How to Photograph Your Pet for Painting

There are a few basic rules that you should follow to get good photos of any animal for use as reference in creating a portrait. I'll use a dog as an example, however, these rules apply to photographing just about any animal on dry land. Briefly these are:

1. Happy Dog
2. Helper
3. Good Light
4. Distance
5. Many Shots
6. Attention
7. Patience
8. Pose

Maybe I should expand a bit on these points as follows:

1. Happy Dog - People recognize expressions in dogs as naturally as they do in other humans. Cats, horses and other animals are a different story but the owner of a particular animal can read its mood very readily. Whether they could tell you how or not, a human can tell you when a pet looks worried or distracted to say nothing of scared or angry or ill. You want your pet portrait to convey the pleasant nature that you know they have (why would you want a portrait of an unpleasant dog?). In order to convey this, chose a location for photography with which the animal is familiar and likes but one that is not too distracting (like the local dog park may just offer too many other things that your dog wants to be doing). If you can avoid it, don't try to photograph your pet when he/she is sick or too tired.
2. Helper - Unless your pet is VERY well trained, you can't handle him/her, get set, elicit interest, get the right head angle, and keep the dog from licking your camera lens all at the same time. Get a helper, someone the animal knows and likes and who can work based on your verbal instructions while you are paying attention to what your camera sees. Sometimes it will work best for somone other than the pet's favorite person to take the photos. If your dog's "alph person" is behind the camera, that's where the dog is going to look most of the time and you don't want another "down the muzzle" shot - boring!
3. Good Light - Sunlight provides the best lighting for amateur photographers. Artificial and indoor light is usually too dim, too yellow, and too much everywhere (weak shadows). Unless you know how to handle fill flash, never use flash if possible because it "flattens out" the photo, causes other visual aberrations and worries any animal. When using sunlight, a slightly over cast day, either morning or afternoon usually provides the best light. Dark dogs will look better in more direct sunlight while light colored dogs should be in open shade with one side definitely brighter than the other. In any case, do not shoot into the direction of the sun - you will commonly get a silhouette. By the same token, don't ask your subject to look into the sun - the resulting squint can never look natural on man nor beast.
4. Distance - the main thing is to get far enough away from an animal to avoid distortions due to the perspective (these distortions appear as "big-nose" typical with dogs, particularly those with long muzzles or "tiny body" typical with horses and some cats. If you have a zoom lens, use it set to a moderate to full zoom. Don't try to fill the image with the animal's head, this almost always causes distortion and al least cuts off other valuable image information. If you are shooting a series of photos (more about that in the next section) include a few full body shots, preferably some standing, sitting or lying down (the last two are not recommended for horses!). Remember that the artist can crop down to get just the part of the image that works best, however, don't shoot from so far away that the subject doesn't fill at least 2/3 of the picture.
5. Many Shots - My old photography teacher used to say, "If you can't shot straight, then shoot a lot. Just shoot a lot anyway." Particularly in this age of digital photography, there is no reason to be stingy with you shutter button. If you are shooting film, you should still shoot as much as you can afford. I consider that one decent shot out of 20 is not a bad ratio. Shoot several photos from each perspective and pose, little differences that you can' notice at the time of the shot (such as closed eyes) can make a lot of difference and you don't want to go back for a retake. I frequently take the eyes from one image, ears from another, mouth from a third to create a composite image that has a "realistic look".
6. Attention - Pay attention to the attention of your subject. Don't just point the camera at Rover, trip the shutter and say that's it. If your pet is bored or interested in what is going on behind him, your are not going to get a good photo. Also, don't wait for the perfect pose; Shoot when you think a good pose is about to happen. If your camera has multi-exposure or motor drive, use it to get several shots in rapid succession. I frequently shoot animal and toddler photos with a video camera then extract individual frames to get that "ah-haa" expression. I can help you with this process if you are not familiar with how to do it. Primary attention indicators in animals are ears, eyes, mouth (closed vs. open), head angle, and eyebrows (that little knot of fur above the inside corner of the eye).
7. Patience - You will never get a good photo of an animal or human by demanding it (unless the animal is very well trained). I have worked with extremely well trained dogs and horses and found that unless I have the patience to wait for them to be completely "present" and interested in what I needed them to be interested in, I was not going to get that "right" shot. A lot of this subject is addressed under the "Many Shots" topic above.
8. Pose - Buster may have a very typical pose that shows off his personality - say sleeping with his feet in the air or imitating a meatloaf, however, these poses rarely make for good portraits because everyone is wondering "What happened to this poor critter?" In general, I prefer a "three quarters" pose (i.e. halfway between head on" or a full-face pose and a profile or "half" face view). Some animals (such as Borzoi dogs) have a typical profile that conformation conscious owners prefer, so there are exceptions to this rule. Here again, be sure that you are far enough from your subject that you don't get distortion such as the "mushroom nose" look. I also look for an alert but not anxious nor "straining at the leash" expression. A dog or horse that has been running or working in the heat of the day will not appear as relaxed as one who is rested and ready, cats of course can't be bothered to work so this is not so much of an issue. Pay attention to the angle of the sun or lighting in general in a pose. To much light from many sources flattens a photo; while too little light or light from a source behind your subject causes a lose of detail. In general, side lighting from above and slightly behind you will work best. Usually light reflected from surrounding objects will provide enough "fill" to identify details in areas that are not directly lit. Also, as I mentioned earlier, use several poses with several shots of each pose. Make sure some are face shots and some are full body. One last word of advice here - watch out for strange lumps of skin or fur that are caused by the way your pet is held or resting - you may know what that is but it is liable to look like some sort of growth or bad conformation to a viewer who doesn't know Old Shep and his saggy hound dog chops.

If you have any other questions about the process of photographing your pet, selecting photos,or any request about special commissions not described here please contact me by e-mail at dave@k9portraits.com or phone at (972)200-4290 fax: (972)200-4291.