in one portrait:

If you have several animals you want in one portrait, you can try to take a photo of them grouped together. If they don’t want to cooperate and sit still for their family photo, you can take them individually. For this to be successful, you must take each of their photos in the same lighting and from the same angle. For example, don’t take one pet at eyelevel and the next pet at a downward angle. Everything must be consistent.

Floating heads portrait of multiple pets. Graphite on 100% cotton paper

The only time you wouldn’t have to be quite as meticulous about this is if you’re ordering a portrait of floating heads. In this case, you can get away with minor discrepancies. Good luck and have fun!

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