5 Tips for Taking Pictures of Your Pets

Pets are important members of the family, and should be treated as such when it comes to documenting their lives. Therefore, many pet owners like to snap plenty of photos of their pets for use online, in scrapbooks, and framed on the walls. Unfortunately, taking pictures of animals is a little different than taking pictures of people, and can often lead to some interesting results. These five tips will help you get better photos of the family pet.

Turn Off the Flash

Flashes are annoying even to people, but they can be downright scary to your pet. Turn off the flash to get the most natural expressions on your pet’s face. In addition, flashes have a way of giving cats and dogs “laser beam eyes”, which can ruin nearly any photo.
Use natural light whenever possible to get the truest color and the best results.

Get on Their Level

If you’ve ever taken pictures of your pets from above you may notice that at times you get pictures of your pet with a giant head and foreshortened body – not their best look. Get down on their level to take more natural looking pictures with truer proportions. Getting close can also help your pet relax so that