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 When doing shelter photography, the first thing to keep in mind is that you are trying to take a photo that will catch the quickly browsing eye of someone scanning adoption pages, looking to see if anything jumps out at them as a potential new pet.  When you get right down to it, you are doing product shooting.  The first thing to keep in mind is that your photo must show the animal clearly.  If a browsing eye can’t get an immediate idea of the animal due to cage bars, over or under exposure, bad angle or cluttered surroundings, then chances are the eye will pass over the photo and the animal will have missed its chance for adoption.  Photos must be clear, uncluttered and show the animal from an angle that gives the eye a clear and immediate understanding of the animal’s features.   Once you have managed all this, then it’s time to make the animal shine through catching spirit and expression.  This gets animals adopted.
The first piece of advice I can offer any beginner shelter photographer is that most shelters will not have attractive surroundings.  Animals will be in kennels and cages, and the best you can hope for is a concrete outdoor exercise area for the dogs.  With this limited atmosphere, however, you can still get great photos without having to take the animals to a different location.  There are five basic types of photography with which you will be faced:  cats, kittens, adult dogs, puppies, and other animals that do not fit into the first four categories.  There are specific techniques for each, but to start, I’d like to cover kittens.  Thanks to an original innovation I developed, I have made photographing kittens the easiest type of photography I face at Angels of Assisi.  I call it “the kitten studio”.  Within seconds, I can get a great photo of any kitten – and that’s the first point I’d like to make.  Most shelters photograph the entire litter in one lump.  This kind of picture doesn’t allow a clear image of any of the kittens.  It’s cluttered and likely shot from above.  It also doesn’t allow for any individual to be looking at the camera, and for my photos, I always try to have the photo make eye contact with viewers.  It doesn’t always work, but I always try!
Always photograph kittens individually.  With the kitten studio, it’s fast, easy and works perfectly on 95% of the kittens you’ll encounter.
The first thing you’ll need is a large, rectangular plastic storage bin, around the 100 gallon size.  You can find this for about $10.00 at Wal-Mart.  Next, you’ll need about 3 yards of white fleece from the fabric store.  And finally, get yourself two common, clamp-on shop lights from the automotive department at Wal-Mart.  Fill these shop lights with 100 watt, NATURAL-light energy saving light bulbs, the twisty kind. 

 At the shelter, find a surface about 2 and a half to 3 feet high.  Place the storage bin on this surface, then drape the white fleece into the tub like a lining, or pie crust.  On the long side of the tub facing you, clamp the two shop lights, one at each corner, aim them inward and turn them on.  Voila!  Instant studio.  You will not need to use a flash.  Place the kitten in the tub, and with a few easy animal-handling tips, you can get consistently great photographs.

      
 A few things to remember:  Having the kitten in this tub might lead you to photograph from above.  To avoid this, rest your camera on the rim of the tub.  This will allow the angle to be more straight-on.  Also, be sure as you move around to tub to take all shots with the lights facing away from you.  Shooting into the light will cause under-exposure and silhouetting.  
The tips for handling all kitten personalities are many and various, but getting them to look at the camera is fairly easy.  The types of sounds a kitten will respond to are scratching, crackling and meowing.  Try scratching the back of the shop light or crackling a candy wrapper to get them to look at you.  Do not try strings or toys.  These will only stimulate the kitten, and a moving, playing kitten is more difficult to photograph.  You want the kitten to sit or lie still and look at you with all its personality.  This will also mean handling the kitten as little as possible.
This having been said, there are three basic types you will encounter.  This first is the kitten that will sit or lie down wherever you plunk them into the studio. 

 For these, all you have to do is get them to look at you.  Not only will this group include naturally well-mannered kitten, but will also include the scared ones whose natural tendency will be to curl up in a corner of the bin and try to be a small as possible.  Most people would dread photographing these kittens, but they actually make your job very easy.  The second type of kitten is the one that will want to walk around, or that will want to go for the sides either to jump out and escape, or to get to you for attention. 

 For these kitties, you will have to practice one-handed photography.  With one hand, rest your camera on its side (portrait orientation) on the rim of the tub and work the controls.  With the other, place the kitten on its side and leave your hand with firm (but not mashing) pressure over the kitten’s back hips.  This will make the kitten lie down and be still while you get a portrait oriented shot of its shoulders and head, keeping your hand out of the shot.  It’s best to do this alone, as a second helper would distract the kitten’s attention.  The third type of kitten is the type that will think the interior of the bin is the best thing ever! 

   This kitten will pounce around, play and roll in the luxury of the soft white fleece.  You can’t use the firm hand pressure technique with this kitten, because he will only roll beneath you and want to continue playing.  For this type of kitten, you will need to use “opportunistic” shooting.  That means walking around the perimeter of the tub, keeping your eye and camera trained on the kitten, waiting for that one second he is still and looking at you.  You’ll have to take many shots to get a good one.  Noise and scratching does not get this kitten’s attention…for very long, anyway.   One thing you might try is to touch the kitten briefly on the head them pull your hand away and up at medium speed.  The touch will distract him, and watching the retreating hand will keep him still for a few seconds to catch the shot.  Blowing sharply in the kitten’s face will also cause a restless kitten to sit still for a second.
And the rest is up to you!  I won’t go into editing or camera setting for the different color kittens here.  I’ll let someone else actually teach the photography.  The last thought to leave you with, however, is this:  You can’t win them all.  Animals are unpredictable, they move around, they blink and you’re shooting them in a busy room with florescent lighting.  Not all your pictures will be in perfect focus and not all will be masterpieces…but even the worst photograph from you will do a better job at displaying the animal than most shots taken by busy shelter staff members with their snap-shot cameras using a flash.  Don’t sweat the flaws!  Just learn from them.      http://www.vickiespicsandprose.com/