Everything I’ve Learnt About Photographing My Dogs

make it a fun activity

I’m a huge believer in the fact that if you’re getting your dog to do something whether you’re taking a photograph or not it should be something that should be fun for both of you. You’re never going to invoke a good reaction or have a happy relationship with your dog if you shout and scare them into doing something. Josie and Edie are both hugely treat driven so that's the method we use as well as giving lots of positive praise. Even if we’re just taking a picture of them laid on the sofa I always give them a little treat afterwards and they’ve both now learnt that my camera = food. Whilst I’m pretty sure Josie has absolutely no idea what a camera is she is a big poser, you might have noticed that’s why there is a much larger amount of images of her on our Instagram feed, she really does seem to enjoy it. We believe this all stemmed from teaching her to jump on small and safe ledges and rocks when we were out on a walk and now it’s something that she does of her own accord, it’s almost like she’s waiting for us to take her picture.

basic commands are key

Most dogs will know how to sit, lay down and stay and to be honest, they’re the only commands we really use whenever we take photographs of Josie and Edie. For me, I think the most important thing is for your dog to be able to hold stay and be comfortable in doing so, you don’t want your dog to ever be uncomfortable when taking their picture as it should be something that is fun for them. Teaching a good stay command is something that is not only important when out walking your dog if they’re off the lead but it makes taking their photograph a thousand times easier, it only takes a couple of seconds to get a good snap and that’s it. Teaching stay and sit are just one option for taking photographs of your dog though, if you just want natural shots of them just doing dog stuff then a totally different style of photography.

photographing a black dog

Did you know one of the many reasons that black dogs are the last ones to find homes in rescue centres is that they’re not as easy to photograph as other dogs? I cannot believe that this is even a reason not to adopt a black animal but as we live in a world now where sharing photographs of our lives is second nature. Even though black dogs are more difficult to photograph, it's not impossible and here are some of the things I try to keep in mind when photographing Josie:

photograph them with an even light source, anything too harsh won’t work well.
a grey sky is your best friend, it works as a giant soft box.
keep the background somewhat clean, anything too busy or dark can mean their features get lost.
make the most out of their features, like their silhouette.
if you have a black dog with a lot of fur try to make sure that fur isn’t hiding their eyes.

why photograph your dog?

As I said, taking snapshots of Josie and Edie whether they’re out on a walk or hanging out at home is something that I find so much fun. Documenting my life has become such a normal thing for me to do it only felt like a natural progression to share little bits of their lives too. For me, starting an Instagram account for my dogs felt like one of those things that I would never do as who needs to see someone else’s dog that much? Oh how wrong I was. Not only did starting Josie and Edie’s account bring a lot of joy to my life but it also opened me up to an entire world of sighthound owners who are just some of the most wonderful people I’ve ever interacted with and it’s so nice to have a place where I can share all my photographs of Josie and Edie.

Everything I’ve Learnt About Photographing My Dogs