How to photograph pets. Reflections on Photographing Animals How to Shoot Black Animals

In this article, you will learn the rules of animal photography from Darren Rose, a famous blogger, founder of the famous digital photography schools(Digital Photography School). Focus on your pet's personality Before you start photographing animals, answer the question: “What makes your pet different from other animals? What features does he have? For example, if everyone knows your pet as sleepy, lazy and calm, then it is best to arrange a photo session for him near his bed or where he rests after eating, and you will have every chance of getting a great shot. If your pet is hyperactive, inquisitive and always on the move, it would be better to take pictures of him on a walk during an entertaining game. Choosing a Location There are a number of factors that affect the choice of location for photography. To begin with, choose a place where the animal will feel free and at ease. Think about what kind of background your shots will have. But remember that your background should not distract from the main subject of your photo. Often the best choices for a photo backdrop are the simplest options — a small patch of green grass, a light-colored wall in a well-lit room, and even a carpet with or without a neutral pattern. Avoid the presence of unnecessary elements and details in the background.

Take close-up photos

Pets come in all shapes and sizes, but in most cases they are smaller than humans. If you can't get close enough to take a picture of an animal, use the zoom. The added benefit of a longer focal length is that it helps you capture photos with blurry backgrounds and puts your pet in the spotlight.

Photograph animals from your level

Get down to the level of pets to be able to look at them eye to eye. Images taken by the photographer from the level of the animal will not only bring you closer to the subject, but they will allow you to get into the inner world of the animal, to see through their eyes. Such photos will turn out more personal with some elements of intimacy. If you don't have a friend yet, then here you can see a large collection of dog photos and choose a pet.

Selecting a shooting point

Pets, like humans, look different when you shoot them from different angles and positions. Take more different photos, focus on different details. Let in your collection there will be pictures, both in full growth, and only muzzles. These pictures will give the most complete picture of your pet's personality.

Choice of lighting

Light is important in any photography, but when photographing animals, lighting should be given special attention. Do not use a flash, as it tends to distract the animals, and in some cases can even scare them. Another problem with flash is that it can create red-eye. Therefore, use natural light as much as possible. The only exception to using a flash is if your pet is dark in color, in which case the flash can add detail to the photo. Photograph animals with light coats away from direct sunlight.

Photos of animals with people

Some of the best shots are photos of animals with people. It is the process of interaction between owners and pets that is interesting. Play with the animal and capture interesting moments that make you feel close to your animal. Stop the moment with a photo Many animals present a problem for photographers due to their activity. The key to solving the problem is to shoot at a fast shutter speed. Most digital cameras these days allow you to shoot in manual mode. Take a series of photographs.

Play while shooting

All animals love to play. Do not hold them back in this, but rather encourage them in every possible way. Use toys, attract attention with sound. Remember that you don't want boring shots. The more unexpected moments are captured in the picture, the more successful the photo of the animal will be in terms of meaning.

Catch by surprise

Having an animal in a photo shoot can be a lot of fun, but you can get the most interesting shots by following an animal and taking a picture of it when it doesn't expect it.

Use a wide angle lens

Using a wide lens will allow you to fit more animals in one frame. Another advantage of this is that using a wide-angle lens often adds some distortion to the photo, which opens up new possibilities for creativity.

Our pets become full members of the family. Playing with animals, taking care of them, taking them for a walk, or just being in their presence, people get great pleasure. If we could capture all these beautiful moments with our digital camera, we could enjoy them all our lives.

Before you start taking photos, arm yourself with some simple yet powerful tips. A few important tips for beginners:
Choose a comfortable place for the animal :
When you photograph an animal, make sure it is calm. Take care of a comfortable environment for your pet. This is the first step to taking truly amazing photos.

Choose a simple background :
Since the background is important, keep it simple, free of clutter and no distractions. In this way, you will highlight the image of the animal, and not the background.

Shoot from eye level :
Most pets are small compared to us. Therefore, if we shoot standing up, our subject may look like a small thing inside the frame. To add personal touch, kneel down or film while lying on your stomach, at eye level with the animal. So you will definitely improve the frame.

Use zoom and shoot close-ups :
Pets are mostly small and can easily get lost in a photo. Therefore, it is useful to use the zoom and shoot close-ups here. At the same time, get their attention by calling them by their nickname, or just make some noise.

Try not to use flash :
The flash is very distracting for pets. Therefore, its use should be avoided. It can also cause red-eye, which is common with people shots. Therefore, it is better to use natural light. Shoot outdoors, or open a window and let natural light in.

Photographing an animal with its owner - on-real intimate pictures :
Animal portraits are extremely good, but it's a good idea to take pictures of pets with their owners from time to time.

Use pet toys :
Pets love to play with their toys, so using them will add a playful vibe to your photo. Try to keep them close to the camera, and when the animal tries to get the toy, you can press the trigger.

Take them by surprise :
Photograph them discreetly when they are unaware of your intention and you will get a natural photo.

Focus on the eyes :
Everyone knows that the eyes are the window to the soul. Focusing on the eyes of the animal, you will discover the emotions hidden inside. Try taking a photo of your pet when it is in a sleepy state or has just woken up from a dream. You will feel the difference.

Avoid direct sunlight :
This will help preserve fine detail and color.

In addition to the above tips, patience will be very useful to you. To get your best shots, wait for the right moment and press the shutter several times. Then you can capture the perfect image.

Beautiful examples of pet photos:

Photo: Petr Osipov

Photo: Oksana Arishkina

Photo: Elke Vogelsang

Photo: Victoria Khaak

Photo: Gintare P

Photo: Ben Torode

Photo: MARIAN Gabriel Constantin

Photo: Gintare P

Photo: IgNgRez

Photo: Eman

Photo: Victoria Khaak

Photo: Glenn Nagel

Unfortunately, animals are not the best fashion models. They are rarely afraid of the camera and don't always stay on set until the end. It is almost impossible to capture them beautifully, unless you know a few simple rules.

It is better to photograph animals in their natural environment. Unfamiliar surroundings are always frightening and alarming. The "model" feels constrained, she needs time to calm down and come to terms with the presence of technology.
Animals cannot be forced to pose, at best, they will look unnatural. The best tactic is to follow the subject and press the shutter when the animal does not expect it. It is better to set a short shutter speed in advance.

Furry models, as a rule, do not smile and the only expressive part of their muzzle is their eyes. You need to focus on them, then the frame will turn out to be as lively and interesting as possible.
It is better not to use the flash or set it to the minimum value. In unnatural lighting, the hair in the photo seems flat, and the eyes glow brighter than neon headlights.

Types of cameras

Very interesting effects can be achieved by shooting animals on a SLR camera. For example, shooting a moving subject with a long exposure on a pentax SLR will create a blurry trail behind the model that can be used to advantage in the plot. Exposure compensation, in particular the degree of aperture opening, allows you to get gorgeous bokeh shots.
They always try to take as many photos as possible, and then there will be hope that at least a few of them will be successful. It is convenient to use the burst mode.
Photographing animals is not as easy as it seems, it requires patience and failure.

Unlike animals, stars stay in one place for several minutes rather than trying to fade away. Therefore, in order for the photos of these important family members to look professional and worthy of hanging on the wall next to the photos of grandparents, only the camera settings are indispensable. Animals require a special approach. In this article, Josh Norem, a volunteer at a local animal shelter, shares his experience of photographing animals.

How to encourage your pet to cooperate?

There are many tricks, but in the end it all comes down to patience and waiting for the right moment so that when it comes, you will be ready to click the camera shutter. Ideally, it would be nice for you to have an assistant to guide the animal to look at you, but the cat or dog will not look at you, but at him. This is where his help lies. The helper can draw the attention of the animal and stand next to you, so the animal will look in your direction.

If you don't have an assistant, try using your phone with apps that make sounds that attract the animal's attention. I use the free Human-to-Cat Translator and Dog Squeaky Toy apps on my iPhone. The strange noise that the phone generates will sometimes be enough for a cat or dog to look at you for a short time, and you need to be ready to take a picture at that moment. This way you can capture the composition by focusing the camera on his eyes.

At the local animal den where Josh volunteers, there are usually play sessions when photographing cats. It is important that they look fun and energetic, although this is not always possible.

What equipment to use for photographing animals?

In order to take pictures of pets, you do not need to have special photographic equipment. The only thing is, if you are shooting indoors, you need to have a flash. If you don't have good natural light indoors, the flash will fill in the shadows, and it also helps to "freeze" the subject in motion. Many of my photos come out crisp and sharp thanks to flash, a steady hand, and good lenses.

The golden rule when using flash
Never fire your flash directly at your subject, at least not without a diffuser. If you shoot with a direct flash, your animal will look terrible, under any conditions. And there will also be terrible hard shadows behind him. Such photos will be ugly. Point your flash at the ceiling so that the light from it hits the subject in a bounced and soft way. The light in the photo will look natural, even if the room has high ceilings. Avoid using the camera's built-in flash, as the light from it will hit the animal's eyes directly and the result will look terrible.

Which lenses are best
Speaking of lenses, it can be noted that the lens is important. You will see a noticeable difference between a kit lens and a premium 1000 bucks lens. For shooting animals indoors, a 50mm prime lens is most suitable, lenses with a focal length of 50mm usually have good aperture.

Regarding specific equipment, I use a Nikon D800 camera with three Nikon Nikkor "Pro" series lenses, and an SB-900 flash. I usually shoot in aperture priority mode. On flash, in 99% of cases I use TTL mode. The SB-900 flash, in the "auto" mode, reads the mode and cameras in order to correctly set the light output. This makes it extremely accurate and very easy to use.

With flash, it is easier to get small white highlights in the eyes of the subject, they attract attention and make the eyes of the animal more alive and interesting.

What to look for when photographing an animal

There are basic principles, following which you can get photos more interesting.

Rule 1. Always focus on the eyes
If the eyes are out of focus, the picture was taken in vain, period. How to focus on the eyes? Choose the focus area manually. Don't focus automatically, don't let your camera control the focus, because autofocus usually works on the closest point to the camera, i.e. on the animal's nose. Change the focus settings from "Auto" to "Single Point". If you don't know how to do this, check your camera manual. It is important that the focal point falls on the eyes of the animal.

Rule 2. Frame composition
Pay attention to the rule of thirds to correctly compose the frame. If this fails, you can crop the photo so that the eyeball is in the top or bottom quarter of the frame. In addition to focus and composition, you need to worry about your exposure. If the exposure is too dark or too bright, adjust it using the compensation.

And the last tip, photograph the animal by lowering the camera to the level of his eyes. This will add intimacy and an unusual perspective. If you get good focus and exposure, you are very close to getting a good photo. All that's left now is practice and a bit of luck.

Photographing animals at eye level, usually done lying on the floor. From this angle, an unusual perspective opens up, which allows you to see new details that are not visible from the usual angle of the human eye.

How to take close-up portraits of animals

In order to take a close-up of your pet and get a blurry background, you need to set the camera to aperture priority mode and open the aperture in the lens as wide as possible. For a fast lens, this value will be F / 2.8, for a super-fast lens - an open aperture can be F / 1.4, and on a kit lens it is usually F / 3.5.

Next, you need to get closer to the animal, and follow the background so that the distance from the object to the background is several meters. (The farther the subject is from the background, the blurrier the background will be in the photo; and the closer the animal is to the background, the more the background will be in focus. A fast lens will take care of the rest.

But be careful, because the lens is fast, only the eyes may be in focus, and the ears and nose may be blurred. Sometimes it looks nice, and sometimes not so good. Therefore, adjust the aperture to a value that will give a result that suits you (so that the details you need fall into the field of sharpness). If you want to sharpen not only the eyes, but also the nose of your pet, close the aperture by one or two values ​​(for example, go from F / 2.8 to F / 4) or step back a little to zoom out the animal.

How to photograph an animal in motion

The art of capturing animals in motion is the fast shutter speed and fast autofocus of your lens, which will catch a fast-moving animal in time. I set the focus mode on the camera to continuous tracking. In this mode, the autofocus motor is active all the time and it follows the movement of the subject. To do this, simply hold the shutter button halfway down.

The second speed setting is a fast shutter speed, which requires good lighting for a good exposure. If you are shooting outdoors in bright sunlight, then there will be no problem with a fast shutter speed, but if it is dark or cloudy outside, then you need to increase the ISO to compensate for the lack of light. Alternatively, you can switch the camera to shutter priority mode and set it to 1/500. Then see how the photos turn out. Next, set the shutter speed to a shorter one, as long as you have enough light in the photo. Photographing animals in motion requires patience, fast shutter speeds, and lots and lots of practice.

Can the same shooting results be achieved with a compact camera?

All the tips above applied to SLR cameras. But what can be said to the owners of soap dishes and supersums? Soap dishes do not have an autofocus zone setting, and they also have a long shutter time, the shutter may fire a couple of seconds after pressing the shutter button. Also, most soapboxes will automatically use the built-in flash, which will have a terrible effect on photographs.

My advice: turn off the flash and set the camera to burst mode so you can take many photos at once. Use portrait mode if your camera offers it, and if you can control your aperture, set it to the lowest number.

conclusions
Of course, the more options your camera has, the better, but you don't need an expensive camera to take good photos of animals. But a good lens will help you get pictures with good clarity, detail and pattern.

We are starting our new series of photo tutorials “5 Easy Tips How to…” of 5 articles, by reading which you will learn how to photograph certain objects and scenes. Our articles will focus on the five most popular storylines. We will tell you how to properly set up your camera and what equipment you will need to get good results.

The first article of the cycle is devoted to, probably, the most popular subject for many photographers: animals. Pets, animals in zoos or in the wild - interesting stories can be seen everywhere. But what should a photographer pay attention to, what camera settings to choose and what is the best way to photograph our smaller brothers? Our five tips will help you.

1 Use the right technique

Photographing animals is generally difficult due to their shyness. Try to get closer, and even the quickest reaction will not help you. Use a general purpose or telephoto lens with a focal length of at least 200mm. So you keep the right distance and do not frighten off your "model". The same advice can be given for photographing your pets: in order to get natural photos, it is better to shoot from a distance and photograph without the animal noticing.

2 Set up the camera

Animals are constantly on the move. Even if they stop for a while and are watching something, all they have to do is blink or turn their head and you will get a poor quality, fuzzy image. In this situation, it is recommended to use the shutter-priority mode (indicated in the camera menu as S or Tv) with automatic aperture setting and set the shutter speed to at least 1/125 second.

And best of all, use full manual mode and open the aperture as wide as possible (set a small f-number). This way, you will get a shallow depth of field, and in the picture your subject will be sharp, and the background will be blurry.

It is very convenient if your camera has an Auto ISO function that prevents under or over exposure of the frame. Also, using spot metering linked to the focus point is recommended.

3 Prepare for difficulties ahead of time

Set the maximum focal length of your camera lens in advance. Thus, you can take pictures at a sufficiently large distance and not scare away the animal.

When shooting in zoos, other difficulties can arise. For example, many animals are kept behind a glass partition. To avoid glare that degrades the quality of the photo, get close to the glass and wrap a black handkerchief around the lens with the sun hood installed on it. This will block the lens from side light.

If you don't have a scarf or handkerchief with you, remove the lens hood and carefully bring the front lens close to the glass so that it is parallel to it. The disadvantage of this technique, in contrast to the use of a scarf, is the limitation of your mobility when shooting.

4 Compose your shot correctly

Do not film animals from above. Squat down or sit on a bench, try to be at eye level with your "model".

Try to photograph the animal in motion. The image of frolicking bears, monkeys playing with each other and bathing penguins is much more interesting at first and second glance than simple static portraits.

If you have a wide-angle lens with a focal length of 24mm or less, you can take advantage of the distortion that occurs when shooting close subjects with such a lens, for example, to take a series of caricature photographs at a petting zoo.

When shooting, pay attention to more than just your main subject. When photographing outdoors or at a zoo, care must be taken to ensure that the foreground and background do not detract from the main subject. Fences, bushes, zoo visitors can interfere with a good composition of the frame. Sometimes it is better to use a strong zoom and photograph the animal not in full growth.

But this does not mean that the background should be completely blurred and invisible. For example, low-hanging tree branches can be used as a natural photo frame.

But be careful and attentive to your subject, because at a large focal length the perspective of the photograph narrows, the foreground and background approach each other. As a result, you can end up with an unfortunate image where a branch of a tree far enough away from the animal in the background seems to be growing out of its head.

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