I wish I was in self isolation with these puppies!
You’ve made it to the last post in this series! This post is about taking better pet photos indoors while we’re stuck at home! If you missed the first two, you can find them here: Part One and Part Two
No lighting equipment needed. You don’t even need to use your camera flash – in fact, please don’t use your camera flash 🙂 You can create awesome portraits with just one window!
INDOOR TIP 1: FIND A WINDOW
Windows take the sun’s light and filter it beautifully. When you want to take indoor images, take a look at which window is getting sunlight at various times of day.
Alright, we’ve found a window and faced Kipper 3/4 to it to catch some light in his eyes. And, yes, that is his dog-sized POÄNG chair (Ikea says it’s child-sized, but what do they know).
If I face Kipper away from the window, I get nice separation between his white head spot and the wall, but I lose the light in his eyes.
Here’s Kipper fully facing the window. The light is nice, but now you can see my messy bedroom – eek! Which brings us to…
INDOOR TIP 2: CLEAN UP YOUR ROOM, er, BACKGROUND
If you have a magazine-ready room, then you’re in luck, just find some light and start shooting! If you’re like me, you might need to find something a little more neutral.
I turned Kip’s chair so that we got more wall than bedroom – which is a great and easy solution. Make sure that you’re still getting some light on the dog’s face – and don’t be afraid to have the chair facing one way and the dog facing another.
If you don’t have a wall that you can spin to, just put a blanket behind your pup. This is a white blanket on a pile of pillows.
INDOOR TIP 3: STRIKE A POSE
My last tip! Sure pets aren’t the most cooperative posers, but there are a few little things you can do to help them along.
Pet privates – This is a controversial topic in pet photography circles, for real, it is 🙂 Yes, they’re completely natural and depending on how you pose your pet they might take over the whole picture. Now that you’ve seen it, you can’t unsee it, right?!
Easy fix – change your angle or put a paw in front. Thanks for your modesty, Kip.
Here’s one of my secrets – keep shooting while your pet chews their treat. It’s never not great.
Finally, get creative! Let your imagination run wild!
Thanks for reading! I’d love to see what you create! Stay safe and well!
