There are many reasons why you (or your client) may need good quality photographs of your/their pet: to advertise a pedigreed dog (for stud service or on a kennel's website), to have its portrait painted or to hang its photo on the wall along with the other family portraits.
To get good photos worthy of framing you may seek a professional photographer, but you may also seek expertise advice in books and take these beautiful pictures yourself. For those of you who are already professional photographers, the following tips and books will be helpfull, as dog photography is really an art in itself. Once you understand the art of taking perfect pet photographs you may decide to start your own home-based pet photography business.
While hundreds of books have been written on photography, yet only a handful of these have addressed canine or pet photography specifically. The concerns of the dog or pet photographer are rather specific. Coat color and texture need special attention. The dog's expression is determined by the eyes and body forms, but also, which is often forgotten, by the ears (which, depending on the breed, should be 'up') and nose (which should be wet). The dog photographer has to know his subject well, i.e. have a thorough knowledge of the breeds and know that photographing a Bulldog is not the same as photographing a German Shepherd. Good planning, anticipating problems and insider-tips are the most important parts of getting great pictures of your dog.
Canine photography is really a mix of plan and accident. You have to plan the general composition of the photo, find a good background, choose the type of lighting (sunlight, flash, artificial lighting and available light), determine the correct exposure, shutter speed and aperture. The final pose of the animal and especially its expression will often be unpredictable. However, you can influence these elements by, for example, your own positioning, the correct use of flash and the help of props (like toys and treats).
The following books provide expert advice along with tested techniques for getting a dog to look in a specific direction, capturing a variety of expressions, exposing detail in all-white or all-black fur, avoiding dog red-eye, choosing shutter speeds and much more. They also explain no-fail lighting, equipment, and "getting acquainted" tips to help you capture the best possible results. Finally, we have also selected a couple of books covering the aspects of setting up and running a thriving home-based photography business.
