Why your Dog Should be in Your Family Portrait

A family portrait can take many forms. Finished are the days of people standing around stiffly by the fireplace for an awkward photo opportunity. Nowadays there is so much more creativity on offer from many great photographers. One thing that hasn’t changed is the option to include the family’s pets in the picture. Many old fashioned family photographs would proudly have the family’s dog in frame and there is no reason to not include your pet pooch nowadays too.

Don’t Leave Anyone Out

Pets really do become a part of the family, whether it’s something common like a cat or a dog, or something a little more exotic like a lizard, a snake or a tarantula. You would be doing your poor pet a disservice to exclude them from the family snaps.

Why your Dog Should be in Your Family Portrait

Image Source: Shutterstock

There are however a few things you should do to make the act of including Fido that much easier. Firstly, don’t ever just spring the idea on your usual photographer. If the man or woman with the camera is not used to photographing pets then you might find yourselves wasting a lot of time. Instead check around and find a company that is happy to include your pets in their photos. Someone like Venture, who you can check out here, have a history of pet photography so they’ll know exactly what to do to get the best shots. Studios used to working with pets will have the right kind of lights in place to not scare your animals and they’ll also have a load of tricks up their sleeve for getting the best photos of your pets.

Prepare For the Cameras

Prepare For the Cameras

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You yourselves can also help prepare your animals to be more camera-friendly before you take them to the studio. If you have a dog, a good long tiring walk will wear them out nicely and have them sitting still for the photo shoot. If you have a cat, try and play with it for an hour before the photography to get the excitement out of their system. Also don’t forget to take their favorite toy to the studio to help get him or her facing the right way. Some animals will need to get used to the climate (snakes and lizards for example) so make sure the photographer is aware of this and get there early enough for your pet to get used to the environment.

Capturing the Moment

Why your Dog Should be in Your Family Portrait

Image Source: Shutterstock

Including your animals in your family photos gives a truer sense of time to your pictures. Photos of the kids with their puppy will turn into photos of young adults with their dog – a dog who’s been a friend for life to the whole family. Just make sure that you find people who are experts at including pets in their family portrait photographs. Taking animal photos is incredibly hard so don’t waste time with amateurs.

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