Tips for taking better pet photos

Special to the Herald-Guide

September 23, 2010 at 11:03 am  | Mobile Reader | Print 

Dena Guzzardo

Nanette Martin, co-founder of Shelter-Me Photography Inc., kneels down to take some pictures at a Louisiana shelter.

She offers some tips on how to capture the best pictures of your furry friends.

• Get down on the ground so that the animal is at eye level and look straight across.

• Fill the frame with the animal's body. If the pet is taller than it is wide, hold the camera vertically. If the pet is wider, hold the camera horizontally.

• Minimize the distractions wherever you choose to photograph the pet. Do not have people standing off to the sides that are calling the animal because you want the animal to look at the lens, and not people calling its name. It is best to not have anybody in the animal's sight or within hearing range - it needs to just be the photographer and the pet.

• Come up with some way of getting the pet's attention, such as noises or movement.

"If you do those things, you'll get better pictures," Martin said.

Check www.sheltermephotography.org for upcoming photography workshops offered by the organization.