I have looked at tips online at the website: photo.tutsplus.com/articles/shooting-articles/quick-tip-top-tips-for-pet-photography. (with thanks to Graham)
Here I learned the following:
Pet photography is similar to photographing children as in it can be difficult to get them to strike the pose you are after to make a good composition. However if you get it right, it will be worth it. It is easier to work with animals if you know the animal personally, so if I photograph my own pets, I stand a better chance of it working.
Follow these 5 steps:-
1) FOCUS ON THE FEATURES
I will need to focus on their features, like their facial features; eyes, fur, teeth. They may have habits that I can highlight or particular traits. I should decide how I want to portray them. A good rule is focus on the eyes.
This is a great animal face expression of the cat being verbal or yawning. I took a similar shot (entitled Moaning Mertle) when experimenting with my cat in Level 1, and was pleased to get her eyes clear:-
I used aperture priority then for the above image and now I am trying to take the cats on the manual setting (see below)
2) DIRECTION
It will not be easy to make the picture look natural because animals will not follow directions very often.
I could try to evoke a reaction from them with sounds or gestures, objects, toys or an offering of food, to try to get them to focus on me. If they are not my pets it would be best to have the owner present and let them try to coax them , as the animal is more likely to follow their instructions, if any. I could put more than one pet together and get them to react with each other. They may prove unpredictable but also could produce some wonderful moments, providing the other animals are not too distracting.
I have a family of 3 happy cats and these images show their closeness:
Billy and Mertle are brother and sister and while they do have a bean bag each, often choose to share one. This week I took these images at home. On this image I liked the way they were both looking out the window at a similar angle. I was on their level and zoomed in hand held before they moved. The top image is the original shot and the bottom image is what I have cropped and try to omit distractions in Photoshop. However I do not know how to omit and change all that I wanted to: and would like the right hand window pane also filled with greenery... so I need to learn how to do this in class. Digital manipulation is part of my work and I would rather learn some techniques as I go along, rather than leaving till later when I look more at that section. When taking shots of animals it is difficult to capture them in a background you would choose, so post operation becomes more necessary to achieve desired results.
I think next time I would try a higher iso because taking from the inside of the room, there is only light coming from the window side, resulting in some dark shadows.
3) BE ON THEIR LEVEL
With a quick lens ready for them moving about alot. I should try to take the shot from their eye level. It would be best to carry light equipment to be mobile and not burdened down with too much equipment, so as to be quick to respond to their movements. I should aim to fill the frame with my subject, take portrait shots and try to get in close, where possible to enable me to capture their facial expressions and posture.
This is a better composition. I have cropped further in from the image above where I had zoomed in further than with the 'Billy and Mertle' image. This resulted in a slower shutter. The new composition follows the rule of thirds, like Art Wolfe's animal images (see Research 2 for Theme 1) The colours are better and I like the different textures. I focussed on the intersection of the heads. I have tweaked the light controls in Photoshop, but I do like the way the light caught tips of their ears and even shines through Billy Bears right lobe. I like the way Bear (on the right) has is left eye open and I can just about make that out, but would prefer to see more of eyes or eye next time. The scene has a calm feel to it I think with the animals snuggling up together. They feel safe here, in contrast to the animals in the wild who always have to be on their guard.
4) ENVIRONMENT
I should look for a decent amount of light to light up my subjects. If inside I could look at a strong light source like artificial lights, or be near a window to use outside light. If outside I would look for a bright day, not raining. I could use props like furniture or have the animals hand held by someone, if they are small. The pets may be more subdued indoors to produce relaxed compositions, and active outdoors resulting in more exciting shots.
5) DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT
I should not be afraid to experiment. I could place the animals in unusual settings to be more creative. I might do this with manipulation. I could change a background to show a plain one, like the one shown here, in order to set off the animal alone in the portrait, with no distracting background details.
I like this image as it is amusing to think a rabbit would jump this high. Also the way he/she is in the spotlight and shows very clear details of fur, eyes and nails. If I was not able to capture animals in the wild adequately, I could perhaps resort to pets with a twist (Steve's advice).
Hi
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to photograph animals in the wild and link it with their habitats.I think practice at home on pets and then take this skill out and try on wild animals.
But try to work with animals that you feel are achievable and not elusive or it wont work.
Or stick with domestic animals but give the work a twist and who do,you research for this? whereas wildlife photography is full of research.
Ask me about the national forest work that is coming up as you may be able to tie the two together.
Steve