Why Your Pet Deserves a Pet Photography Specialist
“The hardest subjects are animals and children”
-conventional wisdom
There are two subjects that any photographer will want to avoid if they know what’s good for them: animals and children. This piece of conventional wisdom stems from the fact that both subjects often have a mind of their own, and in many cases, they don’t really speak the same language as you. The unique challenges of any photography genre causes photographers to develop differently in the way they approach their sessions. After capturing thousands of pet portraits myself, my idea of photography differs wildly from the decision on what equipment to take, the camera settings I use, and the edits I implement compared to a landscape photographer, for example.
Key Pet Photography Equipment
The first thing I think about is my camera body:
I want a high shutter speed available because my subject doesn’t always sit still, I want a large sensor because that lets in more light, and I want a really fast auto-focus system with animal eye-tracking because I don’t want an out-of-focus shot of a moving subject. I will debate if I want more megapixels or faster shutter speed, personally I decided on the megapixels because I know I’ll usually need to crop my photo. Photographers from other genres often preach to get the framing right “in-camera” but most of them don’t have a hundred-pound quadruped sprinting at them as soon as they make their butt squeak.
The next thing I think about is treats and toys:
I want to be able to grab my subjects attention and get them to look straight down my lens, or maybe I want them to look off to one side, or I want to initiate action, these are my primary communication tools (along with some weird mouth-noises). Other genres consider lights, tripods, reflectors, and other set-pieces, natural-light pet photographers don’t have the time or control over their subjects for any of these. We need to be light and nimble, we wear a fanny pack and we get on the ground to get the shot.
I want to carefully consider my lens:
The light available will determine how open I need my aperture to be because I can’t change my shutter-speed; other genres of photography choose their aperture, pet photographers choose shutter speed. My focal length is determined by the temperament of the subject first and the creative direction second, this is also reversed from other genres. In some cases, subjects will get way too excited to stay back while I take a photo, in others, they won’t let me within ten feet of their owner. Because I am often on-location with energetic subjects, switching lenses is a luxury that I don’t have, so I want to get this right before the session starts.
Camera Settings for Pet Photography
Shutter Speed, Aperture, ISO
The priority setting for a pet photographer is shutter speed. While an underexposed image may be subject to noise, this is something that can be overcome in post-processing, motion-blur cannot. There are some limits to aperture because I want to keep the nose, eyes, and ears in focus and most pets have longer snouts, so I am willing to accept under-exposure for the sake of a clear image rather than take an out-of-focus image, which is also un-usable.
Continuous Shutter and Animal-Eye Autofocus
In some genres of photography, it’s a mortal sin to “spray-and-pray” however in pet photography, this is the required technique. Often our subjects are in motion and capturing that motion results in some truly nightmare-inducing images to get that perfect shot that you want framed in your living room. If you’re really curious, I’ll bring my laptop to our session reveal and show you some of the outtakes.
Editing for Pet Photography
In pet photography, the subjects come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and temperaments and as the furtographer, I have control over none of these. A committed understanding of what the parent wants from their photo session and the experience to turn the pets personality into the subject of the photo is where the snapshot truly becomes a portrait. This magic is brought out in the edit.
These final touches on the the aspect ratio, the crop, the vignette, color temperatures, exposure adjustments, masks, and clearing of undesirable distractions like leashes and eye-boogies create the experience that you’re looking for when you hire someone to take portraits. Anyone with a camera can take a nice photo, only a pet photographer can deliver the experience of capturing your pets soul into a print that you can treasure forever.
