As a professional pet photographer, I have lots of experience in being able to capture your pets' personality and moments that show the bond and connection between you and your pets. There are several reasons to book in a professional pet photography sessions and I would be happy to work with you to create beautiful memories of your pets. However, there are times where you just want to take photos of your pets on your phone.  

I'm going to cover some basic tips to taking great photos of your pets using your phone. However, if after reading this, you still can’t get what you want or you'd like something special to memorialise your pet by, it might be time to book in a session with me.  

1. RELAX AND BE PATIENT

One of the first things I tell my clients is we just need to be patient. I don't like to force my clients pets to stay in certain poses or stay still in one spot for longer than they are comfortable with. I like to start by letting the dogs sniff me and my camera first and get familiar with me. If they are relaxed around me I can then start taking photos. If they are scared of your phone, get them familiarised with your phone. Use treats or pats as rewards when they start being comfortable around your phone.

Also, your pet can sense your energy and generally mirror them so it's important that you're relaxed and not tense so they also be come relaxed. So just relax and have fun!

Sometimes you just have to follow them around and have some patience to wait for the perfect moment to get the shot or just keep snapping until you get that perfect shot you want. That's the great thing about digital photography these days, you can just delete the shots which aren't great!

2. GET DOWN TO THEIR LEVEL 

If you're not photographing animals for a living, you're usually tempted to take photos of your pets while standing up and looking down at them. These shots are good but you can get better shots if you get down low to their level. This also gives you a different perspective. 

To get down on their level you will have to sit on the floor or lie down on your belly. When you do a session with me you'll often find me in these positions, lying on my belly or on my back, crawling on the floor, etc. Getting down this low shows how your pet sees the world from their perspective.

Getting down to their eye level will also create more personal photos and brings out their unique personality.

3. FIND A GOOD SOURCE OF LIGHT

Most of the time you'll be taking photos of your pets candidly inside. If this is the case, you want to find a good source of natural light and this is likely to be a big window. Don't shoot with the window behind your pet though as the camera will naturally expose for the window light and make the dog darker. 

If you're outside, the best lighting is typically early morning or late afternoon. This is why I only shoot during the few hours after sunrise or before sunset. Shooting during the full sun will create harsh lights and harsh shadows. If you have to shoot during the day at full sun then look for shade or even lighting. Cloudy days are perfect as they act as a giant diffuser for the sun and create soft light. 

4. FOCUS ON THE EYES

To create connection in your photo you want to make sure you focus on the eyes. Since some dogs have long snouts your camera tend to focus on the nose. On the iPhone you can set and lock your focus on your pet's eyes by tapping on your pets eyes and holding your finger there until you see "AE/AF LOCK" appear on the screen. You can also manually increase or decrease the exposure by tapping and sliding the "sun" slider that comes up.  When you want to release the focus lock just tap somewhere else on the screen. 

5. USE TREATS, TOYS OR SOUND TO GET THEIR ATTENTION  

I love candid shots but I love to capture shots where your dog looks at you. As they say "the eyes are the window to the soul". If you can get your dog to look at you/the camera you can feel the connection in the images. To do this use treats, toys or sound to get their attention. I love getting those head tilt shots and I've experimented with different ways to get those - you can use squeaky toys or the way I do it, is just make weird noises. 

Now over to you!

I hope these tips will help you to capture great photos of your pet. I would love it if you share some of the photos that you capture with me by tagging me @inajphotography on Instagram or on Facebook.