Pets and Photo Prints: Scale Up to Portraiture

Pet photography is always fun, and an emotionally-charged way to not only honour your animal friends but to decorate your home with warm, loving photo prints that capture nature’s majesty as well as the emotional core of your family. We love our pets and seeing them, even in the form of wall art, is instantly calming and affecting.

Too often, though, the difficulties in getting good photos of pets limits the way we envision the prints we create from them. We either get “action shots” where the pet is on the move, typically composed poorly and with motion blur and other defects, or we try to get a medium-range shot of the pet in their natural environment, usually when asleep. What we should be doing is treating the pet like a person and getting a portrait, where their sweet furry face fills the frame.

Pet Portrait Photo Prints: Reasons Why

There are many good reasons to approach pet photography in much the same way we approach photos of our children and loved ones – that is, going for the intimate portrait approach:

Drama: A large, bold, crisp and vibrant art print that is your beloved pet’s face is a striking image that will instantly capture people’s attention. Dog and cat faces are one of the most iconic images in the world, and people’s eyes instantly go to them and have an emotional reaction to them.

Beauty: You can’t beat nature for colour and texture. A high-quality, up-close photo of your pet will capture the intricate layering both in their fur, the contrast of textures between the soft coat and bristly whiskers, wet nose and shining eyes.

Personality: Many pet photos end up looking generic and common because they show a cat or dog at middle distance doing something most cats and dogs do. But you know your pet has its own personality, however simple and tiny. The face is where it will shine through most.

Uniqueness: When was the last time you saw a room decorated with gorgeous photo art of a pet portrait?

Tips for Your Pet Portrait

Of course, in the interests of full disclosure, we all know that one reason few people go for the “pet portrait” approach is simple: Pets are notoriously difficult to get to sit for portraits.

Capturing your animals in a moment of repose where they are simultaneously calm enough to get a photo but awake enough to make a great photo isn’t easy – and the closer you try to get the more likely your camera or phone gets licked or scratched. Here are a few simple tips for getting your pet to pose:

Choose Your Moment. You know their habits. Choose a time of day when they’re napping or relaxing in the sun.

Be Careful. Slow and steady wins the race. You don’t want to excite them or shatter a moment of calm, so approach carefully.

Treat Them Like Children. A toy or something shiny affixed to the top of your phone or camera will get them to focus on it naturally, getting you the perfect pose.

Have fun! That’s the most important part of getting awesome portrait photo prints of your pets – approach it in the spirit of fun. And if you fail at first, try again. And when you’ve got the ideal pet portrait for your walls, click here and we’ll make sure all the love and personality you adore in your animals makes it to your walls as vibrant, exciting art.