66 PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY
1
Setup
yourcamera
Switchto
aperture-priority and dial
in an aperture of f/8.
Position yourself and your
pet somewhere bright–
outside in the garden or
by a large window would
be ideal. Check your
shutter speed. You’ll need
to make sure it is faster
th an 1/500sec. If it isn’t,
ra ise your ISO until you
can get a fast enough
shutter speed.
2
Getyourpet’sattention
Yourpetwill needto be lookingtowards the
camera – into the camera lens if you can,
or not far off. This can be tricky. It might pay to enlist
the help of a family member to help keep your subject
looking in the right direction.
A
LLTOOOFTEN
standardpractice dictates
thatportraits are shot on a
focallength of 85mm, as it’s
oneof themost flattering
focallengths for people pics.
Itcapturesthehumanface in similar
proportionsto howwe see it with our
eyes.Straytoofareither side of this focal
lengthandyou’llstartto encounter some
prettyextremedistortions. It’s in these
distortionsthatwe’regoing to be making
ourimage.So findyourmost willing and
eagerpet,or otherfamily member, and
grabthewidest-anglelens you can to get
started. Anything below 24mm should be
fine – the wider the better though.
Embrace distortion
Wide-angle lenses introduce a degree of
distortion into our images. The way the
glass gathers light causes subjects to
appear to stretch near the edges of the
frame, while shooting up-close adds
perspective distortion to the mix. The
distance an object appears to be from
another is dependent on their distance
from the observer. What does that mean
in practice? The closer you get to your
subject, the more it exaggerates the
distances between their features. Faces
appear large and bursting from the frame
while the rest of the body looks very small
and far away. So, to maximise the impact
and unique visual style for this shot you’ll
need to get in as close and go as wide as
you possibly can.
Frame up
Looking through your viewfinder you
should be aiming to fill the frame with
your subject, or if your lens won’t focus
that close, get down to minimum focus
distance while focusing on the eyes.
Shooting from a high angle looking down
will make the most of this perspective
effect and leave your pet’s feet looking
tiny in the frame, while the size of their
facial features will be greatly exaggerated
by comparison – they’ll end up looking
cartoonishly large.
Find your settings
Being this close to your subject is going to
give you a shallower depth-of-field, so you
want to select an aperture that’s going to
give you enough depth-of-field to keep the
eyes sharp while maintaining that soft
fall-off. Around f/8 should be perfect here,
while allowing you to keep a high shutter
speed of around 1/500sec. While shooting
pets it’s important to keep a fast shutter
speed or they’ll blur as they move.
GO ULTRA-WIDE AND CLOSE
FOR QUIRKY PORTRAITS
PROJECT #3
Break The Rules
AboveThewider
yo urlens,themore
ex treme an effect
yo u’ll get.
Right This extreme
te chnique will work
on portraits of
peopletoo.
Fun wide-angle pet portraits
CACTUSS
GET THE SHOT
