Animal Shelter Photos

[ArmySoldier777]

Hey everybody

This Saturday I'll be doing a volunteer shoot for a local animal shelter. At this shelter, the pets are given to foster homes until somebody adopts them, and Saturday they're all at the shelter for people to come see. I was wondering if anybody had any tips or advice that I might be able to benefit from.

The shoot will be done between 10am-1pm, and it's not clear how many animals it's going to be yet. I just hope I have time to get them all!


David

[Bruce A]

Kudos to you for volunteering David, I hope it goes well for you. I guess you'll be anticipating weather conditions, indoor/outdoor etc for equipment. Are these going to be for prints, posters or brochures? I guess you may have to consider flash, reflectors, tripod and so on depending on what the final print medium will be.

[ArmySoldier777]

Thanks Bruce,

So far the weather's calling for sunny skies. But as far as indoor/outdoor goes, I'm still waiting to hear back from the shelter president. I'm hoping it's going to be outdoors though. Considering it's going to be around Noon, I probably will be using some flash to fill in those harsh shadows. Thanks for reminding me about that. And all shots will be digital as far as I know. This shoot I'm about to do is mainly for their website. Since all the animals are kept in foster homes, the only way people can see what they have for adoption is by checking their website.

If it ends up being an indoor shoot, I may be stopping by a local store to pick up something to use as a backdrop instead of cage bars and concrete/linoleum floors.

Unfortunately my cars Out of Commission right now lol, so i'll be taking only what I can carry in my camera bag on my back on the motorcycle.


David

[Ambrosia76]

I believe Susan does these types of photos perhaps she will see this and give you some tips.

[CurlyCorry]

Originally Posted by ArmySoldier777

Thanks Bruce,

So far the weather's calling for sunny skies. But as far as indoor/outdoor goes, I'm still waiting to hear back from the shelter president. I'm hoping it's going to be outdoors though. Considering it's going to be around Noon, I probably will be using some flash to fill in those harsh shadows. Thanks for reminding me about that. And all shots will be digital as far as I know. This shoot I'm about to do is mainly for their website. Since all the animals are kept in foster homes, the only way people can see what they have for adoption is by checking their website.

If it ends up being an indoor shoot, I may be stopping by a local store to pick up something to use as a backdrop instead of cage bars and concrete/linoleum floors.

Unfortunately my cars Out of Commission right now lol, so i'll be taking only what I can carry in my camera bag on my back on the motorcycle.


David

Bring some props too. Like Bows/kerchiefs etc. Don't forget treats... cheerio's work great, they don't typically upset the pooches stomach. if you have a whistle, a squeaky toy from the dollar store or some christmas bells, you can jingle it to get their attention. In my opinion, you are trying to make these pets more adoptable so making them look and feel like part of a family in their portraits will do wonders. I'd leave all cages/crating out of it completely. Can you get a ride to the shoot so you can bring more stuff? I have all these opinions on this because last weekend, i went to our local shelter with the idea of doing exactly this, however, I don't think i'm good enough yet to set up a photo shoot, lol. SO, i'm in the planning stages... i'd love to see what you get when your done. Please share a link!!

[ArmySoldier777]

Originally Posted by CurlyCorry

Bring some props too. Like Bows/kerchiefs etc. Don't forget treats... cheerio's work great, they don't typically upset the pooches stomach. if you have a whistle, a squeaky toy from the dollar store or some christmas bells, you can jingle it to get their attention. In my opinion, you are trying to make these pets more adoptable so making them look and feel like part of a family in their portraits will do wonders. I'd leave all cages/crating out of it completely. Can you get a ride to the shoot so you can bring more stuff? I have all these opinions on this because last weekend, i went to our local shelter with the idea of doing exactly this, however, I don't think i'm good enough yet to set up a photo shoot, lol. SO, i'm in the planning stages... i'd love to see what you get when your done. Please share a link!!

Thanks for the advice

I'll have to stop by the store today and see what I can pick up that'll go well with the shoot. Unfortunately no, no ride. But if I need to, I'll find a way to pack more stuff on my bike. I do like your ideas for the shoot though, and I will be sure to post a link when I get done


David

[mosgood]

Hi David,

I would say try to avoid showing bars & cages as much as possible. Below is my dog before & after we adopted him. Not only is his adoption pic blurry but it also shows him in a crate/cage. He just doesn't show very well. Still we adopted him anyway, in spite of the bad photo.



Also if you have to take pics of animals in enclosures, you can also do some nice head shots to minimize showing bad backgrounds. Use a fairly narrow DOF to throw anything distracting out of focus (litter boxes, etc). I use whining sounds for puppies to get their attention. Cats like dangling toys but also toys that make a "crinkling" sound when you squeeze them work well too. Puppies & kittens have short attention spans, so try to work quickly. Your subject will not stay interested for very long.





Also another challenge is getting good shots of black dogs or cats. You will need fill flash to big out their features.





Other than my dog, all my photos are for pets looking for their forever homes.

Good luck tomorrow! I will be doing another photo shoot for a rescue group Sunday.

[mosgood]

Here's a couple of cat images since DPS doesn't allow more than 4 photos per post.

In the first one, I photographed her in a crate/cage since I had no other way to set up yet to make her look better. She was adopted before I could retake her pic...went back to do retake & opened the cage, & a woman stepped up & said it wouldn't be necessary.



This was taken with my small portable studio set up. Of course, I have an SUV for photo supplies. You would need to get your car back running to use it...but it won't take up much space in either the back seat or the trunk of your car.

[ArmySoldier777]

Marla,

Thanks for the tips! And the photos definitely give me some ideas about what I want to do. I think i'll be shooting with my 50mm to get good DOF and in-case there's any tricky low lighting situations. Thanks for the tip on shooting black furred dogs and cats too.

The animal shelter president came down with the flu. She thought she'd gotten over it and had gone into the shelter to do some work, and ended up getting everybody else sick too. Soooo, the entire adoption event tomorrow is put on hold until next Saturday. Good and bad news there. Good news because I can get more ideas on what I want to do lol, but bad news because that's an extra week before some of the animals might get adopted. Atleast they live in foster homes instead of the shelter though.

David

[mosgood]

Hi David, You're welcome! There are literally thousands of homeless pets who need to be placed in good homes. Volunteering is one of those feel good moments where you know you could make a difference in a life. Sucks for the animals that there's no event tomorrow. But in the meantime, it does give you more time to figure out the logistics of photographing the pets. Wish you lots of luck! It's both very sad & happy. One of my photos from Saturday's event is a happy one...a newly adopted puppy & its new family that the rescue group was just posted to FB. Those are the best. But it's also so sad to see these pets & hear their stories of how they ended up in a shelter or a rescue group.

I'm also fostering a puppy at this time, even though we had no intention of fostering any pets. Our dog is very jealous & does not like competition! We went to the dog park last Sat, & left with 2! We don't know his story, but I'm assuming since this little guy is a bundle of energy, whoever had him couldn't stand that when he's awake, he's in constant motion. He needs to learn a few commands, & how to walk on a leash without trying to drag his person down the street. LOL I'm hoping we'll be able to get all his vet work done & be up for adoption before Thanksgiving...but only time will tell. He will need to go to a home who can handle a lively puppy...lucky for them he won't be a puppy forever. His pic is below:



Oh one thing I've noticed, is that some pro photographers watermark their photos before publishing them. I will watermark those I use for my own purposes. But I feel that by putting my stamp on a photo of a homeless pet distracts from the purpose of the photo. I'm not sure how you feel about it, but I feel the ones that I take are for the shelters & rescue group, not my personal gain. Since I volunteered to take the photos, I won't use a watermark. It's a personal choice though.