Pet Portraits: CanvasWorld Offers Ways to Get Fido to be a Star on Canvas

With museum quality prints on canvas coupled with cutting-edge online publishing tools, CanvasWorld has you covered, but capturing great photos of your pet can be a difficult task. It requires patience, timing, and maybe even a little luck sometimes. Unlike humans, pets don't understand the concept of photography.

Achieving Cooperation

There are a couple ways to get a pet to cooperate. You can arrange the photo shoot for a time when it's in a sleepier state. The pet may be more patient and stay in place for a longer time. However, this technique won't work, if you're looking for a more alert or active photo. An assistant can be great, in getting the pet to pay attention. If the assistant stands near you and captures the attention of the pet, you can be ready to snap a shot or two. Additionally, if you don't have an assistant you can try making a funny noise to get the pet's attention or download a Smart Phone app. There's an app called "dog squeaky toy," that may help.

The Basic Techniques

There are a couple basic techniques which are best in capturing a pet photo. Natural lighting is ideal; however, if you have to use a flash, it's best not to have it directly on the animal. This can cause the glowing eye effect. Additionally, unnecessarily shadows can appear. But, directing the flash or speedlight elsewhere, for example at the ceiling, can be very effective. The light will go up and cast back down on to subject. This is a great option for lower ceilings.

To capture a unique shot, take a photo from the way they see the room. Make sure the lens is in focus; focusing on the eyes can make for a good photo. Additionally, a 50mm is a pretty effective, standard lens for pet photography. You may want to adjust the f stop to the lowest setting for a close up photo. Also, if you want to take an action shot, try adjusting to a faster shutter speed. However, if you don't have enough light, you'll need to up the ISO.

If you're using a "point and shoot" camera, try taking the photo in natural lighting. If you can, avoid using the flash. Put the camera in portrait mode and take a few shots. It may be a bit more difficult to capture an action shot, since these cameras tend to have shutter lag. But, that doesn't mean it can't be done.

Pets can be difficult mediums to photograph. However, with the right amount of patience, good timing, and a few tricks, these furry friends can be quite photogenic. Schedule some time to see the world from their eyes and capture the sights.

Of course, the next step is a cinch. Upload your perfect photo to CanvasWorld.com, follow the steps, and in no time you'll have a beautiful portrait to hang on your wall in no time!