Tigera

Achieving a great photograph of a dog can be difficult and achieving good photographs of a puppy can be even more challenging! Puppies are adorable and make great subjects for a photo, however they are either sleeping or racing around with so much energy to burn, it can be challenging to simply capture their playful character in a photo. In addition, puppies are not trained to sit and stay, so a great photograph of a puppy is either due to being in right place at the right time or careful planning.

Introducing Saige!

One of my recent objectives in becoming a better photographer was to capture the playful nature of a puppy.   Meet my subject – Saige, a 9 week old German Shepherd puppy with an adorable fluffy coat & insanely playful nature.   Everyone loves to see an adorable photograph of a puppy, so I thought I would share a few tips that I learned whilst attempting to achieve some lovely shots of Saige.

• Lie down on the ground!

Lying down on the ground allowed Saige to feel comfortable with me and my camera.   Getting down to her level also allowed me to capture her image ‘face on’ rather than ‘looking’ down on her.  Yes,  she was tempted to want to come over and lick the lens, but that brings me to my second tip for photographing a puppy!

Feathers are a great toy and distraction for puppies!

• Provide the puppy with a toy!

Toys will distract the puppy from wanting to come an play with you.  It is very hard to get a good photograph of  a puppy if you are fending it off with one hand & trying to manage your camera in the other hand.   My favourite toy touse is a simple feather.  Like cats, dogs are intrigued by feathers and Saige found her feather to be simply irresistible.

• Compose your shot.
  

Once again, a toy can help you to compose your shot effectively.  With a toy, you can lure your puppy into an environment with a great background.  Since the puppy is distracted with their toy, you have the opportunity to take a few ‘test shots’ to get your aperture and shutter speeds adjusted to your location.

• 

  Tapping my foot made Saige shift her attention from her toy to 'something in the distance'..

  Take advantage of natural lighting.

Avoid using a flash with a puppy.  The sudden bright light will frighten them and your resulting photograph could be of a ‘stunned mullet’ rather than a cute adorable puppy.  You also run the risk of making the puppy shy of cameras later in life because they were terrified by a big flash of light.  I prefer taking photos  in either early morning light or late afternoon.   Late afternoon is the best time to take photos of puppies because they have slept most of the day and during the late afternoon their only mission in life is to play, play, play!

• 

  Grrrrrr... I am gonna kill da feather..

  Time of the day.

The time of the day is closely aligned with natural lighting.  If you want a sleeping puppy shot, time your photography to midday or after the puppy has had a meal.  If you want a playful shot,  early morning or late afternoon is the best time.

• Focus on the eyes of the puppy.

Make sure you focus on the eyes to get the cute expression of your puppy.  Dogs are very expressive creatures and focussing on the eyes will ensure you capture that adorable puppy look. 

• Get their attention.

Getting a puppies attention can be tricky!  With some of these shots, I tapped my foot on the ground to get Saige to look away and ‘into the distance’.

Getting her attention by 'whining'

When I wanted her to look straight into the camera, I made a high pitched whine in my throat, much like a dog.  I found this technique is great to get the puppy or dog to cock their head from one side to another in an attempt to work out where the sound was coming from.

So, just a few tips to get great shots of your puppy!  I hope you find these tips useful if you are embarking on taking some fantastic photographs of your puppy as it grows up.  Everyone loves a photo of an adorable pup! Good luck!

Check out da feather!

Nice profile shot.