When photographing animals you will get better results with a silver umbrella versus a softbox. You WANT to see every hair in that coat and every wrinkle on that face!

Because you want to bring out the detail in an animals coat or skin, when shooting in the studio set your main light at f16. Use a fill light and a hair light as well.

When considering a close-up or head shot, use a 70-200mm f2.8 lens if you have one. The idea here is not to have to get too close to the animal with your camera and lens. This just creates anxiety for the animal to have a stranger come in close with some foreign apparatus glued to the front of their face. Use a zoom lens, stay further back (it's less threatening). The 70-200 lens will also compress the backdrop which lends itself wonderfully to close-up portraits.

On the set make every effort to reduce clutter. Animals will want to climb over, through under and behind things. Don't give them places to hide or things to knock down. And speaking of knocking things down, use heavy light stands and weights, and watch the cords to your lights etc. Dogs are notorious for getting their legs caught up in cords!

Know what gets their attention ~ is it a word (their name, "go outside", "squirrel", "cookie" etc.) , a sound (squeaky toy, clapping, another dog growling or whining). Oftentimes you can get a dogs attention if their owner slowly turns away and s-l-o-w-l-y walks out of a room. If they walk slowly the dog will be intently looking at them for about 5 seconds and you can fire off a number of shots. If the owner walks fast the animal will think they are being left behind and they'll immediately want to run after the owner.

Keep these things handy: treats, catnip, squeaky toys, treats, paper towels, feather on a stick, treats.

Photography Tip of the Month provided by Pat Dorgan Photography.

Email us your photo tip or story about your studio to cs@backdropoutltet.com.