Animal Welfare Professionals

What are your tips and tricks for taking marketing photos of adoptable pets?

Pet photos online at petfinder, etc. have definitely improved over the years, but there are exceptions. Dog photos are best taken outdoors when possible, but with cat photos, there's a bit of a learning curve. I've consulted a couple of photographers and watched them work and came up with these quick guides for making cat photos stand out from the crowd. With camera phones now, there is no reason not to takes several dozen (or hundreds!) photos and winnow them down to a few perfect images. Personally, I feel this is very important for engaging a potential adopter, who is scrolling through 100s of pets to find one they connect with. What else can you add?

What are your tips and tricks for taking marketing photos of adoptable pets?

Pet photos online at petfinder, etc. have definitely improved over the years, but there are exceptions. Dog photos are best taken outdoors when possible, but with cat photos, there's a bit of a learning curve. I've consulted a couple of photographers and watched them work and came up with these quick guides for making cat photos stand out from the crowd. With camera phones now, there is no reason not to takes several dozen (or hundreds!) photos and winnow them down to a few perfect images. Personally, I feel this is very important for engaging a potential adopter, who is scrolling through 100s of pets to find one they connect with. What else can you add?

For cats, one thing that I think is really helpful is actually recording a video of the cat. I do this in the same way I would be holding my phone and "waiting" for the perfect opportunity to snap a photo. Then I can go back and "slo-mo" through the recording, screenshotting the best parts to use for photos!

I also recently read a study that showed adopters are more likely to be interested in a cat if there is a toy in their photo. It doesn't matter if they are playing with the toy, or if it's just simply in the background. I'll link that study below! 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6445959/

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Lexi Schwalbach
Social Media Content Creator
Wisconsin's Waiting Pets

Original Message:
Sent: 08-03-2023 08:04 AM
From: Carol Brendler
Subject: Pet Photography

What are your tips and tricks for taking marketing photos of adoptable pets?

Pet photos online at petfinder, etc. have definitely improved over the years, but there are exceptions. Dog photos are best taken outdoors when possible, but with cat photos, there's a bit of a learning curve. I've consulted a couple of photographers and watched them work and came up with these quick guides for making cat photos stand out from the crowd. With camera phones now, there is no reason not to takes several dozen (or hundreds!) photos and winnow them down to a few perfect images. Personally, I feel this is very important for engaging a potential adopter, who is scrolling through 100s of pets to find one they connect with. What else can you add?

What are your tips and tricks for taking marketing photos of adoptable pets?

Pet photos online at petfinder, etc. have definitely improved over the years, but there are exceptions. Dog photos are best taken outdoors when possible, but with cat photos, there's a bit of a learning curve. I've consulted a couple of photographers and watched them work and came up with these quick guides for making cat photos stand out from the crowd. With camera phones now, there is no reason not to takes several dozen (or hundreds!) photos and winnow them down to a few perfect images. Personally, I feel this is very important for engaging a potential adopter, who is scrolling through 100s of pets to find one they connect with. What else can you add?

What are your tips and tricks for taking marketing photos of adoptable pets?

Pet photos online at petfinder, etc. have definitely improved over the years, but there are exceptions. Dog photos are best taken outdoors when possible, but with cat photos, there's a bit of a learning curve. I've consulted a couple of photographers and watched them work and came up with these quick guides for making cat photos stand out from the crowd. With camera phones now, there is no reason not to takes several dozen (or hundreds!) photos and winnow them down to a few perfect images. Personally, I feel this is very important for engaging a potential adopter, who is scrolling through 100s of pets to find one they connect with. What else can you add?

#AdoptionsandAdoptionPrograms
#MarketingandSocialMedia

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Carol B.
Foster Volunteer/Grants Coordinator
Michigan
------------------------------

Black dogs are REALLY hard to get good pics of.  Bright sun directly in their faces isn't ideal.  When I was photographing them for a shelter, I'd get better pictures on a cloudy day with them -- it's super challenging to get their faces well.

My best friend in rescue was a professional photographer, and we'd often tag-team when we were shelter volunteers.  I'd hold leashes and she'd be lying in the grass with her Canon Rebel with a good lens snapping continuously.  (Just bring an old beach towel to lie on!)  The dog could move and she only need ONE good shot, which she'd find out of the many taken with tons of exposures.   So don't just try to take "a" picture -- keep snapping them over and over to see if you get that one great shot.

You have to get low so you're at face level or even slightly below, not looking down over the animal.   She had the squeaker from inside a dog toy in her hand and was holding it over her head, squeaking it to get them to look at it ..... and then head tilt!  Those head tilts for dogs are PURE GOLD if you can get them with a good camera that's focused close up. 

If you can blur the backgrounds with your camera settings, that's really helpful too (even outside).

Editing after the fact is important.  There's good phone editing software now, but if you can get software license through TechSoup.org for nonprofits for a product like Adobe Lightroom, you'll be able to do a lot more.

Here's an example of really bad picture of a mostly black dog --and also a couple that are better  -- so that you can see the difference in facial detail with a black fur. The first one is fuzzy, but the lighting is also hiding the facial features with shadows and black fur.  The same principal would hold for an all-black cat too!

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Maggie Thomas
President
Red Stick German Shepherd Rescue

Original Message:
Sent: 08-03-2023 08:04 AM
From: Carol Brendler
Subject: Pet Photography

What are your tips and tricks for taking marketing photos of adoptable pets?

Pet photos online at petfinder, etc. have definitely improved over the years, but there are exceptions. Dog photos are best taken outdoors when possible, but with cat photos, there's a bit of a learning curve. I've consulted a couple of photographers and watched them work and came up with these quick guides for making cat photos stand out from the crowd. With camera phones now, there is no reason not to takes several dozen (or hundreds!) photos and winnow them down to a few perfect images. Personally, I feel this is very important for engaging a potential adopter, who is scrolling through 100s of pets to find one they connect with. What else can you add?

#AdoptionsandAdoptionPrograms
#MarketingandSocialMedia

------------------------------
Carol B.
Foster Volunteer/Grants Coordinator
Michigan
------------------------------

Black dogs are REALLY hard to get good pics of.  Bright sun directly in their faces isn't ideal.  When I was photographing them for a shelter, I'd get better pictures on a cloudy day with them -- it's super challenging to get their faces well.

My best friend in rescue was a professional photographer, and we'd often tag-team when we were shelter volunteers.  I'd hold leashes and she'd be lying in the grass with her Canon Rebel with a good lens snapping continuously.  (Just bring an old beach towel to lie on!)  The dog could move and she only need ONE good shot, which she'd find out of the many taken with tons of exposures.   So don't just try to take "a" picture -- keep snapping them over and over to see if you get that one great shot.

You have to get low so you're at face level or even slightly below, not looking down over the animal.   She had the squeaker from inside a dog toy in her hand and was holding it over her head, squeaking it to get them to look at it ..... and then head tilt!  Those head tilts for dogs are PURE GOLD if you can get them with a good camera that's focused close up. 

If you can blur the backgrounds with your camera settings, that's really helpful too (even outside).

Editing after the fact is important.  There's good phone editing software now, but if you can get software license through TechSoup.org for nonprofits for a product like Adobe Lightroom, you'll be able to do a lot more.

Here's an example of really bad picture of a mostly black dog --and also a couple that are better  -- so that you can see the difference in facial detail with a black fur. The first one is fuzzy, but the lighting is also hiding the facial features with shadows and black fur.  The same principal would hold for an all-black cat too!

------------------------------
Maggie Thomas
President
Red Stick German Shepherd Rescue

Original Message:
Sent: 08-03-2023 08:04 AM
From: Carol Brendler
Subject: Pet Photography

What are your tips and tricks for taking marketing photos of adoptable pets?

Pet photos online at petfinder, etc. have definitely improved over the years, but there are exceptions. Dog photos are best taken outdoors when possible, but with cat photos, there's a bit of a learning curve. I've consulted a couple of photographers and watched them work and came up with these quick guides for making cat photos stand out from the crowd. With camera phones now, there is no reason not to takes several dozen (or hundreds!) photos and winnow them down to a few perfect images. Personally, I feel this is very important for engaging a potential adopter, who is scrolling through 100s of pets to find one they connect with. What else can you add?

#AdoptionsandAdoptionPrograms
#MarketingandSocialMedia

------------------------------
Carol B.
Foster Volunteer/Grants Coordinator
Michigan
------------------------------

What are your tips and tricks for taking marketing photos of adoptable pets?

Pet photos online at petfinder, etc. have definitely improved over the years, but there are exceptions. Dog photos are best taken outdoors when possible, but with cat photos, there's a bit of a learning curve. I've consulted a couple of photographers and watched them work and came up with these quick guides for making cat photos stand out from the crowd. With camera phones now, there is no reason not to takes several dozen (or hundreds!) photos and winnow them down to a few perfect images. Personally, I feel this is very important for engaging a potential adopter, who is scrolling through 100s of pets to find one they connect with. What else can you add?

#AdoptionsandAdoptionPrograms
#MarketingandSocialMedia

------------------------------
Carol B.
Foster Volunteer/Grants Coordinator
Michigan
------------------------------