How To Take Instagram Worthy Pictures Of Your Pet

It’s 2020 and most pets today, have their own Instagram handles! Some are even more famous than their humans! However, since pets and children are often the hardest subjects to photograph, how can we do justice to the photographs we take of our furry Instagram stars?

- Aaditi Kulshreshtha

Here are some simple tips and tricks I’ve learnt from photographing pets for over 20 years that will help you take better photos.

STAGE 01 - LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

To begin with, here are the first 3 key elements that you need to get right with pet photography.

1. LIGHTS

Think of photography as an art of painting with light. Therefore, I cannot stress on how important good light is for photography in general, but even more so with pets.

Use Natural Light: Sunlight is beautiful. Photograph your pets outside or near a window if you are inside. For dark coloured pets, to be able to see them clearly, always shoot with the sun behind you and on a bit of an angle. Morning and evening light is the best - this time of the day is also cooler than the afternoons, so your pet will be more comfortable as well.

Don’t Use Flash. If you don’t know how to get the best results with a flash, avoid it altogether. If you’re photographing using your phone camera - often the pet’s eyes look strange with a flash, therefore it’s best to photograph pets in areas with naturally sufficient light so that the flash isn’t needed in the first place.

It’s important to have a lot of light when you are trying to photograph pets in action - otherwise you’ll get blurry photographs. Depending on the camera you are using, you might be able to solve this with your camera settings

2. CAMERA