Photography 101 | Exposure Meter

Just joining in? Here's what you've missed:
Photography 101 | Coming Soon!
Photography 101 | Aperture
Photography 101 | Shutter Speed
Photography 101 | ISO

Welcome back to my Photography 101 series! I'm so glad that you have decided to join me. Today I will be talking about how to use your camera's exposure meter.

If you want to learn how to take properly exposed photos while shooting is manual mode, you are going to want to make your camera's exposure meter your new BFF. This handy little instrument is going to help you determine which settings to choose for each and every one of your photos. (Please keep in mind that I'm using the word "proper" to mean that the photograph shouldn't be too light or too dark in exposure.  A lot of photography is personal preference, and I don't believe that there is only one right way to create images.  Each photographer develops their own style as they master the craft.)

Every camera's exposure meter display is going to be different, so you are going to have to dig out your instruction manual and read up on yours.  I shoot with a Canon, so the exposure meter on my camera looks very similar to the one in the photo below.  I have outlined the exposure meter in red. Underneath the 0, there is a small black bar, indicating that the current settings for aperture, shutter speed, and ISO combine to create a properly exposed photo.  If the settings weren’t set for a properly exposed photo, that small black bar would be on one side or the other of the 0.  The farther the bar moves from the center point, the more the settings need to be altered to create a proper exposure.  As the bar moves into the minus, it is indicating that there isn't enough light and the photo will probably be too dark (underexposed).  As the bar moves into the plus, it is indicating that there is too much light, and the photo will probably be too light (overexposed).

One important thing to keep in mind is that there isn't ONE combination of settings that will lead to a proper exposure.  Instead, there are several different options you can pick from, all of which will result in a good quality photo.  To demonstrate this, I laid my iPhone on my desk and snapped a few quick shots of it using different combinations of settings, which I included with each image (with a typo - the bottom right photo was shot using a shutter speed of 1/80, not 1/20).  I picked the different settings at random, and simply dialed in different combinations of Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO settings until the exposure meter showed a reading at the 0 mark. As you can clearly see, the exposure is the same in each image; therefore, they are called equivalent exposures.

This must mean that there are reasons other than exposure for selecting different settings, right?  That's the fun part of photography (which will we start exploring in coming weeks)!  The important thing to realize right now is that you can use your exposure meter to help you pick different combinations of settings to properly expose your photos.  See, it's not as hard as you thought!

OK, now hang in there with me as I get a bit more technical and talk about the different types of light metering options.

First, there are two different ways to take a reading of the available light for your photo: using reflected light and using incident light. A meter reading using reflected light measures the light coming off of your subject back towards your camera. Most built in camera meters measure reflected light. A meter reading using incident light measures the light falling on your subject from the light source. Most meters that measure incident light are hand-held meters that are separate from your camera.

Second, there are different ways that your camera can measure the amount of light reflecting off of your subject by changing which part of the scene it uses to take the light reading. The options available on my camera are Evaluative Metering, Partial Metering, Spot Metering, and Center Weighted Metering. Again I shoot using a Canon, so my options may be different than yours.  Your instruction manual should explain your options and detail how each one of them works.

Third, the light meter in your camera is designed to measure the amount of light reflecting off of your subject and to calculate the exposure that will result in an overall level of light in the resulting image that is equivalent to 18% grey. This assumes that each scene is made up of a combination of very bright, very dark, and everything in between, which can all be averaged out to 18% grey. Most of the time this will work out just fine, but there are circumstances where this assumption will result in your photos not being properly exposed. As you gain experience with manual mode, you will slowly start to realize the circumstances where this happens, and learn to compensate to get a proper exposure.

This week, start practicing using your camera's exposure meter to help you select different combinations of settings that will result in properly exposed photos. The more you get used to doing this, the easier it will be for you to shoot in manual mode all the time.

You have now learned the 4 most important things you need to know to shoot in manual mode.  Now the fun begins.  Next week we will talk about how to control the Depth of Field in your photos, which is the absolute best thing about shooting in manual mode, in my opinion!

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area. Visit Michele's website at michelewhitacrephotography.com. Become a fan of Michele's work on Facebook. Follow Michele's updates on Twitter.

Photography 101 | ISO

Just joining in? Here's what you've missed:
Photography 101 | Coming Soon!
Photography 101 | Aperture
Photography 101 | Shutter Speed

Welcome back to my Photography 101 series! Are you ready to learn all about ISO (International Standards Organization)?

Depending on how old you are, you may remember the days of pre-digital photography when you had to purchase rolls of film. You may even remember that the film came in different speeds (100, 200, 400, 800, etc). Basically, film speed is a measure of how sensitive the film is to light. The lower the number the less sensitive to light the film; therefore, you have to have a lot more light or the photos will be too dark. The higher the number the more sensitive to light the film; therefore, you don't need as much light to expose your photos.

The ISO setting on your digital camera controls the camera's sensitivity to light, and it works exactly the same way as film speeds do.  The lower the ISO setting, the less sensitive your camera will be and the more light you will need to take photos.  The higher the ISO setting, the more sensitive your camera will be and the less light you will need to take your photos.

To demonstrate this, I took a few photos of Zoe laying on the couch in our living room. For each image, I had my aperture set at f/1.2 and my shutter speed set at 1/640.  I picked these setting simply because they would allow me to demonstrate the change to the exposure as I changed the ISO settings. The ISO settings from top to bottom are 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, and 6400, which are options available on my camera.  Yours may be different.

By now, I'm guessing that you've probably realized that the series of photos I took while changing the aperture, while changing the shutter speed, and while changing the ISO, all look about the same. As I went through the range of options available, the resulting images went through a range from light to dark. This means that there are multiple combinations of settings that will allow enough light to enter the camera to properly expose each photograph, and it's going to be your job as the photographer to decide which combination you are going to use. We will be talking about this in depth in future posts, but first we need to learn how to know if our photo is going to be properly exposed or not.

This week, I encourage you to experiment with your camera's ISO settings and become familiar with the effect of changing ISO on your photos.  Now that you know a little bit about aperture and shutter speed, you can experiment with different combinations and see what happens to the photos.

Then join me back next week, to learn about using your camera's exposure meter!

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area. Visit Michele's website at michelewhitacrephotography.com. Become a fan of Michele's work on Facebook. Follow Michele's updates on Twitter.

Photography 101 | Shutter Speed

Just joining in? Here is what you've missed:
Photography 101 | Coming Soon!
Photography 101 | Aperture

Welcome back to my Photography 101 series! I'm so happy that you've decided to join me.

I would once again like to begin by asking you to do a little experiment. For this one you will need two large containers that are the same size, a stop watch, and a sink. Place one of your containers under the faucet, turn it on all the way, and allow the water to run for 5 seconds. Set the container aside, and repeat with the second container, allowing the water to run for 10 seconds.  Now compare the amount of water in the two containers. If you were accurate with your timing, you should have approximately double the amount of water in the second container as you do in the first container. Why? Because the longer you leave the faucet running, the more water you allow to pass through it into your containers.

Applying this same idea to photography, we need a certain amount of light to enter the camera to create a photograph.  One way that we can control the amount of light that enters the camera is by altering the shutter speed of the camera. The shutter speed is the setting that regulates the amount of time that the aperture is left open. The longer it is open, the more light you allow to enter the camera, and the shorter it is open, the less light you allow to enter the camera.

To demonstrate this, I once again took a series of photographs of a single subject. All of these images were taken with my EF-S 18-55mm IS Zoom Lens, with my aperture set to to f/8 and my ISO set to 200. (I chose this lens because it is the stock lens that came with my camera, and is probably similar to the lens that most of you are using. Don't worry too much about the aperture and ISO settings for now.  We will cover how to choose these settings in future posts.) For each consecutive photo, I then changed my shutter speed by one step to show the effect on the image. The first shot was taken with a shutter speed of 1/50 and the last image was taken with an aperture of 1/2500. (I picked this range of settings because I felt like it was a good range to demonstrate the effect of changing shutter speed on an image.)

Just like with aperture settings, shutter speed is measured in FRACTIONS of a second.  So, again, you have to keep in mind how fractions work when you are making adjustments to the shutter speed setting on your camera.  A shutter speed setting of 1/50 of a second is a much slower setting (resulting in the aperture being left open for a much longer time period which will allow more light to enter the camera) than 1/2500 of a second (resulting in the aperture being left open for a much shorter time period which will allow less light to enter the camera).

If you look at the above series of photos, you can see that the first photo was taken with a shutter speed of 1/50 and allows too much light to enter the camera, resulting in a photo that looks a bit "washed out." The last photo was taken with a shutter speed of 1/2500 and doesn't allow enough light to enter, resulting in a photo that is much too dark.

I encourage you to experiment with your camera's shutter speed settings this week and become familiar with how changing it affects your images. To do this, set your camera on manual mode, pick an aperture setting, and set your ISO setting to 200. (Again, there is no particular reason for this setting. It is basically just a "middle of the road" settings that should work for this experiment.) Then take a series of images like the ones I took above, changing the shutter speed setting one step between each exposure. I suggest experimenting with different aperture settings, and taking a series of photos for each one to begin to get a feel for how the two work together to create an exposure. I also suggest taking a series of photos for several different subjects in different environments to see what results you get.

Then join me back here next Friday and get ready to learn all about ISO!

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area. Visit Michele's website at michelewhitacrephotography.com. Become a fan of Michele's work on Facebook. Follow Michele's updates on Twitter.

Photography 101 | Aperture

Just joining in? Here is what you've missed:
Photography 101 | Coming Soon!

Welcome to my Photography 101 series!  I am so happy that you have decided to join me to learn how to use your DSLR camera in manual mode.

Before we get started I want to mention a few things.  These posts are intended to help you learn how to use your camera in manual mode, using natural light in the environment you are shooting in, meaning that you are not using the flash on your camera.  I will be writing these posts assuming that you have a basic knowledge of how your camera works, how to properly hold it, focus it, etc.  However, if you aren't sure about something, ASK!  I'm happy to answer questions, so please do not hesitate to contact me if you need help.

My intent for this series is to help beginning photographers learn to use their cameras in manual mode.  In order to do that, I think it is important to understand the function of each of the settings, and how they interact together to create a photograph.  So, I will do my best to provide simple explanations and examples along the way to help you understand the concepts.  In an attempt to prevent your eyes from glazing over, I'm going to try to avoid getting too technical or using too much complicated terminology.  However, if you desire a more in depth explanation of something, feel free to contact me and I will be happy to provide more information.

Let's get started, shall we?

I would like to begin by asking you to do a little experiment. Please take a flashlight and a mirror with you into a dimly lit room. Look into the mirror, aim the flashlight at your face, and watch what happens to your pupils as you turn the flashlight on and off. You should notice that when you turn the light on, your pupil gets smaller, and when you turn the light off, your pupil gets larger. Why? Because in order to see properly, we need a certain amount of light inside of our eyes. Too much or too little makes it hard for us to see.  So, we have a built in regulator to adjust the amount of light that gets into our eyes.

Applying this same idea to photography, we need a certain amount of light to enter the camera to create a photograph.  One of the ways that we can regulate the amount of light entering the camera is by adjusting the aperture of the camera.  The aperture of a camera is simply an opening that allows light to pass through it.  If the aperture is made larger, more light will enter the camera.  If the aperture is made smaller, less light will enter the camera.

To demonstrate this, I took a series of photographs of a single subject.  All of these images were taken with my EF-S 18-55mm IS Zoom Lens, with my shutter speed set to 200 and my ISO set to 200.  (I chose this lens because it is the stock lens that came with my camera, and is probably similar to the lens that most of you are using. There are no particular reasons why I picked these shutter speed and ISO settings other than they would work well for this demonstration.  For now, don't worry about these settings.  I will cover each of them in coming posts.)  For each consecutive photo, I then changed my aperture setting by one stop to show the effect on the image.  The first shot was taken with an aperture of f/5.6 and the last image was taken with an aperture of f/29 (The reason I picked this range of aperture openings is because it is the range that this particular lens will allow.  Each lens is different, so your largest and smallest openings will probably be different than mine.)

OK, now for the complicated part, so please hang in there with me!  The hardest thing to understand about aperture is how the setting adjustments are named, and how to move properly between them.

Aperture is measured in "f-stops" and the common f-stops are f/1, f/1.2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22, and f/32.  By adjusting between two consecutive settings you either double, or cut in half, the amount of light that you allow to enter your camera, depending on if you make the aperture larger or smaller. (Many lenses offer a wider range of options than the list of standard ones that I give here. In those instances, the amount of light difference between settings varies by a different amount.)

You may hear someone mention "stepping up or stepping down" the aperture, or they might say "stopping up or stopping down" the aperture.  Stepping (or stopping) up is referring to raising the f-stop by one step (i.e. f/8 to f/11), which decreases the aperture opening by half and decreases the amount of light entering the camera by half.  Stepping (or stopping) down is referring to lowering the f-stop by one step (i.e. f/8 to f/5.6), which doubles the aperture opening and doubles the amount of light entering the camera.

The thing you have to keep in mind is that these measurements are FRACTIONS.  Yep, we're digging deep here to remember elementary school math, my friends!   So, if you think back you may remember that 1/2 of something is a much larger portion of it than 1/32 of it. The same thing is true for your camera's aperture setting. A setting of f/2 is much larger (resulting in much more light entering the camera) than f/32 (resulting in much less light entering the camera). So, as you adjust the settings, you must remember this little fact to make sure you are making adjustments in the proper direction!

If you look at the above series of photos, you can see that the first photo was taken with the aperture set at the largest setting of f/5.6 and allows enough light to enter the camera to show the image. The last photo was taken with the aperture set at the smallest setting of f/29 and doesn't allow much light to enter, resulting in a photo that is much too dark.

I encourage you to experiment with your camera's aperture setting this week and become familiar with the available settings for your lens(es), and how changing it affects your images. To do this, set your camera on manual mode, and set your shutter speed to 200 and your ISO setting to 200. (Again, there is no particular reason for these numbers. They are basically just "middle of the road" settings that should work for this experiment.) Then take a series of images like the ones I took above, changing the aperture setting by one stop between each exposure. I suggest taking a series of photos for several different subjects in different environments to see what results you get.

Then join me back here next Friday and get ready to learn all about shutter speed!

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area. Visit Michele's website at michelewhitacrephotography.com. Become a fan of Michele's work on Facebook. Follow Michele's updates on Twitter.

Photography 101 | Coming Soon!

I'm very excited to announce the start of a new series on my blog: Photography 101!  I've been wanting to write this set of blog posts for months, but I wasn't able to dedicate enough time to them until now.  I'm so thrilled to finally get started with this new endeavor.

I suppose perhaps I should start off by explaining why I decided to create this series.  During the time I have spent in the world of pro photographers, I have learned that there seems to be two schools of thought.  Some photogs are insanely friendly and will do anything and everything they can to help out a newbie.  Others, quite frankly, treat newbies like they are lower than the gum they scraped off the bottom of their shoe, forgetting that they were once newbies themselves.  I absolutely do NOT want to ever fall into that second category!  I wouldn't be where I am today without the help of others, and I want to "pay it forward" if and when I get the opportunity.

Learning to use the manual settings of a DSLR camera can be a challenge. I've had so many people tell me that they own a DSLR camera, but only shoot using the automatic settings.  They tell me that they want to learn how to shoot in manual mode, but have no idea where to start.  Are you one of these individuals, dreaming of learning manual mode, but wondering where to begin?

If so, I assure you that you are not alone!  I remember sitting in my Intro to Photography class on the first night, feeling completely overwhelmed and like I was NEVER going to figure out how to shoot in manual mode.  I remember asking my professor if there was some sort of thought process I should be going through to figure out what settings to use.

As time went by, I realized that I do in fact go through the same thought process every time I compose a shot, and I am going to share that thought process with you through a series of posts over the next few months.  My plan is to start off explaining each camera setting, what it does, and how the settings all work together to create an image.  Once I've covered the basics, I will detail the thought process that goes into how I select my camera settings for each photo I create.  From there, I will go into a few other topics that may be helpful to you as you learn manual mode.

I am by no means claiming that my way of shooting in the only way, the best way, or even the right way. What it is is MY way, and it works for me. I hope that you find some of the information I provide useful as you travel the path to figuring out how to best use manual mode to create your own beautiful photographs.

While I can provide you with tips and tricks, what I can't tell do is you how your individual camera controls work to change each of the settings.  So before we get started, I would recommend digging out your camera manual and reading up the following things:

1. How to adjust your aperture

2. How to adjust your shutter speed

3. How to adjust your ISO (International Standards Organization) settings

4. How to read your camera's exposure meter

Then join me next week and get ready to become a manual mode master!

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area. Visit Michele's website at michelewhitacrephotography.com. Become a fan of Michele's work on Facebook. Follow Michele's updates on Twitter.

Tips + Tricks | Photographing Your Dog's Personality

In my first Tips + Tricks post about photographing dogs, I shared some helpful hints about how to take better portraits of dogs.  But sometimes you want more than just a standard portrait of your pet, so now I'd like to share some ideas to help you capture a dog's personality on camera.

1. Most importantly, the dog must be comfortable in their surroundings, and around you and your camera before their personality will shine through.  So, give them plenty of time to get used to their environment, and allow them to come up to you and greet you in their own time. Once they seem like they are comfortable turn on your camera, and see how they react to the noises it makes. Then, only after they seem completely at ease, should you begin taking photos.

2. Give the dog some space. When I want to get photos of my dogs playing, I will attach my longest zoom lens to my camera. By staying farther back, and zooming in, it helps to keep the dogs from constantly wanting to interact with me instead of their toys or each other.  It allows them to act more natural while being photographed.  (This is especially important with my dogs because they know camera = treats, so as soon as they see my camera they are at my feet waiting for their goodies.)

Lexi is a very inquisitive dog, who at almost 4 years old thinks she's still a puppy and rarely stays focused on any one thing for more than a few minutes. But, you'd never guess that from seeing most of the photos I post, where she is focused on the camera and the treats she knows are coming. Without a zoom lens, I could never capture a photo like this of Lexi, where she has her attention directed towards something that she hears in her environment...

3.  Engage the dog in activities that it enjoys.  Find out what the dog likes to do, and photograph it doing those activities.

Does the dog like playing with other dogs? If so, maybe you would want to take photos of the dog playing with some furry friends at a dog park or else invite another dog over for a puppy play date...

Does your dog like to run? fetch? swim?

Lexi LOVES to run, and she is CRAZY FAST! I've only seen two other dogs keep up with her when she starts sprinting as fast as she can. Her favorite thing to do at the dog park is to goad the other dogs into chasing her, so she can take off and leave them all in the dust...

Lexi also loves to play her own version of fetch, which is basically chase a toy and then run around in circles with it in her mouth until she gets tired. At which point she will lay down with it, and will chase it again if you walk over and pick it up and throw it again...

This is classic Lexi. (She's a bit crazy!)...

Lexi loves to swim!  She wasn't being very co-operative about letting me take her photo while she was in her pool, but I got lots of fun photos of her shaking off once she got out...

4.  Figure out what makes the dog you are photographing unique and capture it.  Does the animal have a particular way it sits or lays, or a particular behavior it does?  If so, engage the animal in a manner that usually results in the behavior and photograph it.

Lexi, does this pose pretty often when she is playing, especially when she is trying to get Zoe to play with her...

Lexi is VERY curious and fearless.  No matter what we are doing, her nose is right there in the middle of things.  Here she is sniffing at the water that she splashed out of her pool while she was playing in it...

5.  Every dog has those annoying habits, that drive you nuts, but at the same time you just can't imagine your furry friend without them!  Consider capturing them on film, and allow them to bring a smile to your face for a change.

Lexi is the queen of destroying toys!  This frisbee lasted for approximately 20 minutes before she had it torn into a million pieces...

If there's something to roll in, it's a given that Lexi will find it and cover herself in it....

Lexi is also a bit of a barker when she hears strange sounds or other dogs...

But, she just wouldn't be the Lexi Lou that we know and love without all of her insane crazy habits.

As always, thanks for reading and I hope you find some of my tips helpful.  If you have any questions, or other ideas for capturing a dog's personality on camera, feel free to share them in the comments!

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area. Visit Michele's website at michelewhitacrephotography.com. Become a fan of Michele's work on Facebook. Follow Michele's updates on Twitter.

Tips + Tricks | 5 Helpful Hints to Improve Your Snapshots

Have you ever looked at a photographer's personal snapshots of their vacation or their children, and thought to yourself, "Wow! How do they do that?"

I'm not going to lie to you. A lot of how its done has to do with the camera body and lenses that the photographer is using to take the photos, and the software being used to edit the photos. However, there are several things that you can do to take better snapshots, regardless of the camera that you are using. I'd like to share with you 5 simple things you can do to improve your snapshots.

In an attempt to make the examples as real as possible, I tried to use photos similar to the ones that you might be taking on vacation or around your home (except I don't have kids, so my dogs and husband are my subjects).

1. Always be aware of what is in your frame

You want the focus to be on the intended subject of your photo, not on oddball random things off to the side of your frame. Nothing ruins a photo faster than something in the background that you didn't realize was there!

Take a look at this photo of Kevin in front of a rock formation in Sedona.  The random tourist on the right side of the photo is a distraction, and obviously the photo would be better without her there...

By taking a step or two to the side, turning my body slightly, and zooming in a little bit, I was able to remove the tourist from the frame, so that the focus of the photo remains on Kevin and the scenery behind him. I also could have asked Kevin to reposition himself, but since Kevin doesn't really like posing for photos, I try to take my shots as quickly as possible. It's easier for me to move than to redirect him into a new position...

2. Watch out for distracting backgrounds (or foregrounds)

Sometimes the background for your image is an important part of what you are photographing (like in the photos above), other times all it does is distract from the subject you are trying to take a photo of, like in the image below.  The viewer could probably guess that Zoe is my intended subject because she is what is in focus, while the other objects aren't, but this photo would be much better without all of the clutter in the frame...

For this image, all I did was zoom in as far as my lens would let me and snap another photo...

And here I got up off the couch where I was sitting to take the two photos above, and reposition myself so that I was on the other side of the coffee table and zoomed in even more...

How tight to crop your photo is personal preference, but I think it is easy to see that Zoe stands out as the subject of the photo much more in the second two images!

3. Look out for lamps, poles, trees, etc. coming out of people's heads

This photo of Kevin was taken in our office, which is fairly crowded.   For the photo below I positioned Kevin so that he was partially in front of the bookcases, with the lamp pole directly behind him.  You can see how the background is a bit distracting and the lamp looks like it is growing out of Kevin's head...

This next photo is a little better, but not great. The lamp is no longer coming out of his head, but instead the bulletin board (that we really need to hang up!) looks like it is coming out of his neck...

Using my advice from above, one solution would have been to crop the image to eliminate some of the distracting background. To improve the image even more, I also changed it into black and white. It some instances black and white can help eliminate distractions...

However, the easiest solution would have simply been to have Kevin move a bit to change the background so that he didn't have the lamp pole, or other items behind him.

4. Avoid taking photos of your subjects from below

Occasionally there may be a circumstance where you want to emphasise the size of your subject, or perhaps show them in a particular intimidating type of manner, but in general people look much better when photographed from slightly above (or at least eye level).

For this photo I got below Kevin and shot a photo of him. Kevin has a very thin face, so this photo of him isn't too bad. If he would have taken a photo like this of me, I'd look like I have five chins!...

This photo, taken from slightly above, with him looking up at me, is much more flattering...

This can be tough if you are photographing a subject that is a lot taller than you are and you are both standing. If at all possible, try to have subjects sitting down, or else try to find some place where you can stand to elevate yourself above your subject.

5. Position your subjects so that natural light is in front of them, not behind them

Sometimes you can use this type of set up if you are taking creative silhouettes, but in general you should never position your subject in front of a window...

Instead, simply turn around so that your back is to the window and the natural light from the window is shining on your subject...

And there you have it... Five simple tips to improve your snapshots. If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them in the comments section.

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area. Visit Michele's website at michelewhitacrephotography.com. Become a fan of Michele's work on Facebook. Follow Michele's updates on Twitter.

Tips + Tricks | Photographing Dogs

I've been getting a lot of requests lately for tips on how to take better dog photographs, so I decided to write up my tips and tricks in a blog post.

Please keep in mind, I'm not claiming to be an expert pet photographer!  I certainly have taken more photos of dogs then of all other subjects combined, but 99% of those have been of my own dogs. When they were puppies they were growing so fast that I took hundreds of photos of them every day. Now that they are older, I don’t photograph them every day, or even every week, but they are still the most available subjects for me to shoot any time I feel like breaking out the camera.

What can I say? Most people abuse their children with their cameras, since I don’t have kids I have to use my dogs.

So, here is what I have learned over the years about taking photos of dogs:

1. If you do nothing else, the number one thing you can do to get better photos of your dog is to get down at their level. When photographing them, you want to be at eye level (or close to it) with them. So, you are probably going to have to sit or lay on the ground with them.

2. A tired dog is a good dog to photograph! The more worn out a dog is, the more likely it will be to stay in place when you tell it to sit or lay down. So, try to make sure that the dog gets a lot of exercise before you start taking your photos.

3. If you are photographing the dog away from it's normal environment, make sure you allow it plenty of time to check out the surroundings and get used to all of the new sights, sounds, and smells before you begin.

4. Don’t try to photograph the dog alone!  It is much easier when you have someone there to help you out.  They can help get the dog to sit or lay down in place, and then help get their attention for the camera.  Never be afraid to ask for help if you needed it, especially if the dogs you are taking photos of aren't yours.  The owner can probably give you a lot of helpful tips about how to get their pet to respond to what you want it to do.

5. Treats, treats, and more treats!  Whenever I am photographing dogs, I keep my pockets well stocked with tiny treats.  A favorite toy, or anything that the dog really likes would work, too!  I use the treats to get the dog to look where I want it to look.  So, if I want the dog looking straight at the camera, like in the photo below, I usually take a treat and balance it on my camera lens.  Lexi is really staring at the treat right above the camera, but you can't tell when you look at the picture.

If you want the dog to look off to the side, like in the photo below, then just hold the treat or toy there and get the dogs attention (this is often easier if you have someone else hold the treat/toy for you. Or sometimes you can just have the other person stand where you want the dog to look and call to it.)

6. If all else fails, use a leash or tie out. Sometimes you just can't get a dog to stay in place, and it will keep walking up to you for attention. If this is the case, then you may have to hook the dog to a leash or tie out to keep them in place. We are so used to seeing dogs on leashes, that even when they are attached in the photos, we rarely notice it. Plus, you can usually place the tie out so that it is behind the dog and barely visible.  In both of the photos below, the dogs are attached but I bet you didn't notice until you looked for it...

7. Sometimes photographing pets doesn't go like you plan.  You just have to roll with it and do the best that you can.  Even if your photos don't turn out perfect, they're still cute photos!  That's the best thing about photographing dogs and babies - your subject is so cute that no one will notice the small flaws in the images. In the photo below, I wish that I hadn't cut the edge of Zoe's ear off along the left side of the photo...

And here I wish my shutter speed had been just a little faster and Lexi's tongue wasn't blurry, but I still think the photo is a keeper! Would I present it to a client? Probably not. But would I put it up in my own house? I sure would!

8. And finally, photographing two dogs is crazy hard. If you thought trying to get multiple people looking at the camera at the same time is hard, try photographing dogs! It takes hard to a whole new dimension. But, with time and patience it can be done. Just don't expect to do it on the first try. If the dogs you are trying to photograph aren't trained to sit, lay, and stay, you're in for quite a challenge, but just keep at it and eventually you will succeed.

Of course, it’s awesome when you get great shots, but if you ask me one of the best things about pet photography is the hilarious out takes! Here are two of the funny photos from recent sessions that had me laughing out loud the instant I saw them!

And there you have it! If there is something I forgot to address, leave me your questions in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them.

(You may also want to check out this post full of tips for capturing photos of your dog's personality.)

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area. Visit Michele's website at michelewhitacrephotography.com. Become a fan of Michele's work on Facebook. Follow Michele's updates on Twitter.