Tips to master pet photography with the iPhone

Pet photography has become a rage on social media. Below find tips and tricks to ace this on iPhone 7 Plus.

Top iPhone functions for pet photography

• Continuous shutter: Useful for selfie. While you facing the camera, press and hold shutter to take photos continuously. Keep looking at the camera and patiently wait until the pet looks at the camera for the split second. Then release the shutter. Choose the right photo afterwards and there’s option to delete the rest. 

• Pair with Apple Watch, set your iPhone on a stand or against something sturdy, and you can remotely press the shutter from apple watch. Also great for selfies.

• Portrait Mode: Can also be used with Apple Watch for selfie with blur background effects.

• Slow Motion: Capture great movements of pets such as jumping to catch food, or shaking water out of body.

• Time Lapse: Set your iPhone on the stand and capture entire activity with your doggie in fast forward mode.

• Live photo: iPhone will record your movements seconds before and after the phone. Great for capturing the moving moment as well as still photo.

• 2x zoom is suitable for portraits as it makes the face more flattering, and there's a greater distance between photographer and doggie if you wish to keep a distance.

Top tips for photo-shooting doggies

• Bonding: let it walk around and familiar with environment. let it sniff ur hand. Don't over hype and approach him directly from the front, it will make him uncomfortable. Observe what he likes. It could be food, touch, play. Approach him by the side. Try stroke its fur for a short while, then pause and let go. If it likes stroking, it will come to you for more.

• Attraction: food and toys are common use of attracting pets to face the camera. One technique I use is have a third person making loud unfamiliar sound such as banging desk or weird sound made by a person, and take the photo at the split second it follows the sound.

• Calm: If the dog doesn’t stay in a position, kneel down besides it and make him stay at the same spot for a minute until it knows he cannot move. Keep yourself calm will also make it calm. Once it is calm, you may stand up and walk away very slowing, and take the photo. Useful for taking large groups of doggies also. I use this technique to take 7 puppies together in single photo.

• Hot: Dogs will stick tongues out when hot, making it look like smiling

• Patience: just keep holding the camera and wait to see what he does. Keep pressing the shutter and you may capture some surprise reactions.

• Close-up: Try capture close-up with your face besides your doggie’s face. Dogs enjoys the the intimacy and you can see it from the photo.

• Keep looking at the camera: Don't move your head to look at doggie, just keep looking at cam and keep pressing the shutter until the doggie look at the camera at the split second

• Quick selfie: Useful for selfie, when you are ready and camera setup, doggie is besides you. Quickly move yourself and the camera to the direction it is facing, and take photo at split second (Or press and hold shutter).