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How to Take Great Photos of Your Dog

dog with camera for photoA great Fido Profile starts with a couple of great photos – they are viewed 8 to 10 times more often than profiles with poor photos. Here’s what we recommend for taking great photos of your dog.

  1. Zoom in and keep background clutter to a minimum
  2. Keep “people parts” and whole persons out of the photo if you can
  3. Work hard for a picture where your dog is looking toward the camera (a squeaky toy, or kissing the air with your lips pressed, can help a lot with this.)
  4. Good lighting is key. Stay away from late evening or early morning – heavy shadows are bad.
  5. A cute scarf or handkerchief will always get notice
  6. Leave out the fancy graphics, or frilly or fancy picture frames. A plain photo is best. Photos should be at least 400px wide, much smaller and they won’t show well online.

TIP: To reduce your photo size or to “crop out the clutter” you might try a easy, free tool that we love at iPiccy

Consider providing a few different photos of your dog, such as:

dog photo closeup1PHOTO 1 – Headshot photo. This will be the most important photo. It’s the ‘thumbnail’ photo that adopters see as they search for dogs. A great close-up photo will help create a great first impression that draws visitors in to want to learn more about your Fido friend.

dog photo body 2PHOTO 2 – Full body photo. Try to get a photo of your dog with cute expression on his face – the photo should show your dog’s personality. We like ‘whole body’ photos of dogs at play with a toy or just at home hanging out.