Poodle Picture Tips

Wouldn’t you love to have a picture of your Poodle on a sweatshirt or tee shirt, a screensaver, a mouse pad or a coffee mug? By following a few simple suggestions for taking professional looking Poodle pictures, you’ll be able to take great pictures of your Poodle with an affordable digital camera, an inexpensive, disposable 35 mm camera, or even a digital camera phone.

Plan Your Photo Session

Your pictures will turn out better if you plan your photo session, plan your composition and use the right photo editing software. Using a digital camera can save you quite a bit of money over using an analog camera.

Get everything you need ready before you involve your Poodle in the process. Load a fresh memory card in your digital camera, replace the batteries in your camera and carry an extra set of fresh batteries with you. Choose a setting for your pictures. For an indoor setting, be sure the light is adequate. If you are working in an outdoor area, secure the area for your Poodle’s safety. A fenced back yard makes a great outdoor setting because you won’t need to worry about your dog getting away and being hit by a car or attacked by a loose dog.

Choose someone who gets along with your dog, and whom your dog likes, to be your assistant. This is a fun task for an older child who likes to work with the Poodle. Taking pictures together can be a fun adventure for the three of you. Thank your assistant after the session is over by sending a thank you gift personalized with one of the Poodle pictures you took together. A coffee mug or mouse pad makes a great gift.

Choose Backdrop and Poodle Accessories

The Poodle, with its dense, curly coat, looks best photographed against a smooth, solid colored background. Dark poodles usually look best against light backgrounds and vice versa. Velvet or canvas fabrics make great backdrops for Poodle pictures. Consider using a chromatic green backdrop, available for a reasonable price at any photography supply site. With a chromatic green backdrop, you can change the background in your photos and add any digital background you like. These varied backdrops add interest to your Poodle pictures. Whatever backdrop you use, it must be uncluttered so all the attention is focused on your Poodle.

Props and accessories help enhance your dog’s appeal in a picture. Props work especially well with poodles, to put the dog in scale so the viewer knows whether the animal is a toy poodle, a miniature poodle or a standard poodle. Take pictures from you dog’s eye level. Sit or kneel to photograph a standard poodle, and move a toy dog up to a tabletop or counter top.

Follow these suggestions, and you will soon be taking professional quality pictures of your Poodle. Kindly share your poodle photo with us ?
[photo by Ken.Lam]