Advice about best setting for photographing shelter animal please ?

I used to run the office on Saturdays in our local animal shelter, but had to give it up, I'm very ill for the last year and the drugs I'm on have destroyed my immune system so I can't mix with other people, if I catch something from them I can't fight it off.





My problem is that I'd still like to contribute. I thought I could photograph their animals, the ones they currently publish are not the greatest, and I'm hoping I can do better for them. This can mean the difference between getting a home or not to these poor dogs and cats.





Anyway, explanation out of the way, I have a Canon 300D SLR, I have a tripod. Now what I need is advice about the best settings and distance, sun/shade etc. any advice you could give me is welcome. I really want to help make these animals look good.





I could look at a whole lot of theory but nothing beats getting the word from someone who does it.Advice about best setting for photographing shelter animal please ?
Ok this might be to much so 3 versions below





1.





Remember the cat shots I did? If you want them like that.





Use 2 500w lights, one closer than the other (one as key one as fill) at angles like 45degrees. Put the critter or have someone hold it on a table so you can get you lens at eye level - you must engage people - emotion/eyes et cetera. Have a clean background. Use say a focal lenght of 40mm or whatever works best for you and the distance for the raskles.





2.





Use flash, maybe difuse it a stop with a layer of grease proof paper or something, on a bracket would be ideal..... get to eye level and nail that puppy or kitty or kitten or domesticated opossum, -





3.





Outside get to eye level, overcast days will be best or use a large difusser or reflectors if its sunny. And same principles as above. For light coloured animals like golden dogs use the sun as a back light and flash as you key light - like the girl portrait.... If you can get the animals to hold there heads still you can use the sun to highlight one side of the face and shadow the other - giving a pleasing ratio portrait - but they dont pose to well those Joeys..........





might come back with more later





Disclaimer: I don't do it as much as I would like.





BEST settings? that depends on the light, if you work outdoors on a sunny day iso100 F16 @ 125th will do it for you - at least within fixable range, Overcast goto F8 @ 125th or slower light depending. If you make your own light then its a different game.....





aAdvice about best setting for photographing shelter animal please ?
You have some very good answers, but I'd like to add a few suggestions. Go eye level, whether you raise them up or lower yourself. Some animals think they at at the vets office when raised and panic, so you just might have to lower yourself. Avoid your in camera flash, you'll get green eye (far worse than red) Black animals are the toughest and cross lighting is really the best for them, if you can't do that shoot raw. You can always add catch lights in shop later; put them on a seprate layer and lower the opacity of that layer til they look right. Bring a little container of dry rice or beans to shake to make the perk their ears up. Treats help with pups, too. A nice long cat toy, like a peacock feather is a great aid. Baskets help keep kitties in one place and look cute. When you're ready to take a dogs picture, bark. (yep!)





I think you'll be great at it!
set your iso to 200


then set your speed and openning to 60 %26amp; 5.5
Hi GB!





Nice project - I'm sorry to hear you've been having such a tough time though.. ok, let's try to make this as rewarding as possible for you and the animals needing good homes!





I am not sure if you'd planned to treat this as a set-up / studio-type job, or if you'd treat the subjects more naturally within their surroundings. I know a great wildlife photographer and so I will pass you on some of his best tips and a couple of my own.





1. Make sure you get catchlights in the animals eyes - this makes a huge difference in making the animal look alive and appealing. I'd suggest a reflector, or alternatively a flash for this. If you are using a reflector then meter the animals face after you apply the light to get your exposure. If it has a black face then close your exposure down by 0.5-1 stop. If it has a white face then open up by 0.5-1 stop... mid tone subjects will be 'as is'... just get your settings and exposures should be stable assuming the animals don't change their distance from an artificial light source too much. (Check those histograms - more on this later, ok)





2. Focus on the eyes too - really important.





3. Wide angle lenses will distort your subject, so a 50mm (or equivalent on a 300d = appx 35mm) through to a moderate telephoto (300d / 50mm) will be more flattering to them.





4. Your angle of view will also be important - looking up at someone or something says they have power, looking down implies vulnerability... ,-) But a 'pod may create too high an angle so watch out for this... you need to be level with (lying down) or slightly above your subjects.





5. If shooting in bright sunshine you can break the normal 'rule' when photographing people and use bright sun to light their face directly... we are very attuned to human expressions but dog's and cats don't squint!





6. A telephoto lens will mean you are not so much in the animals face and a zoom will allow you to get close-ups, but the longer the lens the more this will reduce your depth of field / image sharpness, so you may need to compensate by stepping back from the minimum aperture to guarantee those eyes are sharp... in which case make sure your shutter speed is appropriate to eliminate camera shake and raise your ISO as needed. I'd feel safe with around f5.6/f8 on 400 ISO in most situations - a guide only.





6. To get more sophisticated you could put up a light tent (effectively a tent with a roof but no sides) out of doors - keeping sunlight from directly above from lighting your animal but enabling light to bounce in from the sides, back and front - this can produce amazing light effects with beautiful tonal gradations... and it can be combined with reflectors and/or a touch of fill-in flash from the front to make really powerful and rich tonal images (it works great for models too).





7. Take some treats or a whistle - you need to get their attention when you want it.





8. IF you are using studio lighting then work as if the animal was indoors and the light is a window - you get the broadest tonal gradations by keeping your light coming in from one side, skimming across the front of your subject - and the closer your light source to the animal the broader the range of tonality you will achieve (a common mistake being to keep the lights too far away or directly in front of the subject = flat, dull, lacking tonal gradation / modeling). BUT make sure you still get those catchlights in the eyes, so the light has to be in front and side on to the animal to get this skimming effect along the 'edge of the light'.


NB I'd use modeling lights or tungsten in preference to flash which may upset some animals.





9. Another technique to consider would be to underexpose your background while using the flash to expose the subject. Once you have the flash exposure right, reduce your shutter speed from the exposure that will get the background right (by 1-2 stops)... this will make the background area colour rich and saturated, darken skies etc... this will produce a more dramatic look.





10. Your settings in terms of exposure will be scene / light related. I'd try to separate the subject from the background using DoF and other than that I'd be looking for shutter speeds that I can hand hold safely as you may struggle with a pod if subjects are moving too much. If in doubt I'd always view the histogram, or use an incident light meter or a grey card to get the mid point exposure right.





Finally mail me some of your results when you do them and I'll give you some direct feedback with some +ve tips and suggestions, ok? Glad to help...





Good luck!
OK, the assignment is ';sell this pooch'; and you're the photographer.





Here goes:





--- either find a cloudy-bright place outside (no harsh shadows) or, indoors, a room with a big window and lots of soft light.....





--- have someone from the shelter play with the animal, dangle a toy (cats), tug a leather bone (dogs) and......





--- wait for The Decisive Moment when the animal shows just how wonderfully affectionate and adorable she is....The Big Slobbery Kiss do just fine for dogs...cats, you'll have to wing it :-)





Obviously with some animals this won't be possible. But you get the idea -- wait for the moment when the animal is irresistible, then start firing!





Hope this helps.