Anutta Blog

Life With Poodles

Photography tips: Get down on their level

by | May 30, 2014 | Uncategorized | 1 comment

In the previous post I talked about Rule of Thirds to give a photo balance and flow.  If you haven’t read the post, go here << Rule of Thirds >>

In this blog I will cover another important aspect of photographing animals.  Getting down on their level.  A common mistake people make is standing over their dog and pointing the camera down to snap a photograph at a 45 degree angle.  Sometimes you get a good one, but it is pretty rare.  If you drop down to the level of your dog, the chance of getting a great shot increase tremendously.

Here are a few photos to look over.  Notice where I am in relation to the dogs.

Georgie’s boy pups from her litter back in 2012.  I have them on a small table and I am squatting down to their level.

Same four boys about 7 weeks prior!!  This time I was at Courtney’s home.  We had placed a blanket on the floor (with a heating pad under to keep them warm and comfy!!!) and I was on my belly snapping photos on their level.

Jazz on the couch.  I’m inches away from her face.

This was when Zelda came to stay with us early 2012 when she had her first and only litter.  I am actually a touch lower than she is, which also gives a nice perspective, allowing the sky to be in the background.

This photo of Shadowfax (from the Ziva and Jordan litter) was taken today with my smart phone, a Galaxy S4.  I’m going to include phone photos in as many of these as possible so you can see they can and DO produce quality photos.  This is right outside on my front porch.  I had just finished watering the flowers and had Shadowfax out front with me.  He was chewing on my shoes, and as I crawled down on my tummy to start taking photos of him, he blessed me with this little jewel.

This is Duet, from the Jazz and River litter early 2014.  She is up on the high part of my backyard.  I’m standing up, but still slightly below her level.

Next I would like to show you a few photos I have taken that do not fit in the above category.

A Zelda puppy from her 2012 litter.  This little gal was being cradled in Keith’s hands (with a heating pad under.  WARM!! It keeps them sleepy).  You can take some amazing photos from above with planning.  Rarely do that just happen from standing over your subject and taking a photo at 45 degree’s.  Generally you need to be near 90 degrees to get something ‘artsy’.  It takes some planning and experimentation, but loads of fun.

Another Zelda baby.  This one was curled up in my lap, snoozing away.  I decided to see how it would look and was happy with the results.

Here is a photo of Libby I took with her off center.  I used the blank area to the side to write a farewell note a day before I put her on a plane to Minnesota.  I rarely ship my dogs and then only to people I know well, so I wanted to mark her departure with an interesting ‘hallmark’ type setup.  I hit on this by putting her up on the same table as the boy’s above and sitting on the ground below.

Photography isn’t cut and dry, but if you get really good at taking photos at or near eye level to your subjects, you can move to more interesting angles.  Some of the best photos are ones taken from a perspective completely different that what you see in real life.

MORE READING ON PHOTOGRAPHY:   Post 3: Infant Puppy Photography

~Becky