Pet Photography: Go with a New Angle

Sometimes pet photography is an afterthought, a sudden inspiration when the family dog or kitten does something crazy. Sometimes it’s part of our formal portrait strategy, capturing our crazy family, which definitely includes our pets. Sometimes we have dreams of creating the next Grumpy Cat or Internet Meme celebrity.

Whatever our motivation, there’s no doubt that pets can not only be emotionally satisfying photos, they can actually improve the design and look of our homes. Pets have so much soul and natural beauty, a great photo turned into an awesome piece of canvas wall art can elevate any room. The key to successful photos of our pets lies in the approach we take. You can’t plan too much, because pets are unpredictable. And if you approach pet portraits the same way you do people portraits (which is to say, straight on) you’ll get dull, lifeless photos. When seeking the right angle for your pet photos, here are a few suggestions designed to get you unexpected – and thus inspirational – results.

Include Their Spirit Person

You’ve heard the term ‘spirit animal’. Well, in any family your pets will have chosen their ‘spirit person’. You know who they are – it’s the family member your dog follows around all day and night to the exclusion of everyone else, or the child your cat sleeps with every night.

Instead of making your pet portrait be an isolated image of the pet – include their person. Look at this spectacular example of pet photography. Including the daughter – clearly that hound’s Spirit Person – in the wall art enhances the emotional power of the image.

The End All

A fun approach to your pet portraits is to go around the back and take a series of pet butt photos! After all, why does a pet portrait have to be some serious set of head-on portraits when pet butts are a lot more interesting – after all, it’s how pets introduce themselves to each other.

If you have kids, the pet butt series of photos will be an instant hit, and they will no doubt be happy to assist in any way they can think of in herding the house animals into the home studio for their close up!

Lapping it Up

Another fun idea for pet portraits: Photos of your pets in people’s laps. We all know that cats and dogs view humans as walking beds and curl up in laps at every opportunity. Wait for the moment, and be ready with your camera. The best part about this is that it’s a great way to include your family in the photos in a subtle, cheeky way – waist down!

Your pets deserve their own bespoke portraits, but there’s no need to apply the same rules to their photos as you do to the rest of the family. Have a little more fun, approach it from a different angle, and when you get those wet noses and furry butts in a great photo click here and we’d be delighted to turn them into amazing pieces of wall art.