Welcome back to Part 2 of our post on getting better pet photos!

First, my human, Hsin-Yi wants to add a little correction to what she said in Part 1 about turning off the flash: she was talking mostly about taking “portrait” type photos (you know, the posed ones when the humans like us doggies to sit & look at the camera machine and pull cute expressions ) – you really get horrible demon eyes if you don’t turn the flash off in those kinds of photos.

But yes, there are some times when you need the flash – especially if your humans are taking ‘action shots’ indoors, which is usually in artificial (low) light. Otherwise the pictures would be mostly blurry. But if they really have to use a flash, then try not to get us doggies looking head-on into the camera – better if our heads are turned slightly to the side – so that we don’t catch the flash straight into our eyes.

But still – Hsin-Yi stands by what she said – the BEST photos are taken in natural daylight. And for really good action shots, good daylight outside – that’s what gives you really crisp, clear pictures that really “capture the moment”. So if you have a choice, always take the action outside. For example, if my human wants to get pictures of me modelling a new collar or playing with my new toy, for a blog post, she’ll take me outside to give it to me – or at least right next to a big window letting in lots of natural light. Don’t choose to take the photos indoors if you can do them outdoors (well, unless you live in a glass house! )

These 2 pictures were taken immediately one after each other – except that the flash was turned off in the 2nd picture…see the difference?

If your pictures are blurry, then it’s usually because a) there isn’t enough light (you really need a LOT of light when there is any movement) or b) your camera machine isn’t “fast” enough – which does mean you need a ‘fancier’ camera machine (or to get technical, you need to have a faster “shutter speed” – so you need to adjust this but lots of everyday automatic small digital camera machines don’t let you adjust this easily). Since you can’t always have (b), it’s easier to control (a)! Yes, you can add more light by turning on your flash but rather than doing that, we think it’s better to turn the flash off and go outside, to get the extra light. There is always more “ambient” light outside in general. If you have to stay indoors, then Hsin-Yi would rather have extra lamps & stuff to add more light to the room, rather than use the flash…

Oh – don’t forget there is also a possible 3rd reason which is that (c) your humans are moving. If you move the camera machine when you press the shutter, the picture will be blurry too. A lot of people move more then they realise. So get your humans to practise holding really still when they press the shutter and if crouching down, sometimes it helps to rest their elbows on their knees or the sofa arm  – something solid. If standing, then spread legs apart so that they are standing really solidly and not swaying from side to side!

OK, now I’m going to hand you back to Hsin-Yi for her to tell you the rest of our ‘photo tips’ – and then we’ve got some tips from the professionals!

Slobbers,
Honey the Great Dane

(from my human, Hsin-Yi)

Beware the Background Bombs!

This is sort of related to “framing” your photo and it’s something that applies regardless of what kind of camera you’re using. I’ve seen people with fancy DSLR cameras take ‘so-so’ photos because they don’t frame the photos properly and don’t think about the background behind the subjects.

It’s also related to something that people often forget which is that YOU as the photographer need to move around: shift to the right, to the left, crouch down, try another angle to see if you can get a better shot. Your legs aren’t cemented down to the ground the minute you put the camera to your eyes – so move them!

Your subjects can’t see how they look in the phots so it is your responsibility to move around so that they are framed properly – rather than expecting them to move into perfect position. I sometimes see photographers telling people to move this way & that and their poor subjects are shuffling left & right, forwards & backwards, with their smiles becoming stiffer & stiffer on their faces…when all it would have taken was the photographer taking 1 step sideways himself to position them perfectly against the background. And especially when you’re dealing with animals – you certainly can’t get them to shuffle left & right on command! So once you’ve got your dog in a nice Sit, you have to be the one to move around him, so that you can adjust how the picture is framed.

Why is this important?

1) If your dog is against a ‘busy’ background, you won’t be able to see him as clearly – whereas if you just shift slightly to the left or right, he’ll suddenly be a lot clearer and it will be a better picture. And as an example, here’s a picture I randomly took of Honey last week: she was standing still, in exactly the same pose – all I did was take 1 step to the right in the 2nd shot – but as you can see, in the first picture, she is against the tree/bush behind her and you can’t see her very well – whereas in the second, she is clearly outlined against the green grass behind. (Also, speaking as an artist, it is always better not to have your subject bang right in the centre of the picture, “slicing the picture in half”, especially landscape shots – better to have them slightly right or slightly left of centre.)

This is also important if your dog is similar in colour to the background (eg. black dogs often have this problem) – then you can try shifting around until they are silhouetted more clearly. Even if they’re not dark, you can sometimes get more interesting/better pictures – for example, going back to the “crouching down” advice from Part 1, you can often do this to get your dog silhouetted against the sky and this can be a lovely effect.

I love taking pictures of Honey silhouetted against the sky…for example, in the picture below, I crouched down so that you could see Honey against the blue sky – if I had been standing up, she would beeen a bit ‘lost’ against the busy background of bushes & sand dunes behind (especially with her fawn coat)…

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2) You don’t want to have a tree growing out of your dog’s head! Be aware of what is behind your dog and make sure there isn’t anything ridiculous sprouting out of his body. All it takes is a step to the side to adjust the shot. Here’s an example (again, not a great picture but it’s just to illustrate this post):

This applies also to humans – not just to avoid things growing out of your body but to avoid blocking important things behind you! Especially if you’re sightseeing and trying to get a shot with an important landmark… (I can tell you, there is nothing as frustrating as the time we asked another tourist to get a shot of me & Paul with the Eiffel Tower…only to find when we looked at the photo that they had taken it with us standing right in front of the Eiffel Tower, blocking it completely! All they had to do was step to the side slightly! )

This also applies to other things in the background which might “spoil” your picture. For example, here is a picture of Honey I took to illustrate this point – it’s a nice picture which is ruined by all those ugly “Restricted Parking” signs in the background, all crammed above Honey’s head…if I’d just stepped to the right a bit, I could probably have moved them out of frame and got her against a plainer background…

So when you look through the camera, don’t forget to look at the whole picture. Sometimes a small movement or adjustment can make a huge difference!

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Work that Stay, baby!

It really does help to have a dog that will stay in one position – whether it is in a Sit Stay, a Down Stay or even a Stand Stay. So yet another reason to train your Stays!

No, seriously – I spend a LOT of time practising & proofing Honey’s Stays – partly because I believe it is a very important “skill” every dog should learn, as part of their everyday obedience, which makes them easier & more enjoyable to take out & about and more safely under control – but also because I love taking photos and I need a dog who will stay still & pose for me. So if you want to take better photos of your dog, it’s really worth you spending some time working on proofing & extending his Stays.

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Just smile! (aka. Don’t micro-manage when posing with your dog!)

If you want to get nice pictures with your dog, JUST KEEP SMILING AT THE CAMERA!!!

One of the biggest mistakes people make when they’re trying to get a photo together with their pets is to keep fussing their dogs, trying to make them look at the camera, talking to them, looking down, pointing, calling…and you end up with pictures like these:

When it could have looked like this:

It is so frustrating when you’re the photographer taking the photos and you finally get the dog looking at you – and then the owner is either looking away or making an awful face or moving, therefore blurred…and ruined the perfect shot! I always end up yelling at people, “Don’t move! Leave the dog! Just keep smiling at the camera!”

Seriously, dogs don’t understand pointing. It is a waste of time you pointing at the camera and the more you fuss the dog, the more confused & excitable he is likely to get. Just get him to stay still next to you – and then look at the camera and smile! (Or if you don’t want to look at the camera, then at least look at your dog & smile. Trust me, people ALWAYS look better when they smile!)

Let the photographer do the work of getting the dog’s attention. Tell them to call the dog’s name just before pressing the shutter or make a funny noise (refer to ‘Magic Words & Sounds’ in Part 1) – basically, it’s their responsibility to get the dog to look towards them – if they wait long enough, the dog will usually turn his head – so you just need to keep smiling at the camera so that you’re all ready the minute the “perfect shot” arrives.

This is especially true when you’re taking a group photo of people together with their dogs. It doesn’t matter so much if not all the dogs are looking straight at the camera but it will matter more if some of the people aren’t (or are pulling a funny face!). A funny noise from the photographer can get all the dogs looking at him at once – and then it’s down to him to quickly press the shutter and catch that shot – but the humans need to all be ready, looking & smiling at the camera, so as not to “ruin” that moment.

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Make like a Boy/Girl Scout (ie. Be Prepared)

Just like all those TV shows when an FBI agent walks into a creepy, dark place…have your finger on the trigger when you’re photographing your pets! This is especially true if your camera is one of those that needs you to press the shutter 1/2 way to get it in focus.

When I’m taking photos, I look through the viewfinder, press the shutter halfway to focus on Honey (whatever she is doing) and then wait: as soon as Honey looks up/looks at me/pauses…does something I want to capture, CLICK – my finger goes down. Then I instantly refocus and wait again. (If your dog moves further away or closer to you, you will also have to refocus)

It’s a bit like fishing, I guess – poised, waiting, with the net primed in position, ready to swoop down and grab the fish at just the right moment. But if you’re not in position, all ready, you’ll probably miss the fish/shot. Don’t wait until the dog is in the perfect pose and then raise the camera to your eye – it’s too late by then. You have to have your eye in the viewfinder, constantly following your dog as he moves around, and your finger on the trigger, ready to go.

It also means that you’re more likely to catch your dog looking at the camera naturally. In spite of what people say, most dogs do keep glancing at their owners every so often – so it’s just catching those moments.

Even if you’re walking on leash – I’ve heard people complain that all they get is a picture of their dog’s back, with the dog never turning to look at them, no matter how much they call… I personally would just have my camera ready, eye in the viewfinder, finger on the shutter – and then stop suddenly every so often – most dogs (unless they are terrible pullers) will feel the tension on the leash and also pause and glance back, as if to say “What’s the problem?” – and that’s when you can grab a great shot.

I’ve gotten a lot of good shots of Honey like this – especially as she will pause & look back at me if I stop, even if she isn’t on leash (she sort of always makes sure she stays a certain distance close to me – it isn’t something I’ve trained but just something she does naturally, I think because of our strong bond – so she is always checking back and making sure that I am keeping up with her if she is ahead and if I stop, she’ll pause, if I slow down, she’ll slow down, etc…)

One of our readers asked if I had learnt my stuff by going on a photography course or just by myself: to be honest, most things I just picked up myself from taking loads & loads of photos and just a bit of common sense, really. I did go on a short course ages ago but it was actually before I got my DSLR camera so all the info about focal lengths and aperture priority and shutter speeds was wasted on me really. The courses are great for teaching you all the technical details, things like shutter speed & ISO, etc, etc, (which is more relevant if you have a fancy camera) but the tips I have suggested are relevant regardless of what kind of camera you’re using. As I’ve said, you can be using the best camera in the world and if you don’t remember these points, you can still take rubbish pictures.

Of course, you will generally take “better” pictures with a more powerful camera, in that it will be sharper & clearer ‘coz the camera will be faster and capture more light – but there are things beyond the technical stuff which can still affect how good your pictures look and you can still make your photos look better, even if you don’t have a super fancy camera!

Well, I hope you’ve found those tips useful. And now, I’ll hand you back to Honey for some tips from the professionals!
Hsin-Yi

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I’m very lucky ‘coz some of my doggie friends, whose humans are professional pet photographers, have asked their humans to share some of their tips on my blog – so thank you so much, Emmet, Teal’c & Luna!

Custom Portraits by Charlene – Charlene Potts & Emmet the Great Dane  (PITTSBURGH, USA)

Website: www.customportraitsbycharlene.com

(Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/customportraitsbycharlene )

I decided to share some of my older pictures of Emmet, which were shot when I was learning my camera and I was more of a ‘beginner.’ I hope this encourages your readers that everyone can get great pictures of their pets

My tricks for photographing pets:

I do whatever it takes to get my pup to look right into the camera lens, from making funny noises to saying his favorite words. The adorable head tilt can be a great little bonus of getting your pet interested by using favorite words! For example, if I say “Do you wanna…?” Emmet will assume that I’m going to say ‘go for a walk,’ or ‘eat,’ etc. Sometimes, If I simply say ‘cookie,’ I get that perfect eye contact and snap away. I love good eye contact in my pictures. It gives personality to our images that we know our pets have. Eye contact in a pet portrait allows people who don’t know your pet to see the ‘human-side’ of him/her, and it’s especially important when I’m photographing dogs or cats who are waiting to be adopted.

I take LOTS of pictures, just to get that ONE perfect shot. And it’s always, always worth it. Since digital photography became the norm, it’s virtually FREE to snap, snap, snap! My best friend shot this photo of Emmet and me at the beach; she took 1,232 photos in two days, and I fell in love with this one, and it was absolutely worth it! I have a 30″ x 40″ canvas gallery wrap of it hanging in my living room.

Use a fast shutter speed! For those of you who are familiar with or are becoming familiar with the manual mode of your cameras, a quick shutter speed is key when your subject is an animal. This ensures you get those stop-action photos and you lose the blur because your pet moved.

It’s very important that you shoot from your pet’s eye level. With that said, the only reason that those ‘from above’ photos work, is because I am still shooting directly into the dogs’ eyes and they are both focused on me. It’s a different kind of portrait idea, and gives you a different perspective if you’re generally shooting from your pet’s level. When you’re looking for a different perspective, you can try things like shooting from above, or even shooting from below! Works well with big Dane jowls

Make photographing your pet a fun project that you work on together, as a bonding experience. Do your very best to get your pet acclimated to the camera. Maybe he/she gets stressed when the camera comes out because that often means, “SIT. No, not there, here. Sit. Hey! Look here. Look at me! I said look!” Involve toys (squeaky toys can be life-savers for this!) and lots of small treats! As with training, I often give Emmet an ‘extra special’ treat for photo sessions, so that I know I have his full attention and he is happy to work towards getting rewarded. Don’t get frustrated if your pet doesn’t cooperate; embrace it and enjoy the goofy shots you get if they don’t quite understand the concept of striking a pose!

There are more pet images on my website, and I can be reached through the ‘contact’ page of my website, and I would love to hear from Honey’s readers, so please encourage them to ask questions or say hi!

Charlene

IMC Photography & Designs – Ilka-Maud Czerny & Teal’c the Rescue Staffy  (SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA)

(Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/IMCdesigns )

The first thing that came to mind when I thought about what to write is that you’ve got to have a lot of patience! Never forget you are trying to take pictures of an animal not of a person. It’s very hard to reason with a dog and even harder to reason with a cat. Well, perhaps that’s close to impossible!

I mostly take my pictures in the studio using flashlights. But you can experiment inside too! Just use a black bed sheet as a background and some reading lamps. With lighting it’s important to make sure that you only illuminate the dog and not the background. That way you stand a good chance that the background will stay black! Test everything using a big stuffed toy and only get your pet in once everything is ready. I do that, before a client comes I make sure everything is set using either a big stuffed animal or my dog but he’s used to it!

My secret for cute faces in dogs and even some attention from cats? I have perfected my bark. A very loud high pitched one or a deep more subtle one but coming from a human it ALWAYS gets their attention!

Lots of people have problems taking pictures of dogs, especially black ones, outside. That has nothing to do with being a bad photographer! Its all about the physics! The dog is very dark, the surroundings are very bright and neither an old fashioned film nor a modern digital camera can deal with such a wide spectrum! Only the human eye is sophisticated enough to see the whole range at the same time!

What can you do? Here are a few easy tips:

1. Always take pictures in the morning or the afternoon when the light is softest or on a slightly overcast day
2. Never at noon when the sun comes straight from above and the shadows get almost black!
3. Use the sun as a light source and position your dog accordingly
4. It can be nice to have the sun from one side that it makes one eye really bright and the other side stays dark (spot meter on the bright side the effect will be that the other side is extremely dark)
5. If you have a SLR camera and a flash you can adjust manually then set it to something like 1/3 and fire it with every picture it will brighten the foreground just a little bit!
6. On a SLR camera use the A stetting for aperture priority. That way you can set your depth of field the way you want it and the camera will give you the shutter speed automatically. (If the shutter speed goes under 1/30 of a second you will have to open up the aperture otherwise you won’t be able to hold the camera steady.

If you want to take some really nice pics of your dog outdoors then I think it is important not to take the whole family. For most dogs posing is not something they do every day and the more people around the more confusing it gets. I always tell my clients that we get the best results if they bring one person per pet. So the owner concentrates on the animal and I on the lighting and the camera. You want to take pictures of the animal and the owner? Then it is important for the person, after the dog is in position, not to talk just keep smiling either at the puppy or at the camera. The dog will settle eventually. You know all those pictures where that puppy is finally in the right position and the owner pulls a weird face? Always a shame.

 I’m happy to have readers ask more questions. 

 Cheers, Ilka

Charlotte Reeves Photography – Charlotte Reeves & Luna the Great Dane  (BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA)

(Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/charlottereevesphotography )

Availability of good light is the most important thing to consider when choosing a place to take photos. If you can, try and turn the flash off and select a fast shutter speed. Indoors is fine if there is an abundance of light from skylights, large windows or large sliding glass doors, however even if these are present, a fast moving dog can still pose a challenge, so reserve these settings for when the dog is calm, relaxed and not prone to sudden quick movements.

Outdoors is best for a good abundance of natural available light. The most ideal lighting conditions are in light shade; under an awning or veranda, under the shade of a tree (full shade, not part ‘dappled’ shade). This gives you plenty of light to work with, but no bright highlights and harsh shadows. Try and make backgrounds plain, uncluttered and neutral in tone – not overly bright (like a white wall in full sunlight) or completely dark (like the inside of a garage or a dark coloured wall in shade).

Ideally, in preparation for taking the photos, start off by doing some obedience work. Dogs who are well trained already are much easier to work with, as they are used to things being asked of them. Try and teach at least the sit, down/drop and stay, as these come in very handy.

If you are looking to get some nice portrait shots where the dog looks attentive, you need to get and keep their attention. Often treats are the best way to do this, however you can also use a favourite toy. The more attention they are paying to you, the better your shots will turn out. Whatever you do to get the dog’s attention, you need to be QUICK. Dogs move fast and often quite randomly, so be ready to catch them. If something stops working to attract their attention, don’t get frustrated or keep trying it, move onto something else. Always stay happy and keep things interesting to the dog. Once they have decided you are no longer interesting to them, it’s often hard to get their attention back again!

You might be interested in getting some candid shots of your dog too. The best thing to do is just act casual and follow them around, capturing the daily doggy things they do. Sometimes these moments result in the most natural shots however they can be harder to get as you need to move around with the dog and be quick with your camera.

I shoot in manual mode for full control over exposure, as I often find especially with black or white dogs, the automatic exposure the camera gives is not correct. I usually shoot with quite a shallow aperture – between F2 and F5.6. This allows me to use faster shutter speeds as dogs don’t often hold still for very long. I also like the shallow depth of field this creates. I am careful with the focus of the shot. If the shot is of the dog’s whole head/face, I always make sure the focus is on the eyes – the eyes always have to be sharp.

I don’t use special equipment just for dogs, other than my bum bag which houses treats and toys. My camera equipment is pretty standard and what you’d find in most portrait or wedding photographer’s bag. I use a Canon 5D body with three main lenses. The Canon 24-70mm F2.8 L-series is on the camera about 80% of the time and most of my shots are with this great lens.

I am in love with my 50mm F1.4 and this comes out every session when the light is failing and when the dog is nice and calm. I find the very large aperture on this lens extremely helpful in low light situations, however have to be careful with the shallow depth of field it creates as the focus point has to be spot on.

For action shots and ones when I am just ‘spying’ on the dog, watching it do doggy stuff, my Sigma 100-300mm F4 lens is great. It’s quite large so it never stays on the camera for long periods of time, but is quite sharp and very useful at it’s maximum aperture. I do have a pair of Canon Speedlite flashes however never use them on my doggy shoots and I shoot entirely using available light.

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There – now you’ve had advice from the professionals too – so you have no excuse! I hope my 2 posts have given your humans some useful tips and inspiration for your next photo session.

If you have any tips that you would like to share too – (for example, thanks to Badger for his comment with great tips on photographing puppies, in Part 1!) – please don’t be shy and let us know in the comments below!

*My blog friends, Pallo & Koira the Flyball Dogs, also just did a great post on their blog about getting pets to pose for photos! You can check it out here.

Also, Charlene & Ilka have kindly offered to answer any more questions my readers may have – so leave your question in your comments or you can visit them on their websites/FB pages too.

Happy Snapping!

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 PS. I’m so sorry – I STILL haven’t been able to come round to visit your blogs! My human is just having a really hectic time at the moment and getting stressy with “too much on her plate” – but I promise that we will catch up with you as soon as we can…so please bear with us and forgive us for being such lousy blog friends at the moment!

 PPS. for people following Hsin-Yi’s new, own blog, she’s got a new post up! ‘When in Rome…’

And we’ve also been really lucky ‘coz a couple of my lovely friends, whose humans are professional pet portrait photographers, have been so kind & generous and spent some time writing some tips for me to share with you too!

But first, here are some suggestions from Hsin-Yi for getting good photos. Of course, remember that Hsin-Yi isn’t a professional photographer and she’s only really started learning how to use a fancy DSLR camera machine recently…but Hsin-Yi thinks that there are still lots of things you can do to make your picture better – even if you’re not using a fancy-schmancy camera machine. (Hsin-Yi used just a small, normal “point & shoot” camera machine for a long time, before she got her big fancy one last year).

Slobbers,
Honey the Great Dane

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(from my human, Hsin-Yi)

Learn the magic words (& sounds)!

One of the things I hear the most often from pet owners is that they just can’t get their dog’s attention when they’re trying to take a picture. Well, there’s a simple way around this: work out what kinds of sounds & words will get your dog’s attention and USE them!

Honey’s all-time magic word is “CAT!” and most of those pictures you see where she is standing all alert, looking majestic into the distance? That’s usually achieved by me hissing, “Look! Cat! Where’s the CAT?” (And I have to confess – I do slightly encourage Honey’s “obsession” with cats because I find this word so useful for our photo sessions! ) Other good words to use are names of her friends, especially friends she’s seen recently (“Where’s Boo?”) – or family members, (“Oh! Is that Paul?”) – accompanied by gasps & sudden, sharp intakes of breath. This is almost guaranteed to get Honey standing/sitting up tall, ears perked up, eyes bright, alert & looking around.

To get her to look at the camera, I find less excitable words better. You know how sometimes you talk to your dog and they do that adorable head tilt? Well, you can recreate that when you’re taking a picture – by talking to them in the same way. Again, there are certain words which tend to get that cute, quizzical look.

With Honey, they are words like “breakfast, dinner, cookie, treat…” and certain names (eg. “Mr Pudding”) – but not just by saying the words themselves. I have to say them in a certain way, usually with an upward inflection, like a question – eg. “Shall we go home and have dinner now? Yeah? What do you think? Would you like dinner? And then after dinner, would you like a cookie? Yeah? Shall we do that? And would Mr Pudding like to come and have dinner too?” -

Yeah, I know – I sound really crazy & stupid but if I talk like that, I can often get that adorable head tilt thing from Honey…I think it’s because they recognise certain words in a flood of words they don’t understand – and so they tilt their heads when they’re trying to work something out. Even if they don’t so the head tilt, they’re more likely to give you different expressions.

Here are some examples of different expressions I’ve got from Honey by talking to her:

Of course, there is one other way to get the dog to look at the camera and that’s to actually teach them to look at the lens on command. You teach this the same way you teach the “Watch” command for eye contact – except this time, you’re rewarding the dog for looking into the lens. I’ve taught this to Honey unconsciously because she’s been in so many photo sessions with me, she’s worked out that when she looks at the lens and hears the “click” (in this case, the shutter) – I usually immediately follow it with praise & a treat. So it’s sort of like clicker training, with the shutter acting as a clicker – and she’s learnt to keep looking at the lens until she hears the “click”…but this tends to be a different kind of look, more intense – and I like the more natural look, with different expressions – so I still tend to use the ‘magic words & sounds’ method to get her to look at the camera.

I also find that even if they’re already making eye contact, using these sounds & words can really liven up their expression and make them look more “happy” and interested in the picture (this is especially true if you have a dog like mine whose face naturally falls into a “sad, abused” expression because of all the jowls & wrinkles…seriously, if you went by Honey’s face most of the time, you’d think she was clinically depressed! ). As an example, just now, before I started writing this post, I decided I wanted a cute picture of Honey “holding” a camera…so I quickly set her up for the shot – and yes, she did obligingly look at the camera for me but she also looked so sad & bored – it wasn’t the picture I had in mind – so I quickly started talking, asking her about “Mr Pudding” (the neighbour cat who loved her, back in Newcastle) – and she immediately perked up. You can see the difference here:

I know a lot of people will say their dogs don’t respond to any sounds – that’s not true. You probably just haven’t tried enough different ones. People tend to just call their dog’s name (in increasingly irate tones! ) and then give up…when you really need to get a lot more creative than that. Ask any pet photographer and you’ll probably find that they can practically mimic a whole zoo, in order to get attention. Different dogs find different sounds enticing/interesting and you know your dog best – so try a few out on him and see what his reaction is.

Don’t be shy! I’ve squeaked like a mouse, hooted like a baboon and grunted like a pig (even just whispering can be really ‘different’ if you don’t do it normally) – all to get that elusive perfect picture. If you have a very excitable dog, you might want to experiment to find some sounds which get his attention but don’t send him into overdrive. You want him to look alert & interested, not jump up to give you a rugby tackle!

Let there be (day)light! 

If you do nothing else, this one thing will make you take better pictures of your pets: TURN OFF THE FLASH!! If you don’t, you get scary pictures like these:

No, seriously, flash does horrible things to your pets’ eyes and also often to the nice natural colour of their coats. It also washes you out if you’re in pictures with them. You’ll pretty much always take better pictures with your flash OFF. (Well, unless you’ve got those fancy, diffusing, umbrella flashes that professional photographers use…but most of us just have the nasty little white bomb )

This picture that everybody raved about was taken literally just outside our front door - in the morning, just after Honey had finished eating breakfast outside and was waiting to come in again - something caught her attention out on the street in front of our house (you can see the outer grill door at the left) and I quickly grabbed my camera and got the shot. Just having the morning light gave great definition to all the muscles in her body...

I try to do all our photo sessions in natural light as much as possible – it’s the nicest light to shoot in. This means in the daytime, either outdoors or beside a big window which is letting in lots of light. If you’re planning a specific session just to get some “nice photos” – definitely plan it for the daytime, outside if possible. Even just outside your front door will be nicer than indoors.

I often will delay taking pictures (eg. when Honey gets a parcel and I want to get some shots of her opening it, for her blog) until I can do them in daylight. This is especially true if you have a simple, basic digital camera – the big fancy ones can cope with low light conditions (ie. indoor lighting, without flash) but the basic ones need much more light to get good pictures – so outside, natural light is best. And if you’re taking action shots, you really want as much natural light as possible – otherwise the pictures will be blurry.

Of course, I know that with long work hours & stuff, you might only get time to take pictures in the evenings – so you have no choice but to take them indoors, using artificial lighting. I would still turn the flash off and just turn on every light in the room (even the small lamp in the corner). If you keep really still when you press the shutter, you will take clearer pictures indoors, even with no flash.

Get down with it!

One thing I see a lot of pet owners doing is taking pictures of their dogs from above…this leads to pictures of a bunch of rectangular blobs…you lose all sight of the animal’s body shape &  they just look all weird, with limbs in weird places or heads that have completely disappeared. Or you get a succession of really boring pictures of their backs. This is especially true of smaller dogs (unless they look up at you, which can look very cute – but that’s a different kind of picture) – and especially if your dog has his nose down sniffing…

If you’re trying to get a picture of your dog doing stuff, best to crouch down and get it from his level – so you can see his whole body/head/face properly. I know a lot of the times, the dog is walking ahead of you (especially if they’re on leash) and so it’s hard to step back far enough to crouch down & get a good picture of them from the side…but even if you’re behind them, I still think you get a more interesting, better picture if you crouch down. For one thing, if you take the picture from above, often all you’ll see is the ground around your dog – which is pretty boring, lots of empty space in the picture – whereas if you crouch down, you can show more of the environment the dog is walking in and just generally make it a more interesting picture.

Here are 2 examples I got quickly yesterday to illustrate this post – as you can see, in the 2nd picture, it’s still a view of Honey from behind but you see more of her body, how she’s moving and get a sense of her walking in the park…as opposed to just a rectangular (headless!) blob against green grass…

Here’s a real life example of 2 pictures I took when we were out on a playdate with Boo, walking down a main street – the first one is taken from above and is a pretty boring picture, and the dogs don’t look great either; the 2nd one is taken crouched down, from the front (I had to run on ahead to take it) and it is a much better picture – although Boo unfortunately moved out of the frame, it still shows better where they were and what they were doing…

This is also really important if your dog is lying down – otherwise they really will look like a legless blob! Crouch down and shoot them from the front – or the side – you can often get really beautiful portraits or profiles when you do this, especially because they’re calm & still at that time:

Another good time to crouch down is when dogs are meeting each other – so you can really see their faces & bodies as they interact, as opposed to a bunch of long blobs crowded together, when seen from above…

…and even action shots taken from a lower level can look really different & “cool” – as in this picture of Honey rolling:

I just find that generally, shots taken from the “dog’s eye view” are much more involving and really pull you into the dog’s world (and dogs are more likely to look at you/the camera when you’re at their level). Even just “everyday” pictures with the dog doing everyday stuff, like sleeping & cuddling – crouch down and get them from the dog’s level – they’ll usually be much nicer pictures…

Of course, I’m not saying never take pictures of your dog from above!   You can get great pictures from above – and a lot of the professional pet portrait photographers do – but it’s got to be framed well and most importantly, the dog must be looking up at the camera (especially little dogs!). Here are some examples of pictures I’ve purposefully taken from above:

Lastly, don’t be afraid to try different angles and perspectives for some fun shots…like get really low, below your dog (especially funny when you have a dog with big floppy jowls like Honey!) or shoot it from the angle of his bum or his paws…just something a bit different! And this has the advantage of the dog often getting interested and looking at you because you are in such an unusual position…

Helping the Camera-Shy…

I know a lot of you are probably thinking, “Well, it’s easy for you ‘coz Honey’s so comfortable with the lens in her face – my dog always runs away when he sees the camera!” Yes, I have met lots of people who claim their pets are “camera shy” and that’s why they can never get a good shot, because their dog literally turns or slinks away whenever the camera comes out.

The answer – as in a lot of other things with dogs – is De-sensitisation, Socialisation & Positive Association.

I can pretty confidently say that if any of your “camera shy” dogs came to live with me, within a week, they’d be hamming up to the camera like Paris Hilton. (Pretty much ANYbody who lives with me – human or animal – just desensitises to the camera – since it’s in their face all the time! ) No, seriously, I think a lot of people only take their cameras out when they MUST get a shot of the dog and then they yell at the dog to “STAY!” and they get frustrated and the dog picks up the “negative vibes” and they associate it with the camera and it all becomes a vicious circle. For my pets, the camera is a really positive thing – ‘coz it is always associated with praise & treats! Honey will really “work it” – to her, Posing is no different to Sitting or Shaking Paws for a treat. And she isn’t ‘scared’ of the camera because it is there, all the time, almost like background noise now.

This is Boo's brother, Mowgli, who "hates" the camera and whose owner, Jeena, really struggled to get any pictures of him, because he would always turn away. I managed to get these shots of him the first time I met him, on a playdate at the park. He was pretty shy - but after a couple of hours with me, he was getting pretty used to the camera being around!

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If you have a dog that’s really camera-shy, then I suggest that you first de-sensitise the dog to the presence of the camera and actively associate it with positive things. For example, take the camera out and hold it up in front of the dog, just before you give him his dinner bowl. Or have it by the front door and pick it up and show it to the dog (don’t necessarily try to take a picture) just before you open the door to take him out for his walk. Basically, the camera always appears when something good happens. Also, leave it around, somewhere safe but visible to the dog – maybe even put a bowl of treats next to it, which you periodically take one out of to give to the dog – all the time, so that the dog gets used to it being around.

Then gradually work up to pointing the camera at the dog and clicking the shutter (don’t try to get amazing pictures or anything – your focus here is on making the dog comfortable, not getting good shots) – while talking to the dog lots and giving him lots of treats. Pretty quickly, the dog will realise that “hey, when that big black thing comes out, I get a lot of attention and a lot of treats! Not bad!” I have never met an animal yet that I haven’t been able to make comfortable & photograph, usually within a pretty short space of time, using these techniques – yes, even dogs whose owners tell me are really nervous & shy of the camera.

Don’t try to make the dog look at the camera if he is really nervous – pictures of him looking away is fine (in fact, I actually love to get pictures of Honey in profile – especially her head, as I love the classic regal Dane head – so I often purposefully take pictures of her looking away from the camera).

Don’t try to get posed ‘portrait’ shots of him sitting nicely  – in the beginning, just get him used to having “candid” shots taken around the house, eg, while he’s sleeping, eating, playing with his toys, looking out the window…not actively ‘posing’. Just get him used to being in front of the lens and the noise of the shutter clicking. As I said above, if your dog is clicker trained, you can even substitute the click of the shutter for a clicker and always follow it with a treat – pretty soon your dog will be looking forward to the shutter clicking and trying to “work” for it.

And always keep these sessions light-hearted & fun, lots of praise & laughter, play with the dog, clown around a bit…if you feel yourself starting to get frustrated, stop – try again another day. And just like training, keep them short to begin with!! Honey will happily pose for me for 20mins straight now but that’s after a lifetime of ‘training’ with me – ha! ha! – if you’re starting out, I would keep it to 5mins. Even if you’re doing a longer session, take breaks to let the dog “relax & reset” – even human models take breaks in their photoshoots!

Turning the flash off will also help your camera-shy dog, because there is nothing like being blinded by a horrible light in your eyes to really put you off being photographed!! If you have a good zoom on your camera, you can use that too – don’t get too close to the dog to begin with – stay back and just use the zoom to capture him. This way again, he gets used to the camera being there, around him, clicking away – but it’s far enough away not to make him uncomfortable.

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 Pick your time…

Don’t forget that pets have their “good times” and “bad times” just like us too. You might be perfectly happy to pose for photos normally but not 1st thing in the morning, before you’ve had your cup of coffee! So – particularly if you’re trying to do a “photo session” – pick a good time for your dog. For example, I sometimes start photographing Honey and then I just give up – because I know she’s in a “funny mood” and just isn’t giving it to me. I don’t necessairly mean pose – Honey is so well-trained now and so used to posing that she will Sit & Stay or whatever I ask her…but I want more than that from her. I want “energy” and some engagement with the camera – and so if she’s not in the right mood, I’ll just postpone it to another time. I know her “bad” times, eg. mid-morning, when she is usually deep in her post-breakfast nap, is NOT a good time to rouse her and get her to pose for the camera!

Whaa - ?

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This also applies in reverse if you have a very excitable dog that just won’t stay still (another complaint that many pet owners have) – don’t try to get those nice, moody portrait shots at the beginning of your walk! Wait until the end when he’s tired out and had a good run & play (use that time to get some action shots of him first) – and then he’ll probably lie down by himself or at least hang around one place – and then you can try getting some nice ‘portrait’ shots then. Trying to photograph a dog when he’s all hyped up and bouncing around is just impossible. Even the most hyper dog will have more quiet, reflective times.

This is also really true of cats – of course, my experience is really limited to the 2 cats we’ve owned but I find that to get a good picture of them (because cats really won’t stay still when they don’t feel like it, even if you’ve done some training with them) – you have to pick the right times.

I can never get good picture of Muesli in the morning, during her most active time when she is busy dashing in & out of the house/garden – she just won’t stay still and has no interest in treats even to Sit & pose. But if I wait until late afternoon, when some of her energy is spent and she is getting ready to curl up for her afternoon snooze, I can get some very nice shots of her.

Even if I want to get action shots, I find this a better time coz she is less easily distracted and more engaged with me – so I can get her to look at me more easily (using a funny noise) or move towards me or jump up somewhere or whatever. And I find that she’ll often even really ham it up for the camera if you catch her in the right mood!

Well, I’d better stop here ‘coz this post is getting WAY too long!

But I hope you’ve found some of this helpful and look out for Part 2, with some more tips – and some advice from the professionals!

* If you have any little tips or tricks for getting good photos – please do share in the comments below!!

Continued in…Part 2

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ps. Voting for the People’s Choice Award in the Best Australian Blogs 2012 Competition has started!! If you like my blog, please take a moment to vote for me (I’m up against 940 other blogs – and I think I’m the only doggie blog in there!!) :

just click here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BAB2012 – the blogs are organised alphabetically by name, so I’m on the 2nd page (F ~ K) – tick the box next to “Honey the Great Dane” – and then keep clicking on the ‘Next’ button to get to the end of the survey – and don’t forget to click on ‘Finish’ at the end to make your vote count!  

Don’t worry – you can only vote ONCE in this competition so it’s not such a hassle as the last one! Thank you so much!!

Slobbers,
Honey the Great Dane

Continuing my adventures on our annual ‘doggie holiday’ – last year in Port Stephens, where we stayed in a lovely ‘batch’ in its own private park gardens and with a resident Mexican Jumping Bean – er, Staffie pup, very aptly named Kaos!

Well, after our lovely walk on Bagnalls Beach that Sat evening, I had an early night while the humans went out for dinner…and then since it was Sunday the next day, we all had a quiet, lazy Sunday morning at the batch together…

Well, quiet, that is, until Kaos arrived!

Since we couldn’t let Kaos into the batch to laze with us (his humans said he’s not allowed in the batch coz he “can’t be trusted” and would chew things up and destroy things and the batch has to remain nice for other guests!) – and anyway, I don’t think Kaos knew how to “laze” – ha! ha! – so we decided to go for another little walk around the lovely park gardens of The Donga…

And then me & Kaos had a great game of Bitey-Face!

In fact, I got so excited at one point, I grabbed one of the sofa cushions and took off on a ZOOMIE!!! Hsin-Yi thought it was the funniest sight and she was so busy laughing that she didn’t catch it fast enough on video or camera machine…this was the only picture she got!

Well, since it was our last day in Port Stephens, my humans said we couldn’t stay all day at the batch (even with Kaos’s begging! ) – and so they took me for a ‘proper walk’ out in the Stockton sand dunes, beside Birubi Beach.

Do you remember I blogged about visiting these dunes before? You can see my other posts about them here:

• A Desert Adventure!
• ‘Honey of Arabia’…
• A Season of Dune Delights (which includes the video of my Arabian dancing ears! )

They are actually very near to Port Stephens and although they are not an official off-leash dog park, lots of local people take their doggies there to run & play. We loved it because it was the place with the widest open space we’d seen since moving to Australia – it was almost as good as being back in NZ again!

And that was the day that Hsin-Yi got that great photo of me, sitting majestically, looking out across the dunes – you might remember I used it as my header picture for a while. Hsin-Yi loves this picture!

Well, it was getting late in the afternoon now and almost time to start for home…but just before we left, me & Paul decided to teach Kaos how to play football!

My humans said it was good for Kao’s training to teach him some manners and practise “self-control” – so I showed him how he could only get the ball if he “earned” it by sitting politely first. See, my humans have taught me that whenever I want something in life, I always just have to look for what I can do to earn it!

Kaos was a fast learner!

He was also a fast learner when it came to modelling for the camera machine…well, you know that my human, Hsin-Yi, is crazy about taking pictures. It’s constantly click-click-click in our house and all the pets in our household know very good “Wait” and “Stay” commands – and we know how to ham it up for the lens! I mean, look at this pictures of Muesli as a baby kitten – she’d barely been with us for a few weeks and already Hsin-Yi had her posing for photos!

So after a weekend with Hsin-Yi, Kaos had a crash course!! Of course, as a veteran, I helped give him modelling tutorials…

…such as the Casual Side-Glance (ear toss optional)…

…and the Regal, Dog-of-the-Wild Look…

…and the Wistful Puppydog Eyes (not to be confused with Mournful Puppydog Eyes, which is an advanced skill)…

Hsin-Yi was really pleased with Kaos. See, when we first arrived at The Donga, Kaos’s humans told us that they could never get a good picture of him, because he never stays still long enough to pose nicely. Well, you know Hsin-Yi – whenever you say “You can never…” to her, it just makes her want to rise to the challenge! So she was determined to get some nice portrait pictures of Kaos before the end of the weekend. And we did!

What do you think?

And he even mastered The Smile!

Kaos’s humans were delighted with the pictures when we gave them some copies!

Well, I had the most wonderful, wonderful time on my Port Stephens holiday but now it was time to go home. Poor Kaos got so upset when he saw us leaving – he ran after our car, crying and chasing us down the road! We had to turn around and take him back – and then he did it again! And again! So in the end, I had to go with Paul and take him back to his own house, for his humans to grab his leash (they told us they leave it on him all the time, because otherwise they can never catch him!) – and then finally we were able to get away.

But poor Kaos was heartbroken – his humans told us later that he came and sat outside the batch, waiting for me to appear, for days and cried & howled for me. Oh! We felt so bad! But we couldn’t take him home and we lived too far away to meet up for regular playdates so…I guess we will just have to have our happy memories together!

Hsin-Yi got some video footage of me & Kaos playing which she is making into a little movie but she hasn’t finished yet so I can’t show you here – hopefully in my next post!

Well, I hope you enjoyed coming with me on holiday in Port Stephens!

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ps. Hsin-Yi has entered a picture of me in the Charlotte Reeves Bark Stars Photography Contest on Facebook! And if I win, I will be donating the prize to Great Dane Rescue Australia.

So if you have a moment, please can you pop onto Facebook & vote for me? You can vote once every 24hrs and the doggie with the most votes by Mar 28 is the winner!

I was sort of in the lead earlier today but am now  being overtaken by other doggies! So I really need your help to claw my way back up and stay ahead of the game! Thank you so much!!

Here is the link: http://bit.ly/FOWsCV

]]> http://bighoneydog.com/2012/03/portstephens-part3/feed/ 39 http://bighoneydog.com/2012/03/chip-parcel/ http://bighoneydog.com/2012/03/chip-parcel/#comments Sun, 11 Mar 2012 00:56:22 +0000 bighoneydog http://bighoneydog.com/?p=12445 Continue reading →]]> Guess what? The Postman arrived with a very exciting thing yesterday: a parcel for me! All the way from the faraway place called Germany!

It was from my blog friend, Chip the Blue Dane who lives in Hamburg, Germany.

Chip’s humans had actually been following my blog for a long time before they got him and they used to leave me lovely comments and send my human, Hsin-Yi, lovely emails. And then a year ago, they finally got their own Great Dane!

Chip has just turned 1 yr old now and isn’t he just stunning?

Now, you know all Great Danes originally came from Germany (one of our other names is ‘German Mastiff’) – but Chip is actually a “German Dane” – ha ha!

We think that Chip – together with my other blog friend, Lincoln the black Dane in France – oh, and Rory from Down Under (who although is an Aussie, looks like a German Dane too) – are just the handsomest boy Danes!

Well, that’s probably ‘coz my humans much prefer the “European style” of Dane with the more solid body, more wrinkles, bigger jowls & ears and more “defined” profile, especially in the head, which makes them look more regal. Maybe it’s because Hsin-Yi was first introduced to Danes back in the UK so that’s why she got used to that type as what Danes ought to look like – with the very majestic Dane head and muscular, solid bodies. We know a lot of people in other countries think this type is too “coarse and heavy” but my humans do like the more mastiffy-looking Danes, more than the tall, skinny, lanky ones (sorta like some girls like Hugh Jackman and girls like Johnny Depp! )…even if all that baggy skin probably means a LOT more drool – hee! hee!

And just to show you what I mean about “baggy skin”…look at this picture of Chip in motion – ha! ha! We just LOVE it! I look a bit like that when I’m running too, with the crazy flapping ears and jowls…

Well, Chip’s blog is all in German so unfortunately, if you don’t woof German, it’s a bit hard to follow his adventures (although you can use the Google Translate button on his blog – but his humans told us that the translations are terrible! )

But that’s OK ‘coz you can still enjoy the beautiful pictures. Chip’s human, Jenny, also loves to take pictures – she and Hsin-Yi spend a lot of time talking about photos and camera machines and stuff – and she gets the most awesome action shots of Chip, like this one!

A couple of months ago, Chip emailed me to tell me that he saw my picture in a doggie magazine in Germany!

It was that beautiful picture that the very famous pet portrait photographer, Rachael Hale, took of me & my boyfriend, Ombre the Standard Schnauzer – when he was jumping up to give me a kiss.

It was the day we were all modelling for her next book, in her studios back in Auckland, New Zealand.

The article is in German but Chip’s human had very thoughtfully written a note with a short summary translation:  “the article is about dogs in Germany and the confusing current legal situation of ‘attack dogs’, the classification of ‘dangerous dog breeds’ and the restrictions for their owners…” – it’s a bit strange why they’re using a picture of Ombre kissing me for such a serious topic  – hee! hee! – but I guess I’m just honoured to be featured. The other pictures in the article were also Rachael Hale photos too, so maybe they were just using her pictures.

Chip was so nice and said that he would send me a copy of the magazine, for me to keep. He even sent an extra copy for Ombre too.

And wow, he didn’t just send me the magazines – he sent me a LOT of other goodies too!

Not just stuff for me but Chip had even included some toys for Muesli and some sweets for my humans: German chocolates and Gummi Bears! Hsin-Yi LOVES Gummi Bears! She let me try one and it was nice but…I gon no – ig thorta thik to yor teef…

…Gah! Stupid human sweets.  Am sticking to dog treats from now on…oooh, check it out – Chip had sent me some  ‘genuine German doggie yummies! (and wow – he even managed to get them past the mean Australian Customs Humans who always usually steal all yummies sent from overseas – that’s practically a miracle!)

Mm-mm-mm…here is a close-up of my slobber as I was enjoying it!

Muesli heard all the commotion and came to check out what we were doing…

…she got very excited when she saw the toys that Chip had sent her!

She LOVED the little lobsters! She kept playing with them on the balcony – dropping them and then catching them with her claws…

And she also loved the other kitty toy, which was like a beautiful peppermint stick with a dangly bell thing for Muesli to catch!

But there was one more thing to unwrap in the parcel…oooh! A new rabbit stuffie! Her name is Rosa Rabbit and I love her! Isn’t she adorable?

Thank you so much, Chip, for the wonderful parcel!

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 ps. speaking of Lincoln – did you hear that he has extended the deadline of his French Craze Contest? The deadline is now 25 March. Coz he knew that everybody has been busy and might not have had time to get their entries in.

Whew! I’m really glad ‘coz Hsin-Yi has been so busy, she hasn’t really had time to help me with my photo for the contest and we were worried that we were going to miss the deadline!

So if you haven’t sent your entry in yet – don’t worry, you’ve still got time! It’s really easy – you just need to pick a French word from Lincoln’s list (or choose any French word you like yourself) and then take a picture of yourself, illustrating that word…what a cool way to learn a new language, huh? And you can be as creative as you like about how you “illustrate” the word…you should see mine – ha! ha!