Use Photographic Skills to Help Animals

Often kind volunteers at animal shelters take terrible photos! So on a serious note, talented photographers can help up adoption drives by showing animals in a different light.

Be careful not to startle pets with stark backgrounds, noise or flash photography. Keep sessions short and watch body language – if an animal seems tense, back off.

But photos of miserable-looking animals with murky backgrounds don’t help.

Sophie Gamand has good tips (that’s one of her subjects above!) Keep pets away from toxic plants, even though flowers may look nice.

It’s important to read her tips, as shelter dogs act a bit different. If they are locked in a cage most of the day, they can go a bit nuts if brought out to play and have photos taken. Some may go a bit nuts, others may be over-excited to see you!

Also some dogs may have guarding behaviours or allergies, so be aware of this, before taking any photos or using treats or toys. It’s not a good idea to dress pets up, for obvious reasons. 

One portrait Sophie took of a blind senior dog who kept facing the wrong way, went viral after she just went with it as a comedy statement. Of course the lucky pooch found her forever home!

Mutley’s Snaps has good tips for other pet photographers (his work is beyond amazing!) His happy staffie photos show adorable friendly dogs, and they are made into an annual calendar, which helps to raise funds for a local animal shelter.

Bored Panda has a great page of before/after photos, to show the difference to potential adopters, when a professional photographer gets on board, showing animals in their true light.

Again, this site has wonderful tips for potential pet shelter photographers, to keep the animals both comfortable and to help promote your cause.

Hearts Speak is an organisation dedicating to changing the way, that people view shelter pets. It lists photographers who do this kind of work, using their art to help happy adoptions from shelters.