Welcome to Dogged Determination, where your pet photograph is turned into pet art. Ten tips for a great pet photo shoot

Use Lots Of Light
Bring your dog outside on a leash if possible—he'll be happier, and you'll avoid that red-eye effect that the flash can produce when pictures are taken inside. Make sure you don't position your pet directly facing the sun. Sunlight coming from the side works better. Always use a fill-in flash setting on your camera - it helps with the dark shadows that its almost impossible to avoid outside.
To Flash Or Not To Flash
If you take a photo of your pet at night, try using an "offset" flash or adjusting your camera's flash settings to avoid the red-eye syndrome that a regular flash can cause—this will constrict the animal's pupils and reduce the light that's reflected.
Dreaded Red Eye
Be careful using red-eye reduction flash settings. In many cases, the flash will go off before the picture is taken to make the iris contract, but also it can make your pet startled.
Get A Worm's-eye View
This isn't a dominance issue, so don't tower over your pet by taking shots from your perspective. Get down on your knees or lie down so that you are on the same level as the animals face.
Compose, Compose, Compose
While haphazard shots can occasionally turn up a gem, its better to fake it. Pets are naturals at being photographed, unlike us poor humans with our frozen-in-place grins, so you don't have to worry abount the shot looking staged. Try moving back from your subject while using the camera's zoom function to frame your pet, although noisy electric zooms can startle your pet. Clear all the clutter away from the pet, so that you don't have a cute Fido and Chairleg shot.
Keep It Close
Stand about four feet away from cats and smaller dogs, and position yourself five to six feet away from large dogs. If you have a pet crocodile - I will leave it up to your best judgement
Help - God Only Gave Me Two Arms
Get help for your photo shoot, two is good, three is better. One person should be given the job of keeping hold of the pet and making sure they don"t just get bored and walk off. The other persons job is to get attention of the pet when its time to take the photo. Position the attention getter behind the photographer or slightly to one side to get that "staring off into the distance" look. The photographer and the attention getter need to rehearse to ensure that they get their timing right!
Have Patience!
It may take four or five shots of the same pose to get it right. Dogs have a habit of panting, and you want to catch them with their tongues in. If its a hot day, you may simply be out of luck and have to try again another day.
Trust Me I'm A Designer
Photograph your cat or dog in front of a background that differs from their basic colour. Here is your chance to play with colour schemes.
Go Digital!
Take lots of shots and make sure to take a look at the images before you finish. With a digital camera, you won't be wasting film. Make sure you have fresh re-charged batteries.

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Create pet art picture and produce 5" x 5" print

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