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.

Photograph Pets with a Long Lens

If you've been reading this blog for a while you know that my cat is one of my favorite things to photograph. (She sleeps next to me while I write, so she's an easy target.) The problem I have in photographing her is that the minute I see her in a cute pose and then I lift up a camera or walk toward her, she thinks it's time to eat or play and so, of course, she walks over to me. End of shooting session!

I've learned that the best way to get candids of her is to keep a long zoom on my camera and photograph her from across the room. In fact, I keep a 75-300mm Nikkor zoom on one of my older D70 bodies all the time and I can shoot full face shots like this one from at least 10-feet away. She barely even notices that I'm photographing her. If she's in front of a window (which is one of the places she sleeps) or is on the screened porch, I also use the flash to provide a little fill and to keep the pictures very sharp. Photographing pets with a long lens is a great way to get candid close-up shots without having to follow them around for hours--and the shots are usually very relaxed and natural looking.