Taking Photos of Pets: It's Harder Than It Looks!

Anyone who’s ever tried to take a photo of a pet knows that it can be a task requiring plenty of patience. Pets wiggle a lot, and they don’t always follow directions without some extra encouragement (i.e., treats).

Local photographer Megan Baker, who specializes in family portraits and specialty photography under the name MB Photography, knows a little about this topic, seeing as how a good portion of family portraits in Central Oregon also involve the family pet. Baker’s “pet cred” runs a little deeper, since she also runs the custom pet-tag business, Metalheads Boutique. 

In homage to our latest Central Oregon Pets photo contest, I had a recent chat with Baker about her tips for taking great pet photos. 

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Megan Baker

Megan Baker and her dog, Sybil, posing in the great outdoors.

Central Oregon Pets: What are some of the challenges with photographing pets? 

Megan Baker: Having expectations is probably the hardest part about taking photos of animals, or similarly, children, because they’re distracted, they’re not looking at you. So a lot of the times you need to have something that’s giving them incentive to look your way or seem happy if they’re not. I have a bag of tricks – I have noisemakers, I have treats, and sometimes I have their parents stand behind me. And it really is similar to taking pictures of children! You have to plan for the worst-case scenario.

COP: What are some general tips for taking a good photo of a dog? 

MB: Always choose a neutral background. You don’t want to take this beautiful photo and then have chaos in the background. Make sure they’re looking at you — I use treats. I have a little squeaky toy that I keep in my pocket. Sitting is usually best.

COP: What do you do when you have a pet that never settles down? 

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Megan Baker

Megan Baker took these two photos of rescue pup Jelly Belly sporting tags from Metalheads Boutique.

MB: Then we try for a running photo! If we can, I’ll have one owner with me so I’m not just trying to do it by myself — which is a large part to do with why I don’t have a lot of pictures of my own dog, right? If they’re sitting with their owner and then they can release them and they run towards me and I have a treat, you can get that action photo that way. Sometimes dogs just don’t like to sit still.

COP: Do you think it’s possible to take that good action shot with just a standard phone camera?

MB: Phones have come a long way. In fact — I don’t want to get off on a tangent here — but if you look at the metadata for your phone photo, it often shows the ISO and shutter speed and it’s pretty on par, if it’s on auto – it’s pretty good at detecting the scene. 

Here’s another tip: If you’re trying to get a photo of your pet, don’t use portrait mode unless they’re [the pet] really good at sitting still.