It’s Friday! And that means it’s time for another edition of Furbaby Friday on the blog.
I am a total picture person. I take pictures of everything. Big life events, small moments in the day, you name it, I take a picture of it. And I’m so excited because Chris and I are taking some family pictures next week and I especially love family pictures! We always include the dogs in our family pictures, but this time it will be just me and Chris because our pictures are going to be a little more formal. Thinking of our upcoming photo session got me thinking back to all of the times we have had pictures taken with Lyssa and Levi once we adopted him. It is no small feat to take professional photos with animals, so I thought I would share a few suggestions in case you’re planning to include your furry family member in your next family photos. We have had several sessions with 1 dog or more and we’ve learned a few tricks along the way.
Make Sure Your Photographer Is On Board
Talk to your photographer beforehand to make sure they are ok with including your dogs (or other animals) in the pictures. You don’t want to shock them the day of your photos by walking up to the location with an extra family member in tow. We have checked with every photographer that’s taken pictures of us with our dogs to make sure they were supportive of the idea. And they all were! I think most people like to be around animals, but it’s always a good idea to be courteous and double check.
Burn Your Dog’s Energy
If you have a senior dog or really mellow dog, this tip may not apply. But we have a German Shepherd mix and a Boxer mix and they have a lot of energy. It is super important for us to burn some of their energy before we leave the house so they won’t be jumping all over the place at the photo location. You can do this several ways. Take them on a walk or throw the ball around for them in your backyard. Just as long as it’s something that will tire them out a little bit. You can’t really expect a dog that’s full of energy to sit still for pictures. Trust me, we learned this one the hard way.
Get To The Location Early
The first time Chris and I ever took pictures with Lyssa was when she was about 6 months old, so she was still very much a puppy. We were running late to our photos and we jumped out of the car and “ran” to the spot in the park we were supposed to meet our photographer. As soon as we started taking pictures, we realized Lyssa was totally distracted. She had her nose to the ground in almost all of our pictures because she was sniffing all of the new smells. We got a few pictures with her looking at the camera but that was only out of luck. Ever since then whenever we take pictures with the dogs, we always get to the location early so they can sniff around beforehand. That way by the time we start actually taking photos, the environment isn’t totally new and they are less distracted.
Bring Squeaky Toys
If you only listen to one tip, let this be it. We started bringing squeaky toys with us to photo shoots with the dogs and it improved our pictures so much. Anytime we want the dogs to look in a certain direction someone squeaks the toy. It could be the photographer, photographer assistant, friend, or family member. We have squeaked the toys ourselves too. As long as someone in the vicinity (preferably directly behind the photographer) has a toy that makes noise. It will get your dog’s attention and have them looking toward the camera for the pictures. That way they get their close up. Treats will also work if your dog is motivated by treats. Lyssa gets too excited to eat treats during a new adventure like taking pictures, but it may work on Levi. We’ll have to try that next time! Extra credit if your dog is trained to sit. Makes for some great pictures!
Be Patient
We are talking about living, breathing animals so it is best to take a patience pill before your pictures. They will not cooperate 100% (ours don’t at least) but they will hopefully cooperate enough to get some great pictures. If you go with the flow you may even get some pictures that are better than you were expecting. You would never know that in the picture below Lyssa was attempting to chase other dogs at the beach and we had to walk up and down the beach several times before getting a good shot. But look how great the end result was! Our photographers were great and super patient with us and her, which we really appreciated.
Gosh, I just love all of these pictures of us with Lyssa and Levi. It is definitely worth the little bit of extra work to include your furry family member in family photos!
What are your tips for taking pictures with animals? Or am I the only person that forces my husband to include our dogs in most of the professional pictures we take?
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