How to Take Pet Photos with your Smartphone

Like a lot of pet owners, I am fascinated by the cuteness and beauty of my dog. There are so many times during the day, I say, “I wish I had my camera with me now!” Luckily a bit of know-how and planning, nowadays, we can take beautiful photos of our pets with our smartphones.

What is Pet Photography?

Pet Photography is showing the character and uniqueness of pets in creative or traditional portraits. It can be spontaneous like when you photograph your pet running, or it can be more planned when your pet is sitting in front of a nice background.
Now we can take a look at the steps before, during and after our shooting with our smartphones.

Steps Before Shooting

Location

First thing you should decide before the shoot is the location. Where will you shoot? Outdoors or indoors? If you decide outdoors, pick a time of the day that you know there won’t be too many distractions around. You may want to shoot where there are no road signs, garbage baskets, cars etc… If indoors, a nice and clean background is preferable because we want our pet to be the point of interest. No messy clutter around!

Lighting

Light is your number one tool. For outdoor shoots, try to avoid the midday sun with harsh shadows. Best time would be after sunset or before sundawn because of the soft light. If it is a cloudy day, clouds will diffuse the harsh sunlight and soften the shadows for you.

Indoors shooting also requires lighting considerations. Observe the rooms on different times to see where and how the light falls. A room with a big window will give you enough light. If there is harsh sunlight coming through your window, try using your curtains or cover your window with a transparent white paper like the gift paper. This will help you soften the light.

Preparing Your Pet

Some of us want our pets completely brushed, clean and ready to look like a superstar. Some of us like them in all their naturalness, messy, dirty and funny. If you are among the first group, then washing and brushing may be on to-do list before the shoot begins. You can add important props to the scene like your cat’s favorite toy or your dog’s favorite frisbee.

Steps During Shooting

How to Shoot with Your Smart Phone

Focus and Exposure

Basics are the same in every smartphone. You touch on the screen where you want to focus. This is most of the time our pet’s eyes. Of course, as our pets are sometimes in motion, focusing needs a lot of trials. After a couple of shots, remember to check if the focus is on the right place. You can also get creative with focus. For example by focusing on the nose, paws or ears!
Exposure also works the same. You can touch on the screen where you want to expose. Then you can swipe up and down to adjust it.

Composition

Get as creative as you want. Try to place them on different parts of the frame. When I photograph my dog, I sometimes place her on a very little corner of the frame almost like a dot. Then I get close and do the opposite.
Try different perspective. You can get to the eye level or you can shoot from above for funny looks.

Camera Modes

Smart phones have different camera modes like square, landscape, panoramic etc. You can try each one of them to see how it works and get variety.

After Shooting

Retouching Your Photos

Most of the time the retouching tools available on the phone are enough to take your photos to the next level. First step should be the basic editing before switching to any filter. Exposure, contrast, sharpness, vibrance, and appropriate cropping are the basics.
You can see the difference between no retouching and basic retouching.

For example if I want to bring a dramatic look to the photo, I tend to desaturate the colour a bit. This way you can also bring the attention to your subject.
If you want a playful and shiny looking pet photo, then you can try the vibrance, saturation and brightness.

After the basic editing, you can decide which filter is more appropriate for your pet photo.

Conclusion

Pets are very dear family members for all pet parents. Everyday we make tens of photos of them. Remember that a well-planned and executed pet photo can be much more valuable then hundreds of serial shots. A bit practising and applying the steps above, you will find it easy to take pet photos with your smartphone. Most importantly don’t forget to have fun!

Tipps

Working With Your Pet

Some pets are very much disturbed by smart phones. The moment they see a smart phone directed at them, they turn their heads away. You should teach your pet that smartphone is a good thing! The way to do this is with motivation: Try giving a reward. I always give my dog a treat after I take a photo of her. When she learns she gets her reward, she is motivated to work with me longer. Your pet’s motivation can be something different like the favorite toy or getting petted.

Using the Flash

I wouldn’t recommend using your smartphone’s flash. It almost never gives a flattering light and pets are easily disturbed by it. Instead of that try to use the available light. That can be indoors a room with a big window and maybe white walls. White reflects the light back. This way you can make the best out of what light is available.

Catchlights

Catchlights are the light reflections on the eyes. If we don’t have any catchlight in the eyes, then it looks dark and almost scary. When you are shooting, be mindful of the light falling to your pet’s eyes. If you see no catchlight, then change the angle. Remember to check the photos occasionally to make sure that the eyes are not completely in darkness.