EYE LEVEL
Take the photo at eye level with the dog. Yep, that means getting down and up closely to them.
OUTDOORS
Use natural lighting and outdoors where possible! You can see here how much detail is captured in the outside lighting which makes for a better pet portrait.
EYE CONTACT
It’s all about the eyes! I cannot stress enough how important it is for the eyes to look good and be looking towards the camera. It’s where all the emotion is! Use treats to get their attention.
TAKE A VARIETY
The more options I have to choose from the better as it will help me get a better picture of your pet as I won’t know them like you do.
CLOSE-UPS WORK BEST
Think of traditional portraits, close-ups work best.
NO ACTION SHOTS
I can’t work from images that are taken too far away or are action shots. They may work well as photos, but not for portraits as they don’t have any detail for me to work from and it’s all about the face and eyes!
TOO DARK/ BAD INDOOR LIGHTING
Don’t select images that are taken inside, at night in a dark room and have artificial light. Also avoid using a flash, pets eyes reflect strangely and we do not want this.
LOOKING DOWN AT YOUR PET
If you take the picture from a standing position with them looking up at you, it distorts the view of their face and proportions of the body. For a portrait to work best, you need to be at eye level with them.
ZOOM
It’s good to focus on the face but make sure you get all of it! Avoid zooming in too close, or capturing the pet when looking away. Try and get your pet to look directly at you so I can capture both eyes.
COMPOSITION
Avoid images taken at a funny/ strange angle, or an image where part of the pet cropped out of the image (like it’s tail and paws).