Dog Photography : Get Prepared!

Dog Photography is not that easy ! Let us start to discover the tricks to get photos worthy of your furry companion. Here we are finally at the first article on Dog Photography. Dog tends to be very fast and unpredictable, therefore we will need to make sure that our DSLR camera is ready to capture the moment even faster. First we need set the camera in Aperture Priority mode to have a complete control over the depth of field. Now, we raise the ISO, making sure that the shutter speed never drops (to the extent possible) under 1/2000s of a second, this is extremely important to freeze the scene and get the right sharpness of the subject. Do not use very high ISO (800-1600) not only for dog photography but for any photography, it is certainly more difficult to recover with a minimum of a noise due to high ISO and remember that the worst photograph that you can take is the one you lost for not having previously set up your equipment properly.

Aperture and dog photography

Clearly, as discussed above, it is natural to work with the aperture fully open, but be careful, the true value of this parameter depends on the distance from the lens and the subject. A very long focal length and a subject relatively close are a very dangerous combination, you can not imagine how much time users loss in post-production for having committed the “sin” of succumbing to the temptation to work with the widest aperture then going to blur important parts of the composition.

Therefore it is necessary to strike a balance that depends strongly on the type of scene you are shooting and on the equipment used. Unfortunately we can not give fixed values, but you will have to experiment until you find the right one, which is valid for the specific context of photography. At the beginning it will be a bit boring, but then with a little experience things will become quite natural and you will find the right value automatically without having to think too long.

Clearly, the more the subject is far more freedom you will have to open up your diaphragm, without risking too much to be blurred.

Autofocus and dog photography

Another important element in the right setting of the DF and AF (auto focus). The latter, for obvious reasons, should not EVER be put in manual mode. Given the speed and unpredictability of movement of the dog it is critical to use all the help of our autofocus has to offer. The sessions will always be fast and frantic, you will then surely unthinkable having to worry about anything during shooting. It is appropriate, therefore, so that the autofocus area is set on all the points available and that the AF mode is set to continuous.

Autofocus and dog photography