As a budding photographer and lover of cats, I want the two to go hand in hand. But its not that simple! Photographing animals can be difficult when you have to consider lighting, focal points and composition – especially when you can’t ‘tell’ the animal what to do. So I’ve put together a list of things that I think are good tips to help you achieve that perfect shot.
- Be Patient.
When working with animals, especially ones that you don’t know, it’s important to stay calm. If you’re stressed, the animal will be stressed too. So if the animal is misbehaving or you can’t get the right shot you want, wait for a bit and try again.
2. Always be on the look out.
If you’re like me and want to take pictures of your pets, keep and eye out for a time that would be good to take a picture. I usually take pictures of my cats when they’re calm, so if they’re sleeping on my bed or lying on the dining room floor, for example. I know that they tend to sleep where the sun is to be warm, which is perfect because that means they’re usually in good lighting.
3. Work around them.
Don’t try and pick up your pet and shove them out onto your windowsill just because that’s where the lighting is best! Try to find the best lit angle for where the animal wants to be. For example, my cats love to sleep on my bed. So if I’m going to take a picture of them, I’ll move around my bed to where the sun is coming through the window. Of course, it’s not always possible to get good lighting, but I try to look for opportunities all the time so that I’ll notice if there’s a good time to take photos.
4. Make them happy.
This isn’t a trick I use myself, but if you’re wanting a happy picture of an animal when they’re up and about, you can use treats to make them behave. I’ve seen this trick used to get a cat with its tongue out for a photo by letting it lick food off of someone’s fingers.
5. Experiment.
Try different angles, when the animal is in different places, when they’re alert and asleep, etc. If you think of an idea, wait for a time where you could make it happen and give it a go.
Remember: It’s okay if things don’t work out.
Animals are difficult to work with, and so are cameras. So if all your pictures are blurry or under/over exposed, it’s okay. Try again another day! Many a time have I thought I had captured such a cute moment of my cats together, only to upload the photos to my computer and find that they’re all blurry. Here’s an example of a shot which looked amazing on my camera screen, but is actually way too underexposed and focused on the wrong part of the cat.
I hope this helped you all to refine your animal photography! As long as you’re patient, you will get the results you want. If you give this a try and want to show me your pictures, please do! My twitter and Instagram are both @aspyngabriel.
Love, Aspyn
Aspyn Gabriel 