Photograph Your Pet - How to Position Your Pet and Yourself in a Photo

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Megan Lee
Paws and Claws Photography
www.pawsandclawsphotography.com  
(571) 641-1044

Megan Lee, founder and owner of Paws and Claws Photography, has been around animals and photography her whole life. She has taken care of a wide range of animals, including horses, dogs, cats, rabbits, and even guinea pigs. Megan is currently raising two miniature Schnauzers, Parker and Hunter, as well as a lop-eared bunny named Molly. Megan’s passion for photography started in high school, during her first photography class. Soon after her photos appeared in a local photography magazine and displayed at local shows. Since then Megan has taken numerous college level photography classes and graduated from the New York Institute of Photography in 2006. She also continues her education by attending Washington Photo Safaris regularly. Megan has found a way to combine both her passions, and with the help of friends and family she founded Paws and Claws Photography in 2005. Although the company is still young, Megan has been practicing portrait photography for over 6 years. This experience allows Megan to offer professional quality portraits, while at the same time offering much lower prices than her competitors. In addition, Megan offers a complete satisfaction guarantee to every customer.

Photograph Your Pet - How to Position Your Pet and Yourself in a Photo

In this video, professional photographer Megan Lee describes the techniques required to take portraits of your pets. This video is designed for the beginning photographer, but includes a variety of tips and techniques that would be useful to intermediate photographers as well. This video series includes an overview of the basic equipment, preparation, props, set up, posing, location, backgrounds and lighting needed to capture a great portrait.

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Megan with Paws and Claws Photography. I'm going to talk to you now about posing your pet and positioning yourself. Try different poses for your pet to show their true personality. Each time you try a new pose, you want to remember to recheck your lighting and the camera position. Try your pet sitting, standing, laying down or even in someones arms. Each pose will provide a slightly different look giving you a selection of portraits to choose from.

To protect your camera, wrap the strap around your wrist like this. This way, if you slip and you're outside, the camera never falls to the ground. Now, to prevent camera shake while taking horizontal pictures, you want to keep your arms against your body to steady the camera; with your left hand, support the focus the camera, and your right forefinger to press the shutter. Now, for vertical pictures, support the camera in either your right or left hand, keep that elbow against your body to steady the camera and use your free hand to press the shutter.

Possibly you might consider using a tripod such as this one. A tripod steadies the camera for you, allowing your arms and hands to be free. We see all pets from our eye level. A more appealing picture of your pet would be to position yourself on their eye level or to bring your pet up to your eye level. You can do this by either laying on the floor or by placing your pet in a chair or a table such as this one. Last but not least, you always want to remember to get in as close as you can, and fill the whole frame with your pet.

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