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Taking pictures of your pets is a
challenge! Dogs find the camera pointing right at them upsetting. This
‘line-up’ of our family’s dogs is the same proud group pictured in an earlier
blog. The dogs look like they are in a line-up of some sort, not the same sharp
group you see when the photo was taken outdoors. Location, location, location.
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| This was the first picture I saw of Buddy... no wonder I fell in love! |
As it turns out there is more to it than that. One thing
that makes picture taking easier today than 20 years ago, when the pictures of
my dogs were taken, is digital cameras. Now
a days you can take many, many pictures and delete the ones that don’t work out. So that is one tip, take a lot of pictures. I
interviewed our local animal shelter’s photographer, Mary Jo Adams, for picture
taking tips. She takes all the wonderful pictures for the WAIF website, http://www.waifanimals.org/adopt/dogs/dog-search-results/page/2/
and WAIF's Facebook page. If you copy the
link it will open to the page that has my new dog on it, he was Sonny while at
the shelter, but I call him Buddy. Those pictures of him are just a few of the
examples of her excellent dog and cat photographing skills. How does she make
35 black cats all look like individuals? So I asked Mary Jo how she does it.
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| This is WAIF resident Kyla... what a great picture! She's looking right at you isn't she? |
First she advised the aforementioned taking lots
of pictures. Secondly be patient, it is a waiting game. Third, get down to the
level of your pet. Closer is better, although you can always crop if
necessary. Mary Jo made it sound easy.
So I am planning a taking a very adorable picture of Buddy to post in this blog
and also send into the WAIF Happy Endings page. Well wouldn’t you know my battery needs to be
charged. So you will have to wait for
the happy ending picture of myself and Buddy. Great that will give me some time to take my own
advice given below.
My tips for
successful pictures is do some practice. Get your camera out and have the
camera in one hand and a few treats in the other. When your dog looks at the
camera in your hand, reward! As you play this game move the camera closer to
your face and rewarding your dog anytime he or she looks at the camera. Continue this
until the camera is in front of your face. Make the training session short and
fun, end with your dog wanting to look at the camera some more. Now your dog is ready for a picture! Keep the
picture taking session or moment of snapshot relaxed and lighthearted.
I took one of these pictures of Honey and the other was taken by Mary Jo. No need to say any more is there? I'll keep practicing.
Do you have any funny pet picture taking experiences you
would like to share? Post a picture and tell the story!
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