Pet Photography

The Secrets to Creating Authentic Pet Portraits

For those who want to combine their passion for both animals and photography, pet photography is the perfect solution. Photographing pets can be a fun-filled and incredibly rewarding experience, but it has its challenges, as well. Like any kind of portraiture, there is both technical knowledge and aesthetic skill to acquire, including knowledge of your equipment and subject, and the ability to create strong and creative compositions for images with maximum impact. Additionally, pet photographers need to learn how to communicate and collaborate with a variety of animals (with very different personalities!) to produce compelling imagery.

Pet Photography: Unlocking the Secrets to Creating Connection with Authentic Pet Portraiture is perfect for those who have an interest in building and honing their pet photography skills. Whether you’re diving into pet photography for personal growth, to help animals in need, or to spark up a new career, photographer and author Norah Levine is here to guide and educate you. In Pet Photography, Norah shares the challenges, successes, tips, tricks, checklists, dos and don’ts that she has learned and created over her successful career as a pet photographer.

The book equips you with everything you need to start photographing pets with more ability and confidence, including tons of ideas for what to consider when creating meaningful pet portraits. Norah shares her process for working with animals, demystifying the experience so you can follow along and become equipped with the emotional and technical tools you need to go out and create beautiful imagery of pets. Norah also provides strong guidance for how to capture authentic connection between pets and people. The book covers:

• The gear you need, including cameras, lenses, lights, modifiers, software, and—of course—squeaky toys!
• Approaches to exposure, composition, and color as they relate to pet photography
• Light, including shooting with both natural and artificial light
• Shooting on location, including outdoors and in pet owners’ homes
• How to direct and pose both animals and their owners to elicit engaged and authentic responses
• Photographing different kinds of animals, with entire chapters devoted to dogs, cats, and horses
• How to “give back” with non-profit pet photography (creating images for shelters, adoption, foster care, special events)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Discovering the Opportunities, Challenges, and Rewards
2. Bringing Your Gear and Your Bag of Tricks
3. Exposure for Pets: Getting It Right in Camera
4. Composition, Color, and Creativity
5. The Light
6. The Shoot
7. Photographing Dogs
8. Photographing Cats
9. Photographing Horses
10. Photographing for Non-Profits & Giving Back