Page 51 - Australian Photography Dec 2020

3 QUICK PORTRAITURE TIPS
1. Relax and have fun. This is the most important tip of them all. The key to relaxed pet pics is to create an environment where your subject is relaxed and happy! Making sure pets feel safe and at ease is the key to crafting wonderful portraits. Animals’ moods reflect in their faces and body language and by making the session a positive and fun experience, they will see their photo session as an adventure and reward you with big smiles and cheerful energy.
2. Light is crucial to good photography and cameras cannot operate without it. Outdoor photography is more of a challenge than studio photography as you cannot control outdoor lighting conditions. Animals’ fur can shine and reflect in full sun, so even light is
best, like in a shaded area. Overcast days with a light sky are my favourite outdoor shooting conditions. They are bright enough to capture detail in fur or feathers, but result in minimal glare.
3. They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, and this is no different for animals. One of the ways animals express emotion and character is through their eyes. Sparkly bright eyes, sad, droopy eyes, blinks, side glances, looking upwards – each different eye movement reflects their feelings at that moment in time. Engaging portraits come from ensuring your subject’s eyes are captured in your shot, and given we look at each other (and animals) in the eyes, by focusing on the eyes your viewer has an immediate connection to your subject.
“I can look at a dog and tell you verbally what a dog is thinking, and the owners will laugh and say to me, ‘That’s exactly what they were thinking!’”
PERFECT PET PICTURES
Great portraiture always requires a good relationship between the subject and photographer. And for pet portraits it’s no different.
“I think of it as a team effort,” says Cearns. “Whatever they can give me, I can get. If they usually give paw, and on the day they decide they won’t give paw, I have to work with it. I never force them to do anything, there’s always a mutual respect. If a dog is wary of strangers, I can get them to relax in the studio, but there will still be elements of that character trait in the images because that’s their true nature.
The key to a great portrait, says Cearns, is something that shows the animal as a sentient being, and perhaps more importantly, as beautiful.
“I see my goal is to take a picture that captures what the owner sees when they see their pet. The fine line of course is capturing the pet how
I see it, which is also hopefully the
same way they see them. And of course, no two pets are ever alike.
“I could have puppies, and then
a baby kangaroo, a snake, a rottweiler, and
a couple of rats all in the same day. Each will require different knowledge of their behaviours to successfully photograph them,” she says.
| 51 | DECEMBER 2020 | AUSTRALIANPHOTOGRAPHY.COM