Pet Portraits: Focus on the Eyes

When it comes to taking interesting photos of your pets one great piece of advice is to focus on the eyes--both figuratively and literally. Anyone who has ever owned a cat or dog (or a hamster, for that matter) knows that animals have very expressive eyes. You don't have to live with an animal long to know when they're apologizing with their eyes for knocking over your favorite lamp. Personally I think animals are well aware of the power of their eyes and alternately use sad/loving/adoring looks to mooch extra snacks.

Using the eyes as a focus point in more physical terms is also a good idea because, as with human, eyes are the most interesting part of their faces. Since most portraits are shot with medium-telephoto lenses or zoom settings where depth of field is minimal, focusing carefully on the eyes also gives you one certain point of sharp focus. People looking at your portraits won't even notice if the ears (or whiskers) are slightly out of focus as long as the eyes are sharp and bright.