How to photograph dogs

wud

Senior Member
I dont know if anyone are interested, but I read so many of your tips and tutorials, so wanna give something back. And well, I do dogs...


First, I mail the owner and explains a little about what we'll be doing. Here I tell them, to let me know if their dog needs a break, as they of course nows it better than me. Also I tell them, that the first 5-10 minutes, I'll just be talking to the dog, playing - petting - feeding goodies, what ever the dog likes. This makes a huge difference for the images, as the dog suddenly sees me as a friend, and will most likely offer eye contact to me during the shoot.
I also ask, what they normally do for fun with the dog, training, playing etc. Last I ask if the dog are afraid of something specific, most are not but sometimes one writes 'other dogs', 'trucks', something. Then I arrange that we meet up somewhere where there would be a small chance meeting this.


I do have dogs myself, so I know some about their language.
Stuff I pay close attention to while photographing: calming signals. This can mean the dog is stressed, and if so, I can be pretty sure I will find a lot of stressed out eyes when returning home seeing the images big on the computer. Not a good picture!

Signals (amongst others) can be:

yawning/panting if not hot or just been running
looking away
showing the white in the eyes
humping - either me or the owner (clear stress signal)
sniffing when called in/asked to do something (yes its true! not always of course, see what else the dog signals)
keeps turning the back on me (friendly signal, maybe I'm being to forward)


If the dogs continuously do some of the above, I rearrange the shoot. What ever tricks this, I can do later or not at all, doesn't matter, we'll get other images. So if we were throwing a ball, we stop and either just walks for a bit or we feed the dog some goodies, saying its a good dog whenever it acts calm.


I never force any dogs to anything and I wont see the owner doing it. I can try to lure it into something but if it wont do it, it doesn't matter.


I feed tons of goodies during a session. I praise the dog for whatever it does, even the things that does not mean anything, lol. Doesn't matter, I just want the dog to think its doing something amazing, this also shows in the pictures.


Next step. Guessing what the dog will do.

This is also what I use the first 5-10 minutes to figure out. I am looking at the dog - does it avoid me if I talk to loud, what does it find funny and interesting and so on. Does it move fast, slow, jump etc.
And then we start walking, to get to the first place where we will be shooting.

Here I get the owner to do something with the dog - this can be anything he/she knows the dog likes. Mostly playing with a ball or a toy, to get some of the positive stress of being a new and funny place out. It will make the head portraits much easier, if the dog are just a tiny bit tired ;)


And from here, I just sees what the dog does. I look at it running first time after the ball, after this I prepare to shoot the next time it runs after the ball.


Last, but not least

It matters if the dog are trained to do something specific - sitting, laying, standing, tricks and so on. One of my dogs can sit/lay in a position for a long time and I can move away, take the picture, return and give a treat. My other dog can't (he will follow me instantly), so with him I will either have to have a helper giving goodies while I move away, or I will have to use a lens which allows me to be close to him.
This is the same with other peoples dogs, some prefer the owner close, some dont. I change the lens, according to this. I get the owner to stand, where they wont be in the picture.
Its all about what the dog are used to.



Most of the dogs I've been out with can do 1, maybe 1,5 hour of shooting (including walking, pauses etc). But they are TIRED when I leave them.
Only 1 time (so far) I had a really stressing dog, the shoot took more than 2 hours, as we had to take a lot of breaks just sitting relaxing with it. We had a good time though and the pictures turned out great :)


If any question, let me know. I hope someone will get any use out of this!



Dog a little uncomfortable (left side):

nd3_4991_web.jpg




Dogs having fun, not minding running directly at the camera:

nd3_5757_copy.jpg


 
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southwestsam

Senior Member
I love your photos - had a browse of your website earlier (admittedly I had to translate to navigate it!).I will try your tips with my parents dog this weekend and see how I get on. Saying that I am half way there as I lived with him for 8 years so know him very well already!My favourite of yours is the greyhound type dog in what looks like a floodlight. So focused on that ball!!
 

wud

Senior Member
I love your photos - had a browse of your website earlier (admittedly I had to translate to navigate it!).I will try your tips with my parents dog this weekend and see how I get on. Saying that I am half way there as I lived with him for 8 years so know him very well already!My favourite of yours is the greyhound type dog in what looks like a floodlight. So focused on that ball!!

Thank you so much :) Thats one of my favorite images too!

Let me know when you post some shots of your parents dog, I wanna see.
 

wud

Senior Member
Thanks for the tips. I struggled taking shots while these dogs were running. I need to practice.

Italian grayhounds


gray hounds by gqtuazon, on Flickr


Aww, beauties. It looks like your shutter were 1/80 in this image, so I can understand why it must have been tough getting them sharp while running. They are so fast!
But great, great portrait :)
 

gqtuazon

Gear Head
Aww, beauties. It looks like your shutter were 1/80 in this image, so I can understand why it must have been tough getting them sharp while running. They are so fast!
But great, great portrait :)

It was late in the afternoon. I was helping my daughter with her school photography club. Their theme was "animals" so I asked my friend if I could shoot their dogs but it was getting dark. I should have just bumped the ISO to increase the shutter speed.
 

cherylann

New member
Hello Wud,

I love your post on photographing dogs. I have been doing some photographing of dogs lately and have run into a problem I hope you can help me with. How did you keep your white dogs in your post in focus as they ran towards you. They look like they are in a full run. When I have a dog run towards me they go out of focus real quick. I would love to know your settings and how you accomplished such a focused picture on those dogs.
Thanks so much for your post!
Cheryl
 

wud

Senior Member
Hello Wud,

I love your post on photographing dogs. I have been doing some photographing of dogs lately and have run into a problem I hope you can help me with. How did you keep your white dogs in your post in focus as they ran towards you. They look like they are in a full run. When I have a dog run towards me they go out of focus real quick. I would love to know your settings and how you accomplished such a focused picture on those dogs.
Thanks so much for your post!
Cheryl

Hey! Happy to help. I used the 70-200mm zoom (but any one would do, it's easier with something beyond 70mm). The dogs were pretty far away, so they didn't at all fill out my frame - then we called them (my husband were with me, so he could get their attention) and while they were running, I clicked several shots but kept focusing. At some point they more or less filled the frame and shortly after they were to close for me to focus.

I think it was ISO 200 or 400, f/4 and then a high shutter time. Preferable over 1/500. But as high as possible!


Make sure you got your settings before starting to shoot - we got these two guys to do the run twice, then they didn't bother anymore lol.

Hope we'll get to see your image :) I'm sure you'll nail it, just try a couple of times.





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cherylann

New member
I used the same lens you did. I don't think my dog was far enough away. He started out filling the frame. Did you use auto or manual focus? I was shooting at f4 with a 640 Shutter and a 100 ISO, very sunny day. I will start with him farther away next time. Thanks so much for your help. You have been great!
 

wud

Senior Member
I used the same lens you did. I don't think my dog was far enough away. He started out filling the frame. Did you use auto or manual focus? I was shooting at f4 with a 640 Shutter and a 100 ISO, very sunny day. I will start with him farther away next time. Thanks so much for your help. You have been great!

Ah okay - further away yes, you need a little time to get focus on him. I use auto focus, so when your shutter is pressed halfway, it re-focus.

Your welcome :)


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southwestsam

Senior Member
Hey wud.

i took some pics of the old collie over the weekend. It was dark by the time I got to where he was though so they're all indoors.

need to do a bit of PP to correct the white balance on them - I'm so lazy with WB cus I shoot in raw it stays on auto regardless!! Will upload them when I've done so you can see him.
 

southwestsam

Senior Member
As promised!

Doggy.jpg

Love Me.jpg

Smelly Feet.jpg

He's such a soppy bugger! Getting on a bit now - we've had him since he was 2 and he's the grand old age of 15 now. Would have liked to get some outdoor pics of him but I didn't get there in time for daylight.
 

wud

Senior Member
Here is my boy Zeus, I had to bump the ISO to 800 even though it was sunny (80-400 @400)

View attachment 69157

I find that dogs dont mind running directly against the sun. If he had done that, she shadow wouldn't have darkened one side of him :) Also I would either have included more surroundings and taken the shot directly at him, or used a higher aperture, to get the grass more blurred out.

But you got him in a happy pose, thats good!


As promised!

View attachment 69487

View attachment 69488

View attachment 69489

He's such a soppy bugger! Getting on a bit now - we've had him since he was 2 and he's the grand old age of 15 now. Would have liked to get some outdoor pics of him but I didn't get there in time for daylight.


Aw, border collie. Such a lovely dog. I like the first two the most - the last one is a bit to dark and to much stuff going on in the back.
The first one, his eyes are really good, very calm.
The second I think maybe he is thinking your camera are a bit weird lol. But could also just be the famous border collie look!

What I do, when getting a picture with the camera semi-close and above the dog is: click - goodie - praising, click - goodie - praising, several times. I act and move calmly and praise them in a low voice so they won't move, but dogs often don't like you coming at them from above..
 

GeoWes

Senior Member
Thanks, wud. This morning I was thinking I should shoot my neighbor's yapping rats and this this pops up. Were you reading my mind?
 

Scott Murray

Senior Member
I find that dogs dont mind running directly against the sun. If he had done that, she shadow wouldn't have darkened one side of him :) Also I would either have included more surroundings and taken the shot directly at him, or used a higher aperture, to get the grass more blurred out.

But you got him in a happy pose, thats good!
Thanks Mia for the reply, I was using my 80-400VR (slow focusing) Best Aperture is f/7.1. But yeah I didn't think of the back ground as was at a dog park with little around, I think next time I will get lower to the ground as I think this will help and I will pay attention to the sun ;-)
 
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