Keep it simple silly

As a dog lover, photographing your dog can be incredibly rewarding and may even lead to a love of photography as a hobby or even as a career.  However, it can also be quite overwhelming when starting out. Not only do you need to learn how to use that fancy camera with its endless features and settings, but you need to learn that while learning the rules of photography: composition, the exposure triangle, and the list goes on and on.

With so much to learn when jumping in, my advice is to keep it as simple as possible. Starting with the basics, then when you're comfortable with that, start learning different rules and practice with them, one at a time.

1. Instead of having your dog model in the beginning, why not master your camera settings while photographing random items in your backyard? Leaves, trees, flowers, a bench, etc. all great items to practice on. Once you feel like you have the settings down, add your dog.

2. Now that your dog model is in front of you, focus on your dog. Be sure your dog is the most important part of your image and not competing with the background. If your background is too busy, too bright, too anything, it might be best to find a different background so your dog can dominate the image. 

3. After you've mastered your basic settings and practiced a bit with your dog, you'll want to learn lighting. Nothing beats getting out there and practicing to see what you like. Do you like your images best when shot in the shade, in full sun, with your subject backlit by the sun, at sunrise, sunset, with a flash? Play around until you decide what kind of lighting you like, then master that.

4. Next, add expression and personality. Capture your dog doing what he or she loves. Make silly noises, bring noise makers, whatever you need to get those great expressions.

5. Learn and practice the rules of composition.

By keeping it simple and working on one small aspect at a time, it won't be long before you have enough gorgeous images of your dog to print an album!