Dog Photography:
more than Snap-shots!

I am no photographer - as you can see from the pictures of my dogs dotted about Dog-Training-and-Health.com! But I take great pleasure in trying to capture the beauty, fun and freshness dogs bring to my life.

Most of the dog photography on this site is of my own dogs or - more often - my friends' dogs. While some of these friends are gifted amateur photographers, none would pretend to be expert at dog photography. And yet, how often they have captured a moment, a look, an interaction between animals, which shows their love of their subject.

In fact, all the technical expertise in the world won't make up for a lack of interest in the subject of a picture. And knowledgeable enthusiasm for dog photography can go a long way with even the most basic of equipment.

You, the Photographer

Many's the time I've seen pictures from ... a fashion shoot, for instance, where a dog has been imported to give a country feel to the images. Alas, the dog never looks natural, or even part of the picture (he's probably watching his handler off-camera). It's just that the photographer, however technically expert, is a fashion photographer and has little interest in dog photography.

That's where you have the edge! Where you will win out is in capturing everyday moments in your dog photography - a dog sniffing a kitten, lying upside down in the sunshine, sploshing through the waves at the beach, or breathing heavily in the cold air of an early-morning walk.

The Composition of your Dog Photography is Important

The space between the subject and the border should have a relationship with the subject itself, like yin and yang - that black and white diagram we are all familiar with. In dog photography the dog needs to be balanced by the background, in other words.

Have you got a digital camera? If you have, you can use one of the many photo-editing suites (some come with a 30-day free trial run) and have great fun with your pictures.

Photographers have spent years developing ways to alter pictures in the darkroom. It's so easy now to edit your dog photography and play down ... bright areas that interfere with your image, for instance ... or an inappropriately-coloured object which intrudes into your picture (this happens a lot with very brightly-coloured plastic toys). You can even completely obliterate Aunt Mildred from the scene!

Another thing you'll need to bear in mind is the difference between what the camera sees and what the eye sees. The camera cannot discern, substitute, or balance as the eye can. It is but a machine and records everything in front of it, much as a tape recorder will pick up all the intrusive coughs and shuffles at a concert performance while you may not notice them at all in the concert hall.

It's not wysiwyg, but wtcsiwyg! You will not see as the camera sees until you've messed up an awful lot of photos, and this is where the digital camera comes to the fore again. It will cost you nothing but a few batteries to take hundreds of photos. You can get a lot of "flying hours" done very quickly this way.

The perfect photo you see in a magazine or advertisement is often the sole survivor from hundreds that the photographer took. There are many aspects of life where the more mistakes you make, the further ahead you are, and dog photography is no exception. There are plenty of ways to learn the technical side of photography, from books to courses, but it's the snapping that will give you the artistic skills needed for great dog photography.

Start 'em young!

A sharp eye and a little imagination has resulted in a great picture.

Now, just before you grab your camera and go hunting for your dog, check out more dog photography in Dog Pictures, and cast a critical eye over the rest of the dog photos in Dog-Training-and-Health.com - especially the one of Rupert reading our Newsletter DogSnips!