glamour shots of animals shelter animals :)

[acoleman]

Hi all! I just got a nikon d3100 for christmas! I've been wanting a dslr for years and I was finally able to get one and I'm in love with it! I volunteer for my local animal shelter, and as you'll be able to see soon, the majority of my shots will be of animals Anyway, me and a friend of mine are going to try to get a small set together in the garage of my local animal shelter and let me start taking some flattering shots of the animal shelter animals instead of those bland pictures taken of them in their cages... Just wondering if anyone has any tips or ideas on techniques, props I could use, backgrounds, anything and everything! Thanks a lot and I look forward to learning from this site!

[cyber3d]

Personally, I think you have a great idea! Good luck on your adventure. No advice - but good luck!

[NgaiHill]

Check out this thread...Pet Adoption Photos
A useful idea for a backdrop for photos of small animals.

[acoleman]

Thanks a lot for the thread link!! Great idea that I will probably use!

[JDDriver]

That's a great way to put your new camera to good use! Not sure if this is helpful advice, but what about showing the animal interacting with someone - playing, letting someone hold it, etc. This could make for an appealing shot that would show the animal to be a friendly choice for a pet. Hope the project goes well for you!

[Claudia5573]

acoleman, I am a dog lover. Good luck with this project and I look forward to seeing your photos.

[Ambrosia76]

Lots of treats and toys to get their attention!

[SusanH1970]

I do the same for our local Animal Center. Rather than using props, etc., I just try to get closeups of their faces staring into the camera. I use my 50mm wide open to blur any distracting backgrounds. My Flickr has tons of these photos if you'd like to see (or I can just post some here if you'd like).

ETA: Found a thread I'd posted that shows a few.

Cat lovers, look here! Cuteness overload!!!

[SwissJon]

LoL.. When I read the title of this thread, I was expecting to see pictures of bunnies in playboy suits, or dogs wearing suspenders or something.. Sorry, just my mind in the gutter as usual.. No real helpful advice excpt to say that the photos of dogs I've seen running towards the camera in the rain or through puddles are usually quite cute..

[acoleman]

Thanks for all of the responses everyone! SusanH1970, I checked out some of your photos on Flickr, you have some beautiful shots! Love the animal shots! I'm totally new at this though, so I'm going to ask a dumb question lol. What did you mean by saying you shoot with your 50mm wide open? Does that mean with the largest aperture possible?