Ask any animal lover and they will tell you one of their favorite subjects to photograph is their pets or horses. With digital ‘point and shoot’ cameras so readily available this can be a fun hobby. Learning how to improve your photos and get great photos of your pet or horse is not hard with a few ‘how to’ tips. Let me show you how to improve your photography skills!

As a pet portrait artist I often see pet photos that could be improved to make a great picture! These tips apply for people wanting to create good photos and also for people wanting to memorialize a pet in an oil painting.

Natural Light is best!

Natural Light is best! Colors sparkle and shadows create interest! Turn your flash off. Zoom in on your subject.

Use a digital camera. Have the setting on the largest sized file possible. The file should be at least 1000 x 1000 on up.

Get on eye level with the pet. Lots of times I get photos that are distorted because the camera view is looking down on the pet and the pet is crouching. A happy dog looking up as if to a treat can be a fun composition but also take some eye level shots . Avoid the crouching, submissive looking dog. Pay attention to the animals body language. You want the pet to appear relaxed, happy and eager.

my puppy

Have the pets face/ body fill the frame. Avoid too much background. Horse or working dog photos can be an exception here if you want more of a scenery/landscape/ action shot with the horse or working dog as the subject in a specific location. For the typical portrait though have the face and shoulders fill as much of the camera frame as possible and still be in focus.

beware of the background images

Take the photo in natural light . I can’t emphasize this enough. Turn your flash off. If you are photographing your horse barn and stall photos usually are too poor quality to make into a portrait unless there is dramatic natural light on the face.

Relax! Sit down and expect this to take some time. Animal sense when we are rushed. Have a camera card with lots of room – you can always delete the bad photos- which you will have plenty of! Natural, relaxed poses are best. A good option is to have one person play with the dog or cat with their favorite toy and have another take photos (down on their level). Cats do like to perch so an upward view in good natural light is an exception. Beware of background lighting with cats- they often like to pose by windows so if you can position yourself so not to have just a dark cat silhouette with a light window as a background. The true colors and features of the pet get washed out and are too hard to see in that type of photo.

Have the animal looking at you- use treats or toys to get an alert, interested expression. Grazing horses are beautiful in a landscape painting but make poor references for portraits.

If the portrait will include two or more animals be sure to have a photo of them together (full body) to show size relationship.

Copyrighted photos can not be used for references unless the photographer gives permission for them to be used that way. Even professional photos you have paid for still retain the photographers copyrights as does any original art.

If these tips are too late because you’ve lost a beloved pet or horse all is not lost. A n original oil painting portrait can be painted especially for you. I spend some time talking with you about your pet’s personality and favorite activities. I usually ask for an emotion or feeling they’d like conveyed in the painting and think of that as I paint. Its amazing how the emotion then just seems to flow on to the canvas! An original oil painting makes for a very special gift!

Pet Portraits by Sue Steiner

Dog Portraits

Cat Portraits

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Horse and other Portraits

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