Animal Shelter photos - recommendations?

Boy, if you could give that special something that I see in your pet photos to some shelter animals, then every one would find a home! You always capture the greatest expressions.

If you call or email to any shelter in your area, I'll bet you would find they would be thrilled for the help! Especially if they don't already have a gallery. So many more pets find homes if their are images posted on Petfinder.com
Sue
How did you get involved in that? I just checked our local humane
society's website and they have no pet photo gallery.
--
Theresa K
http://theresak.smugmug.com/
--



http://www.pbase.com/artshot
http://www.beatricedesignsinc.com
 
but I'm going to wait until marching band is over. Things are too
hectic until after that.
Good idea. I was in a high school marching band, and we never stopped for animals. Tragic, really. We all wore white bucks. sigh

:o)

-- Typeaux

The only test of an image is the satisfaction it gives you. There simply isn't any other test.

 
but I'm going to wait until marching band is over. Things are too
hectic until after that.
I just had this vision of one of the standard band group portraits, but instead Theresa has photoshop'ed each dog's head onto separate band members. Weird!
 
I'll bet you have a ball doing this, and you'll be terrific.

If I were doing this, I'd be curious about the setting where you'll be shooting. If the ceiling is white and reasonably low, you will have enough power to bounce the flash off the ceiling. The FL40 packs a punch. And I think a ceiling bounce would yield the best results. The Stoffen OmniBounce would be a good alternative, although not necessarily better than the reflector already recommended.

It might be smart to think in terms of what you do NOT want the photos to convey, and I'd guess that would be indications that the animal is hard to handle. Leashes and cages might imply that the animal is incorrigible. You sure want to avoid defensive, fearful or aggressive expressions. I'd guess that some willful pets might respond well to being held by someone who could bring out the playfulness in them. Photos that show pets interacting happily with humans might be very good for your purposes.

It is a challenge with digital photography to catch fleeting expressions. When a subject cannot move I sometimes do better with the camera on a tripod, allowing me to look directly at the model, anticipating good expressions.

Let us know how this goes.

PS: Those who think this Forum has gone sour should look at this thread.
--
Steve

 
In response to Michael Meissner's troubling image of Teresa K. putting heads of dogs on marching band members, I must remind everyone that this concept was done using REAL dogs by William Wegman in the 80's and 90's (he went mainstream at one point, and his dogs are famous).

The one on the right looks a little like a band member, doesn't he?



I'm thinking this should give Sue a whole new direction to go with this.

Then again, we don't want people looking at the dog pound pictures and having nightmares. ;o)

-- Typeaux

The only test of an image is the satisfaction it gives you. There simply isn't any other test.

 
If you are going to take flash pics of the animals, you will need the highest shutter speed you can get. Most of the time (or, at least, very often) the animals are not going to hold still for you and the ambient light in the room will cause a blur even though your flash may be very fast. That is why I have found taking the pics outdoors under good light works best. It's too bad we can't take the cats outside, too!
 
In response to Michael Meissner's troubling image of Teresa K.
putting heads of dogs on marching band members, I must remind
everyone that this concept was done using REAL dogs by William
Wegman in the 80's and 90's (he went mainstream at one point, and
his dogs are famous).

The one on the right looks a little like a band member, doesn't he?
I had seen Wegman's work in the past so presumably I was calling that up. I did work for 3 months for a guy designing a new computer chip out in western Massachusetts, and when I went out to visit him weekly at his loft, I think I passed Wegman's studio. The job ended before I had a chance to look up information on Wegman and whether he was Massachusetts based (he is or at least was born in Holyoke and had lived around the Amherst area), so it may be a relative instead of his actual studio.
http://tgregner.home.comcast.net/misc/Wegmanmarriage2.jpg

I'm thinking this should give Sue a whole new direction to go with
this.

Then again, we don't want people looking at the dog pound pictures
and having nightmares. ;o)
As I said, the whole point of the exercise is to get the animals adopted, not to be great art.
 
I just had this vision of one of the standard band group portraits,
but instead Theresa has photoshop'ed each dog's head onto separate
band members. Weird!
And she calls me disturbed. Hmpf.
I dunno, at least I know that the 3 pointy ends of a tripod go in the ground rather than poking the person next to you :-)
 
I just had this vision of one of the standard band group portraits,
but instead Theresa has photoshop'ed each dog's head onto separate
band members. Weird!
And she calls me disturbed. Hmpf.

;o)
That's right, rub it in. NOW Michael's going to be jealous! SOME
people will stop at NOTHING to create dissention in the forum!!!
This is starting to remind me when my folks would drive across the country for vacations to visit my aunt and uncle in California, and I had to share the back seat with my two sisters. Mommy, hes looking at me funny :-)
 
I hadn't thought of that. Thanks for mentioning it!
If you are going to take flash pics of the animals, you will need
the highest shutter speed you can get. Most of the time (or, at
least, very often) the animals are not going to hold still for you
and the ambient light in the room will cause a blur even though
your flash may be very fast. That is why I have found taking the
pics outdoors under good light works best. It's too bad we can't
take the cats outside, too!
--



http://www.pbase.com/artshot
http://www.beatricedesignsinc.com
 

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