Shoot where your pet is relaxed

Use a pet's favorite hang-out to photograph a relaxed, natural-looking pet.

Your pet may have a favorite spot in your home or yard where he or she is always relaxed and at ease. Such a place usually provides a good location for a more natural-looking portrait.

Some cats, for example, like to keep a sharp eye on the neighborhood from a specific tree limb, while others like to doze in an armchair or snooze on the woodpile. Dogs, on the other hand, can have the most-unexpected favorite spots - the back of a pick-up truck, the top of the compost pile or just lazing on the back porch. If your pet is more exotic, you will know best where your pet is most comfortable. Every pet is unique. A budgie, for example, may be happiest perched on top of its owner's head.

REMOVE DISTRACTING ELEMENTS

You may want to tidy things up a bit in advance if there is pet debris lying around or other clutter, and perhaps improve the background by making things a bit more orderly.

You could even hang a cloth (say, black velvet or even a sheet in a color suited to the animal’s own coloration) as a backdrop, so the scene will be ready for your pet’s arrival. If there is something in the scene that does not contribute to your picture, you should remove it or cover it, particularly if it is truly distracting, like a half-dozen, partially-chewed old bones.

ALLOW YOUR PET TO SETTLE IN

Allow your pet time to settle in and assume a relaxed pose. If he or she falls asleep, remember that can be all right, too. A sleeping kitten or older dog can make an excellent, natural-looking picture that brings oohs and ahs from its viewers.

LIGHTING IS IMPORTANT

Be aware of the lighting. Back lighting from the sun can bring out the sheen in a furry coat and contribute to a mellow mood. But expose for the shadow area, and consider using fill flash if there is too much contrast. If you are shooting indoors, consider bounce-flash or diffusion to soften the light.

Outdoors, try to time it so the pet will be in open shade or shoot when the sky is lightly overcast. The illumination will be soft and even, and contrast will be low, with no harsh shadows.

ARE YOU CAMERA-READY?

And, of course, keep your camera handy and loaded with a blank memory card or film and fresh batteries.

WHAT IF YOUR PET DOESN'T HAVE A FAVORITE SPOT?

Then, you will have to shoot where your pet is not necessarily known to be relaxed, but where it will at least be stationary. Try placing your pet on a stool, a table or in some other place that it is not normally found, all the while gently reassuring it.

Pets of any type will usually stay quiet for a few moments when they find themselves in a new location or in a place from which they are usually prohibited, allowing you ample time to focus and shoot a good pet portrait. The strangeness of the new location may be all it takes for the animal to remain long enough for a satisfactory pose. Pets are unpredictable, though. Yours may bolt the moment its paws touch down. Be ready for it.

You may need a friend or family member who knows the pet to bring out an animated pose, but the results will be worth the extra effort. If the pet is young - a puppy or kitten, for example - their natural look usually doesn't need any coaxing to improve it. Any young animal is appealing, no matter what expression it has.

Kittens and other young pets may not yet have discovered a favorite spot, and they can go for hours before they feel the need to relax. They sometimes seem to be everywhere at once, and you just have to be on the lookout for a good picture of them, wherever they show up.

A telephoto lens will bring active animals closer for their pet portraits. If you use a wide aperture, as we did for this picture of a feisty kitten on a log, the background will be out of focus, drawing the viewer's attention to the pet subject. Just make sure you have sufficient depth of field so that everything that should be in focus will be in focus.