How to Take Better Photos of Your Pet

The animals above are all available for adoption through K9 Angels! Sometimes when they need help with photos I’ll run over to the shelter and try to snap some cute ones!

Over the last couple years I’ve learned a TON about photographing pets since I have been fostering so much. Whether it’s with my DSLR camera or iPhone, there are some key tricks you can use to get the best, brightest photos. Photographing foster dogs is so important to getting them adopted because people are drawn to the animals they can clearly see. I’ve had lots of success getting my pups adopted because I’m able to take cute photos that highlight their personalities.

You can use (most of) the below for your photography in general whether its people, pets or interiors.

Use Treats to get their attention so you can capture a clear picture of their face

While this may be a duh! point, it is definitely the easiest! You can get your pet to look anywhere with a treat in your hand, and if your dogs are anything like mine, I have to bribe them with treats for them to sit. I like pictures where you can clearly see their eyes and face so usually I have them look directly at the camera.

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Clear clutter out of the background

Take all clutter out of the picture and put your pet in the best space you have available. Outside shots in the grass or on a cute blanket/rug inside make cute backdrops.

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Take light bright pictures, preferably in natural light

Natural light is the best light for almost all photography. Indoor lights give off ugly shadows and yellow-ish light. Bright crisp photos always attract way more attention. For my indoor photos, I turn off all overhead lights and open all of my windows. The below picture was taken outdoors and the light is just so much cleaner.

If you catch a really cute picture on your phone/camera but don’t have time to adjust the light, you can also edit it later. One of my favorite editing app is VSCO (it’s free!). See a below/after indoor lighting edit below. I just took this on my iPhone and edited in the mobile app.

Add some Flair

Believe me or not, but I’m telling you the facts – everyone loves a dog in a bowtie. It’s just the way it is! All of my fosters get a bow or flower or during Christmas they got sweaters. Now, not everyone finds a dog in a dress adorable. But if you don’t at least find it funny, you might need to reevaluate a few things.

Use your iPhone

I have a really old iPhone (to be honest I don’t even know which is it – 5, 6, 6x <– is that even a thing?!) and even I can take some pretty cute pictures. Spontaneous pictures are some of the best because you can get in-the-moment shots. If the lighting isn’t right use the App mentioned above. All of the pictures below were taken with my phone.

Try to capture their true personality

These are the best photos because these pictures really capture your pup’s cutie personality. And I’m going to tell you – some dogs are just more photogenic. It really doesn’t correlate with how cute they are in real life. Some dogs just have more expressive faces. My Lilly is 10x easier to photograph than Tito and it’s because she has way more expression on her face. Blake was my most photogenic pup, and Winnie was probably the hardest to photograph. All are still so precious in person.