OK, clearly “brilliant” is overstating the pictures I came up with, but they are certainly “acceptable” and I made them in less than five minutes. So I thought it would be valuable to share my “pet picture taking workflow.”
My favorite, basically combining all three types of pet images. (See below.)
Of course, taking pictures of pets should be fun, easy and natural. However, I haven’t had a pet since the advent of digital, and as I was playing with my new kitten this weekend, three factors were weighing down on me:
1. A few friends were demanding to see kitten pics on FaceBook.
2. The quality of pet images on FaceBook is really, truly outstanding.
3. I’ve simply never been good at making images of animals — in nature, in zoos or in my house.
What to do?
The cute portrait.
Before beginning my obligatory photo shoot, and wanting to get it over fast (it’s easier to play with a kitten with two hands), I realized that I should be clear about my goals. When I considered my FaceBook competition, it occurred to me that great pet pictures seem to fall into one of three categories:
A. Animal caught in a cute, sweet moment, usually staring into lens. (Portrait.)
B. Animal caught in the middle of silly or impressive action. (Sports)
C. Animal represented ina cool, visually creative manner. (Fine Art.)
The sports image. (Swimming the backstroke?)
“How the heck do non-pro photographers excel at these?,” I wondered. And then I answered myself with the obvious: “They spend a heck of a lot of time with their pets, snap, snap, snapping away.”
I had no real desire to create great pet images of my own kitten (yes, it’s true), but I still felt pressure to not embarrass myself on FaceBook. Therefore, before I even picked up a camera I realize that I needed to come up with a clear strategy. I decided on and executed the following steps, which resulted in the images in this post.
1. Figure out a way to engage the animal in question in one location using only one hand. (I tied a toy to a string, looped it over a door handle and then played with it like a fishing line while I sat on a chair, one hand free to snap, snap, snap.)
The fine art shot.
2. Use a small, no-pro camera on JPEG mode. (That’s what all the FaceBook folk are doing, no?)
3. Take a couple of test images with and without flash. (The flash images looked better, so I went with that.)
3. Snap, snap, snap for the two minutes remaining in my allotted five-minute time frame.
4. Review to ensure that all three types of pet images — cute, action, artistic — had been secured.
Go back to enjoying the weekend, obligatory new kitten FaceBook images checked off my “to do” list.
The complex, well thought out set up I concocted to make capturing all three types of pet images possible -- in less than five minutes.
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The Serious Part
If you missed the serious part of this light-hearted post, it is simply that making images that satisfy a client (even if you) with limited time, budget and options (and sometimes with a lack of great desire, as in my case) requires breaking down the photographic problem at hand logically. Only then, before picking up the camera, can we figure out a clear plan that will result in success.
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Do You Have Great Pet Picture Taking Workflow?
Just because I’m not really into taking images of my own pet, I really am amazed by great pet imagery — by amatures posting on FaceBook or professionals working in studios. Not easy! If you have a great pet image that includes a great “pet picture taking workflow,” do share. I’d love to post your image/workflow here. Write me at: ethan@ethansalwen.com.