Guide: How to improve your pet portraits

Many pet parents run a handle for their canine companions. Whether you post stills or video on Instagram or TikTok, there are a number of ways you can improve the quality of the content you post. In this guide, professional pet photographer Lea Heldt explains how to post prettier portraits of your pup. 

W. C. Fields once said “never work with children or animals”. But, who knows, you could even make the leap into professional pet photography yourself? Read on to learn more. Over to you, Lea. 

When I got my first camera as a birthday present in 2012, I went straight out and photographed everything that came in front of my lens. First it was flowers, then wild birds, and finally the neighbour's dog—a little rough-haired dachshund named Emma. The first beautiful dog picture of her was the start of my love for dog photography. 

In 2014, our first dog moved in. And with my own model to practice on, my images became sharper and my understanding grew. At 16, I began offering photoshoots to clients.

I went from the Canon EOS 1100D to the Canon EOS 700D to the Canon EOS 7D Mark II to the Canon EOS 5D Mark III to the Canon EOS R and finally to the Canon EOS R5. 

Along with my training as a communications designer, my love for videography grew slowly but steadily. I figured that if I could take pictures, video would be a piece of cake. During my first courses in videography, I realised this wasn’t the case! I was confronted with a lot of new things that I didn't know from photography. So here, too, it was a case of practice, practice, practice. To make the learning process easier, I bought a mirrorless camera. First I went for the Canon EOS R. And when animal eye focus was added to the EOS R5, I upgraded to that camera. You can read more about how the Canon EOS R5 performed in the field with the RF 24-70mm lens.

On holiday, instead of taking pictures of the dog, I simply held on to it and filmed. I then published the footage as a reel on Instagram. When Instagram started to promote videos and reels, I specialised in them and now post a reel every two days. 

High-quality filming is much easier today than it was a few years ago. Thanks to mirrorless cameras, like the Canon EOS R6 or the Sony A7S III, you can create beautiful videos as well as great photos. In the age of Instagram and Tiktok, reels or portrait videos are more relevant than ever.

Check your settings

In videography, both the possible recording quality and the possible FPS rate are important in my eyes. I recommend Full HD at the very least.  I'm a big fan of slow-motion, so I make sure that my camera can create videos of at least 60 frames per second (fps). The more frames recorded per second, the smoother the subsequent slow motion.  

If you’re already familiar with cameras and want to also get into videography, I recommend the Canon EOS R6—the little sister of the Canon EOS R5. Not only is it suitable for pet photography, you can also use the Canon EOS R6 for live music photography.

Choose the right kit

I use the Canon EOS R5. It's a mirrorless camera with excellent shooting quality. It also works well for wildlife photography when paired with the Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L IS US, a fantastic Canon wildlife lens. It can shoot fluid slow motion in 4K and 100fps and also has a special focus mode. This mode can detect a dog’s eyes and track them extremely reliably, ensuring a continuous focus on the dog—even when they’re moving. This makes my work much easier and I can concentrate much more on my subject and the image composition. 

When it comes to lenses, I am a big fan of Sigma ART primes. I use the Sigma 24mm f/1.4 DG HSM EF, the 85mm f/1.4 DG HSM EF or the 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM EF. The lenses are razor-sharp and have a fast autofocus, which is really essential for dog photography. I also have the option of opening the aperture wide on all my lenses, because I like to shoot with a shallow depth of field to get a nice bokeh.

Pick a suitable location

The most important aspects when choosing a location are the light and the background. I make sure that the light falls beautifully and avoid the bright hours of the sun. So I mainly film at sunrise or sunset, but also on cloudy days. On sunny days, I like to use the backlight. For me, it is the most beautiful light, but at the same time the most difficult to focus. Often the focus doesn't find the subject because of the strong sunlight and I have to help manually. It is easier to film on cloudy days.

If the sky is a grey blanket of clouds, the light shines evenly, the focus works more reliably and there is less danger of hard shadows or blurred material. When I'm hiking, I like to film beautiful mountain formations and lakes. And when the moors are in bloom, I love to capture dogs in video in the contrast of the purple flowers. On cloudy days, on the other hand, I often film in the city with interesting buildings or sights in the background and let the dog pose in front of them. 

Get creative

The content is also important. What does the image want to tell me? Maybe I want to show a great trick that the dog has learned. I make sure that the background is relatively calm so that the dog and their skills are in focus. Sometimes I want to show the beautiful landscape, or capture a special bond between dog and human. I like to use beautiful evening light to create a romantic mood.  If none of this presents itself, I also like to film the dog's natural behaviour. Sometimes sniffing at a beautiful flower, licking their nose in anticipation of a great treat, or shaking because they’ve just been in the water. Sometimes I also film special features of the dog. For example, big ears or steel blue eyes look very interesting in close-ups. In eye shots, I like to record a blink so that the picture doesn't look quite so static. 

Thanks, Lea. Discover more guides on the MPB content hub, including Demi-leigh Freeman’s Canon EOS R5 review for pets or our interview with pet photographer Andrius Burba.