Wonder how professional dog photographers get those great shots? At BlogPaws West, I had the chance to attend the “(Your Pet) Oughta Be in Pictures” session taught by professional pet photographer and blogger Jessica Bush of DOGingham. The Birmingham, Alabama-based photographer (above, left, with Carrie Johnson Boyko of AllThingsDogBlog.com) offered a great session of tips which put the emphasis on aspects of pet photography every photographer can appreciate like maintaining eye contact with your dog.
Jessica’s tip for getting your pet to pose: use all the tools at your disposal like your pet’s favorite words, favorite toys, and treats. Have a problem dealing with both the camera and the toys? Enlist the help of a friend your dog adores and have him or her stand behind you.
An important tip Jessica passed along was to let your dog get to know your camera by putting it down on the ground (but only with girl dogs…males might decide to mark that neat gadget and make it their own!)
More ideas from Jessica:
- be sure to have plenty of time and patience
- select a quiet location for your photo session
- recreate a favorite memory (like when your dog curled up in the laundry)
- photograph black pets against a light background with natural light from the front.
And when all else fails, here’s one of my favorite tips from the session: find a cute moment during nap time to photograph!!
Jessica brought her beautiful (and well-behaved!) dog Judy to act as our model. Here Jessica illustrates using a second person to catch your dog’s attention while Amy Burkert from GoPetFriendly.com photographs Judy:
Judy made a great and very patient model for our group!
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