One of the best ways a photographer can help out local rescues and rescue animals is by providing quality photos for online listings. An unfortunately large amount of photos listed online are grainy cell phone photos that show a scared dog in a caged area. This type of photo is not the best way to get an animal adopted. You want to show the dog at it’s best, and a beautiful pet portrait can really get the ball rolling on an adoption.

The problem however, is that the situation isn’t always ideal to set up the perfect photo opportunity. Rarely will you have the chance to set up lighting or pick the perfect location. Shelters will often have 15-20 dogs that they simply want to blaze through as fast as they can (this is understandable, these people are working their tails off and they have a TON to do). You, as the photographer, need to adjust to their needs, not the other way around. Here are some tips for those situations when you have minimal time to provide high quality rescue dog photos:

Be prepared to get the dog’s attention.

Since a variety of factors will be out of your control for the photo, make sure that if nothing else, you have a photo with the dog LOOKING DIRECTLY AT THE CAMERA. Eye contact is endearing and potential adopters often feel connections to dogs simply because they have an opportunity to look into the dogs eyes. To get a picture of the dog looking at the camera, you will need the dog focused on you. this isn’t easy as shelter situations are notoriously loud and have distractions everywhere. Bring toys that squeak and a few treats.

Acquire your own space.

If possible, identify a location for taking all the pictures. Try and avoid going around from kennel to kennel. If you have your own space, it’ll be easier for you to control the environment and more importantly, control the background. If you can get a clean wall with one color that would be ideal. If there are no nice looking walls, bring a blanket or something solid that can easily be used for a solid background color. You want the focus on the dog, not the surroundings.

Fill the frame with the dog.

This is a trick I utilize when I simply have no chance to hide an ugly background any other way. Fill the entire frame with the dog. Crop the photo so that the background is gone. If there is no background in the photo to deal with, then you won’t have to worry about making it look appealing.

Be willing to try again.

Some dogs will appear nervous and scared and taking a photo with them looking like this will not be productive. Be willing to come back on another occasion and try again. Rescue workers donate so much time and effort into placing these dogs in homes, so be willing to come in and help on another day to help these wonderful animals and people.