Easy Tips for Better Photos of Your Pet

Is your phone full of photos of your dog or cat or guinea pig or goat or {insert pet}? Or do you have a pet that hates getting its photo taken? Or maybe all white or all black animal that’s tough to photograph? We were wondering how to take the best possible photos of our pets with our cell phones, so we turned to Pet Photographer, Monique Renee from Silver Paw Studio.

 
This video is part of the Pet Voices PRESENTS series. CLICK HERE to see all the series videos.

INTRODUCTION

Chloe DiVita, All Pet Voices Co-Founder – 0:02

If you love your pets the way we love our pets, then your phone is full of photos of your pets.

And we bet you would love a few tips on how to take better photos. Because there’s always the best one you take and you’re like, “Oh, this is perfect.” And then there are the ones you’re like, “Should I delete it or not?” Maybe you feel bad because it’s your pet and you don’t want to delete it.

But we’re here today to talk about ways that you can easily, with your phone, take better photos of your pets.

Jessica Shipman, All Pet Voices Co-Founder – 0:25

As much as we love our pets, there are so many challenges to getting a great photo of them. Maybe you have an all-black cat that’s impossible to photograph or an all-white dog that’s equally as tough. Or maybe you are just pretty sure that your guinea pig just hates getting its photo taken.

Chloe DiVita, All Pet Voices Co-Founder – 0:45

We wanted to bring in an expert on this, somebody whose job it is to take pictures of pets. So, we brought in Monique from Silver Paw Studio. And she’s going to give us some tips along the way.

And really, we wanted to just know, what’s the easiest thing? Is there something really simple that doesn’t take a lot of time that we can do to just start?

And she had an answer for us.

TWO SIMPLE CAMERA TIPS

Monique Renee, Silver Paw Studio – 1:04

I have two very simple and quick tips for everyone who is using their phone as a camera. They’re going to make a huge difference in your camera photos.

Number one is to have your camera on the home screen of your phone, right at the bottom. No matter what screen you open on your phone, that camera is right there. You know how fast those animals move and you have lost the moment. Don’t bury your camera somewhere in the apps on your phone.

And number two, also seems really obvious. But we handle our phones all the time. And now mine has all these lenses here, all these lenses here. Just do a little swipe. Take your t-shirt, clean off those cameras every single time you’re going to use it. And it’s going to make a world of difference. If you have blurry pictures right now, it could be you just need to wipe off your cameras.

Jessica Shipman, All Pet Voices Co-Founder – 1:54

Those are two really great tips. And now a lot of phones will tell you if your lens isn’t clean, which is even better because I know I put fingerprints all over it all the time.

But no matter what kind of phone you have, whether it’s an Android, an iPhone, something else, there’s probably some way that you can make your camera super accessible. So, for me, if I just double tap on a button on the side, it loads my camera. Which is awesome because I can get a photo of my dog running around pretty quick.

Chloe DiVita, All Pet Voices Co-Founder – 2:25

And if you have an iPhone, like I do, at least a newer iPhone, not the newest. I think I have an 8 Plus. If it’s on a lock screen and you just hit it, go one swipe, you will get to your camera. So, that’s pretty simple.

But if you’re like me and you’re like doing something on your phone. You’re in an app. You’re texting. You’re watching a video. You’re doing something in your phone, then that doesn’t work. But if you put it down here, you can do that. You can put it right in here. Or what I do, and I’m used to doing now, I just swipe up and my camera is right there. And so, I’ve gotten used to that. But there’s always an easy way of thinking about “How can I make that camera more accessible on my phone?”

And another tip, because we both have this problem, which is that we have all dark pets. So, I’ve got Twiggy. Yes, this is a flat pet. She’s a Greyhound. She’s mostly black, especially in her face. And then I’ve also got Onyx, who is all pretty much black. And when pets are dark, it’s really hard to get their features in the photo. And I know you have dark pets as well. And you have that trouble too, right?

HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH ALL WHITE OR BLACK PETS

Jessica Shipman, All Pet Voices Co-Founder – 03:35

Right. So, I have two dogs. I have Ralph, who’s mostly black. He has some white accents. And then I have my flat pet of Luna. She is brown and black and has a little bit of white. But even still, it’s hard to capture. Even in this, you can kind of tell, I can’t see the side of her face because of the way that it was lit by the sunlight. So, Ralph was even more challenging when I first got him, I was like, “How do I even make you not look just like a black blob?”

Chloe DiVita, All Pet Voices Co-Founder – 04:05

With shiny eyes. We’ve all seen those photos where it is just like ghost eyes and ears.

So, we did go back to Monique and we asked her specifically, what are some tips with our phones that we can do to just capture the actual features of our pets when they are either all white or all black, even some brown. It’s those full darker colors or the very light colors that have issues.

And this is what she said.

Monique Renee, Silver Paw Studio – 4:33

Photographing all dark or all light colored pets, dogs, cats, guinea pigs, whatever you have, can definitely be a challenge. What happens is if you’re using your phone, it looks at the light in the whole scene. So, if you have a really small, dark animal and everything else is light, your phone wants to make everything in there darker.

So, what I say, and it’s going to sound counterintuitive, is to put your dark pet on a dark background. Then all of a sudden, your phone says, “Oh, I understand this whole scene has the same amount of light.” Same for a light colored pet.

For instance, my dog is all white and if I put her against maybe a light colored concrete or my carpet, then everything in the scene has the same light.

WORKING WITH LIGHTING

Chloe DiVita, All Pet Voices Co-Founder – 5:23

That is counterintuitive because I wouldn’t have thought of putting a really dark background behind my dark pet so that I could pick up the features. And I’m really excited to try that out.

And another thing that I know related to lighting that I had to learn the hard way, I guess, is when you’re taking photos of your pets, if there’s light behind them, it’s harder for your camera to see what’s going on. So, if you just make sure that the light is coming from behind you, because then it’s shining onto your pet, it will pick up more.

Obviously, you have to watch your shadow in that too. But just make sure there’s no light behind your pet. Because that’s going to confuse the camera on what it is taking a picture of. Make sure the light is going onto your pet and that will help.

THE RULE OF THIRDS

Jessica Shipman, All Pet Voices Co-Founder – 6:07

Absolutely. And if you’ve ever done any studying, learned about photography at all, you probably heard the term rule of thirds. Which is a pretty good rule to start with, But it’s not all inclusive. You don’t have to always follow it.

So, what I like to do is get my dog to sit, stay, wherever I want them to be, where the lighting is good, where the background is good. And then, I move around them and try to get a bunch of different angles. Whether it’s the rule of thirds, whether they’re the center of the photograph. Because sometimes I want to use a photo for something totally different than I anticipated when I was taking the photo. So, it’s great to have a few options from a few different angles.

And if you don’t know what the rule of thirds is, think about if you were to divide your photo, whether it’s a horizontal photo or vertical photo in thirds, in both directions. So, then you draw two lines horizontally and two lines vertically through the photo. The rule of thirds encourages you to have the focus of your photo where those lines are intersecting. And so, therefore, it’s in a third of the photo.

Chloe DiVita, All Pet Voices Co-Founder – 7:13

And all of that thinking about thirds, lighting, and everything, don’t worry too much about it. Just make it something you can learn as you go. Because there’s more that you can do easily and quickly.

And this is another tip for Monique to help you with that.

DIFFICULTY TO GETTING A PET’S PICTURE TAKEN

Monique Renee, Silver Paw Studio – 7:26

One of the common questions I get is, what if my dog or my cat or my animal, hates having its picture taken? But I have a theory about that. I think, what is really happening is that we are losing that connection. So, let me demonstrate. I’m talking to you. You’re looking right at me. And as soon as I do this *blocks face with phone*, you’ve lost connection. Dogs are notorious for this as an example. Soon as you do this, like, “No, I’m going to go over here and do something else.” Cats, all your different animals, might do the same thing. They want to see your face. They want to know if they’re going to get that treat or that praise or something.

So, the simplest thing that I have for you to try, is to simply lower your phone. If you can look right over your phone into the eyes of your animal and keep that connection with them, they’re going to stay with you a little bit longer.

And here’s one more tip on that, is if they’re really low to the ground, turn your phone over. If you have a Popsocket or a handle and then your camera’s way down here, maybe where your dog or your cat or your small animal is. And so, you could still look right over that and they can be looking right into the camera. So, I think that’s huge. If you have an animal that says, “Oh, I hate the camera.” Try not to block your view.

Jessica Shipman, All Pet Voices Co-Founder – 8:45

I love that Monique mentioned flipping your phone upside down and getting low, getting down on your pet’s level. I think that can make a major difference in really capturing what your pet is doing. And the details and all of their features. It’s also, that is where they are. That’s where they are doing their thing. And that’s what you want to capture.

I always, when I try to take a good photo of my pet, I try to lay down on the ground and really get to where they are. But then, of course, as Monique mentioned, don’t block my face with the camera.

PORTRAIT MODE

Chloe DiVita, All Pet Voices Co-Founder – 9:15

Yeah, that was such a good tip. Because I think she’s so right. Where they lose your face, they do get a little bit uninterested. Getting down on their level, I love that too.

I think for those of you who have iPhones, one thing that is popular is the whole portrait mode. And I just wanted to give you a little tip in case you hadn’t explored the full availability of what you have in portrait mode. So, in mine, when I am in portrait mode here. You can see along the bottom it defaults to what says natural light, but you can move it along.

I really like this one called stage light. It’s kind of funny if I can get the pig in there. But what it does is it makes the outside, for my black dog, it makes the outside black. So, that it really focuses in on that centerpiece. And it is, it’s like a spotlight on a stage. And it’s a cool thing. So, explore the other options in your phone for different filters and such. Because it can add some elements that make your pictures even cooler.

DIY PHOTOGRAPHY ACCESSORIES

Jessica Shipman, All Pet Voices Co-Founder – 10:16

It’s not unusual for photography accessories to be crazy expensive, even the gadgets we add to our phone. But Monique, when we were talking to her, came up with this really cool and totally inexpensive DIY that probably takes about two minutes to complete.

We’ll let her tell you about that.

Monique Renee, Silver Paw Studio – 10:34

I have a really cool, easy DIY that you can do for a tripod for your phone. And you should have this around. It’s mind boggling. Are you ready?

If you have two of these, you have a tripod. Okay, that’s the wrong side. Like that. And that seems really, really basic, two toilet paper rolls with slits cut in them.

But, I’ll show you really quick, how you do that. You just take your phone and plop it in there. And it’s held up like that. Genius. Or like that.

I use this all the time. Honestly, I have thousands of dollars worth of camera gear and I use this all the time.

Jessica Shipman, All Pet Voices Co-Founder – 11:23

That’s such a brilliant idea. I think we might have to just make one ourselves.

Chloe DiVita, All Pet Voices Co-Founder – 11:30

I think you’re right.

** DIY VIDEO **

Okay, that was actually pretty easy. Here is mine. I did it.

Jessica Shipman, All Pet Voices Co-Founder – 11:43

Here is mine.

Chloe DiVita, All Pet Voices Co-Founder – 11:46

And I think one thing I learned is using scissors, the first time I tried to cut along the lines I drew. And it was a little bit harder. The second time I just dug this is right in the middle and kind of cut from there. And that helped me and made it a little bit easier. So, that’s a tip.

What did you learn?

Jessica Shipman, All Pet Voices Co-Founder – 12:03

I actually used a paper towel roll. It was like this. So, you can do that too, if you don’t have two toilet paper rolls. You can just cut a paper towel roll in half.

I think the other thing is cut less than you will think you need and add more because you don’t want to go too deep, but you want it to be deep enough so that it sits snug in there.

Chloe DiVita, All Pet Voices Co-Founder – 12:26

Yeah, and I like how it looks with my phone, specifically this way. It does a good job, see. Check it out.

That’s a great little DIY that anybody can do. So, if you don’t have a tripod and you’ve been using that as an excuse, we just debunked. Not debunked, what did we do?

Jessica Shipman, All Pet Voices Co-Founder – 12:46

Proved you can make one in less than two minutes with something that is basically recycling.

Chloe DiVita, All Pet Voices Co-Founder – 12:53

Yes, we did. So, we hope you enjoyed that. And if you do make one, show us yours.

CONCLUSION

Jessica Shipman, All Pet Voices Co-Founder – 12:58

We hope you learned a thing or two about pet photography on your cell phone from what we shared and from what Monique shared in this video. If you did learn, leave a comment below and tell us what did you learn? And if you have some photography tips that we missed, leave those in the comments too.

Chloe DiVita, All Pet Voices Co-Founder – 13:13

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For more information on Monique Renee and Silver Paw Studio:

Website – silverpawstudio.com