How to take great holiday pictures of your pet

Sharing your furry friends with loved ones in the form of holiday pet pictures can be fantabulous. But capturing the experience on camera is a process fraught with problems that quickly becomes frustrating if you’re not in the know.

The good news is that some tactics make it a breeze to capture those cute, memorable seasonal snaps featuring your pet.

So without further ado, here are our top tips for taking holiday pet pictures without the blood, sweat, and tears.

Take a pre-picture walk

While it’s essential to ensure your dog gets enough exercise on an average day, it’s critical to do so before taking photos.

If you can pencil this in before your photo-taking session, you can hopefully tucker out your dog and thus make him willing to stick in one spot for you to fire off a few shots.

Practice before adding accessories

Dressing your dog in fashionable outfits or introducing a new toy or accessory can create incredible photo opportunities.

But if this is your dog’s time experiencing the items in question, they’ll either be over-excited or perhaps even befuddled, making it trickier to get them to stay still for any length of time.

The answer is to plan and familiarize your pet with your intended outfit choice for the holiday photo shoot before the big day itself. That way, you won’t be upsetting the applecart with a new distraction when you need their full attention.

Think about how you’ll use the pictures

To frame the shot correctly, you need to know where you’ll be using it further down the line.

For example, considering photo calendar designs when positioning your pet and choosing the background matters more than you’d think.

If you don’t work out the desired format, you might find that your snaps are tricky or impossible to crop in the right way.

The same goes if you plan to add a picture to a holiday card.

Decide whether you want it to be a portrait or landscape orientation and set up the shot accordingly.

Use treats

Sneaking your pet a few treats is another excellent way to manage dogs for pet photos while trying to capture them on camera.

If you’re also sharing the frame with them, then you can keep the treats in your pocket and introduce them at critical moments so that their attention is focused on you, and they won’t be tempted to leap up and skitter off elsewhere in the meantime.

Don’t draw out the experience

The longer you try to keep your pet in one place for a holiday photo shoot, the harder it will be to control them, and the more frayed tempers will become.

Short and sweet sessions are best for this reason.

And remember, if you don’t get the perfect shot the first time, you can always try again tomorrow.

That’s why it’s worth avoiding this being a last-minute effort and giving yourself a bit of leeway so you aren’t in a rush.

Draft an assistant

Lastly, don’t be shy about asking if you’ve got a friend or family member who doesn’t mind sparing a bit of their time to help you with your pet-based holiday photo.

It’s all well and good to use photo timers and other settings to try and take a snap solo, but having someone else behind the camera so that you can give plenty of attention to your pet will make things much more straightforward.

Final thoughts on taking holiday pet pictures

Take your time to get excellent holiday pet pictures and use our helpful tips:

• Tire your dog out first
• Use treats
• Get help from a friend or relative
• Think about how you plan to use the pet pictures
• Practice before using outfits or accessories
• Keep photo shoots short

Nadine Westwood helps her clients achieve phenomenal results by combining nutrition, fitness, and fun! She believes primarily in living a happy life and focusing on happiness above all else. She has created bespoke plans that stand the test of time because, above all else, she wants her clients to have fun.