It should come as no surprise that I'm going to skip straight to the part about photographing pets.
Tips For Photographing Pets
1. Use a fast shutter speed. Bump up your ISO if you need and open up your camera's aperture to let in more light. A fast shutter speed will let you "freeze" action and reduce blur. Aim for at least 1/250 if the dog is moving around a lot.
2. Show off their personality. Everyone loves a happy dog!
3. Play with proportions. Use other objects (or people) in the frame to show off your pet's size - especially if they are itty bitty or giant!
4. Use macro. Use macro to shoot smaller animals and to get great close ups of their best features.
5. Document Interactions. Get photos of your dog doing things with you and your family. I'm horrible about getting photos like this, but when I do I always love them.
6. Take a telephoto. A telephoto lens will allow you to take photos from far away, which can be perfect for camera shy dogs.
The Assignment
The assignment this week was to capture action. I had a tough time this week because now that it's getting dark outside earlier and earlier, it's hard to find good light. Plus, my dogs are suuuuuuuuuuuuper lazy. There's a reason so many of my daily dog photos are of them laying down.
At any rate, I did manage to get these shots of Mel enjoying a Kong. Her tongue was licking at top speed so I consider that pretty action-like.
I also decided to play around with holding the shutter open longer and got these street shots. They aren't quite what I was going for, but I still think they're pretty cool. I'll have to try this again sometime.
What I Learned
Now that the days are getting shorter, and it's dark when I get home at night, it's getting harder and harder to take photos. I'm really going to have to push myself to take advantage of light when I can.
Doing the course too? Link up to your post for the week!
I'm leaving the linky party open for the duration of the entire 12 weeks so you can link up as you do the lessons on your own.
Coming Up Next Week: Portraits! How to take great pictures of people!
I never thought about using Macro for shooting dogs! I'll have to try that during my next photo session!
ReplyDeleteThose street shots were really neat!
ReplyDeleteThose wide-open ones are really cool. We spent a good portion of our vacation playing with our camera and we got some really cool street scenes with the longer shutter speed. I take a lot of photos of the pooches during our walks, and I'm limited by being at the end of a 6 foot leash. I started using a 30mm so they aren't super-close when I'm restrained.
ReplyDeleteI dont have a macro lens - I think my camera has the macro setting on it though. Ive wanted to do some macro shots of Freds nose. Im currently working on action - dang its hard and not to mention all of the action shots of Fred make him look like his face is melting cause of all the droopy skin flailing around lol. Great kong photos!
ReplyDeleteI had a hard time with this one due to having less time in the light too! Now that the days are shorter, there is less quality photo time! I am a little wary about next week's portraits too! I am not very good at photographing people!
ReplyDeleteI am pretty bad at action shots too. I'm usually too lazy to manage my focus well enough. But it's ok, you just have to figure out what you're good at and like shooting, and focus on that!
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, I love that Mel has those sweet old lady nails like my Chick. I adore them.
Very glad to have discovered your blog! I need some photography pointers...my dogs are so beautiful (I think:)) but I don't feel I always do them justice. Will be returning to read all your posts--
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