Tips on How to Photograph Your Pet

Photographing pets isn’t the easiest thing to do. They move and sometimes run away from the camera. So how do you go about photographing your furry little friends? Here are some tips that might help the next time you photograph your pet.

1.The first thing you need to do is know how your pet reacts to the camera. Experiment with your pet at first and see if the pet will cooperate. This will help so you know how to handle your pet to take a good quality photo.

Photo that shows the quality of light used without the flash. Photo taken by Shannon Snodgrass

2.The best place to photograph your pet is in their own environment. This makes the pet feel more comfortable and may not run away from the camera. If they’re in a completely new environment they might get scared and might be harder to photograph. Check out Shine Pet Photography to see pictures Grace Chon took of pets in their own environment.

3.You are also going to want to use natural light instead of flash. Using a flash can sometimes scare the pets and they’ll try to hide from the camera. Flash can also produce red eye in your photos and that is one thing you want to avoid. Also, using natural light helps capture your pet’s true color. If you are indoors, try to find a well lit place to photograph your pet so you don’t have to use the flash.

Picture was taken at the dog's level without a flash and when the dog wasn't expecting the picture to be taken. Photo taken by Shannon Snodgrass

4.Another tip for photographing your pet is to get on their level. Your pet will feel more comfortable and you’ll be able to get better pictures. This will help you capture your pet’s personality better and see the world from their point-of-view.

5.If you want to really capture your pet’s personality just take pictures one after the other. In other words, take pictures spontaneously. These “surprise” shots are the best way to capture your pet’s personality because they aren’t paying attention to the camera and will be more relaxed.

6.If you want to get action shots of your pet you are going to need a camera with a fast shutter speed. For this you are probably going to have to purchase a DSLR camera. Regular point-and-shoot cameras can sometimes blur the action.

Photographing your pet may be hard but sometimes you can get some good quality pictures out of them. To learn some more tips about how to photograph pets go to Pets in Pastel or  Digital Photography School.

How to Pick a Camera for Concert Photography

Taking pictures at a concert is hard to do. There’s so much movement and the lighting isn’t helping you either. So what is the right camera for you to use?

Point-and-shoot. Using a point-and-shoot camera will work most of the time, but sometimes the quality of your photos will suffer. Although, with a point-and-shoot you are more likely allowed to bring it into the venue then a DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex).

Lead singer of The Bigger Lights taken with a point-and-shoot to show that sometimes a point-and-shoot sometimes works just fine.

Differences between a point-and-shoot and DSLR camera. Before I talk about what camera is best at concerts let me tell you the major differences between a point-and-shoot and a DSLR camera. Point-and-shoot cameras are smaller, lighter in weight and a lot cheaper. DSLR cameras are heavier and more expensive.

So it seems like the point-and-shoot would be the best choice, right? Turns out with a DSLR you have more control over what your pictures will look like. You are able to control the quality of the light and the shutter speed. With a point-and-shoot camera your camera picks the settings for you. Sometimes this can be good but for concert photography this might not work in your favor.

Another good thing about DSLR cameras is that the lenses detach. You can use all kinds of lens from zoom to fish eye. With a point-and-shoot camera your lens can’t detach. Also, if you want to use the zoom it’ll take your lens longer to zoom in or out. DSLR lenses are used manually which means you can zoom in and out a lot faster.

Alex from All Time Low picture taken with a point-and-shoot camera that shows a bad quality of light.

Best camera for you. Now that you know a DSLR camera is the best for concert photography, you need to pick what DSLR camera you want to buy. There are so many choices out there. Here is a website that helps you through the steps to picking out the best DSLR for you: Digital SLR Guide.

Requirements. What are the minimal requirements you need for concert photography? Most of what you need will require a decent lens. You want your aperture to be at the least f/2.8. The aperture is the opening in your lens that lets the light in. The wider the lens the more light that the camera captures. This is what you need with concert photography since the lighting is low. The best place to shop for the right camera and equipment is through Amazon.

Now with the camera body  you will need to make sure that the shutter speed is fast.  At concerts your subject is always moving, so it is best to use a fast shutter speed. Most DSLR’s are fast anyway, so this isn’t that big of a deal. To find out more on how to get better pictures at concerts, go to here: Todd Owyoung.

Good luck at your next gig!

Where is the Best Place to Show Off Your Photos?

So where do you put your pictures up where everyone can see them? There are many different sites that can host your pictures, but which are the best ones?

Myspace

I never really put my pictures up on Myspace because it takes too long to load photos and it’s not well organized. You can put your photos in a photo album but you can only see so much on a page. If you have a lot of photos in one album, it can take forever to find the one picture you’re looking for. Also, Myspace makes it pretty easy for anyone to steal one of your pictures. So this really isn’t the best place to put your photos.

Picture taken from my Facebook of the lead singer of My Ticket Home.

Facebook

This site is really well organized and you’re able to load up to 200 pictures per photo album at once. If you have iPhoto on your Mac computer, Facebook is a lot easier to use than Myspace. You can just click on the photos you want to add and press the Facebook button and it adds all your pictures to your account. Overall, Facebook is almost the same  as Myspace just a little easier to use. It just depends on which one you prefer.

Webshots

Webshots is another photo hosting site you can use. I’ve used it in the past but I’ve found it is too slow loading pictures. You can put up to 6,500 photos on here, which is pretty good for a free account. One downfall is that people can buy a copy of your photo and you don’t get any of the money. So you lose all your rights to the photo. I’ve had this happen to me and it’s not fun. I have since stopped posting photos on this site.

Flickr

Sierra from VersaEmerge at the Cleveland Warped Tour taken from my Flickr account.

If I could pick the best photo hosting site it would probably be Flickr. There are so many ways to organize and view your photos. Also, if you are interested in what kind of camera someone used to take a picture, majority of the time they will list what camera was used and the settings they were using while they were taking that picture. You also have your pictures copyrighted. Many professionals are using it these days. The only problem is that with a free account, you can only upload 200 photos a month. If that isn’t enough for you, then you upgrade and have unlimited uploads for about $30 a year.

Overall, every site has its ups and downs. It just comes down to what you prefer and how you want your photos presented. To learn more about what website you might want to display your work on, go check out Gregory Taylor’s blog.

Welcome to S Squared Photography!

This blog is for people who are interested in photography or interested in how I go about photographing. Below are going to be some tips on how to photograph certain subject matter such as concerts or pets and the different websites you can save photos at. All pictures used in this blog were taken by me, Shannon Snodgrass.