Having spent some time at the Chouteau, OK pound photographing dogs that need their forever homes, I decided to start a new blog that focuses on shelter dogs and showcasing dogs that are looking for homes.
The particular rescue I have been helping is the Chouteau Pound Pals, a no-kill, non-profit shelter that is located in Chouteau, OK, a small town NE of Tulsa. It is run mainly by volunteers, the Chouteau Animal Control Officer feeds the dogs and cleans the kennels. Chouteau is a small town and the kennel, often times, is overloaded with dogs. Even with the advent of the internet, which has had to have been a boon to every small town dog rescue in America, alot of the dogs have a fairly long stay.
Because alot of people prefer to look at dogs on websites such as Petfinder.com and narrow their choices down before meeting the dogs in person a good photograph can make the difference between
someone scrolling on by or stopping to read the description of the dog. So I thought I might talk a little about photographing dogs. If you are reading this and thinking about a way to help your local rescue, alot of them could use help with photographing. It helps to have a nice DSLR, but if you all you have access to is a "point and shoot"...don't despair, just make the best of it!
1) Blurry photos....NOT. In this day and age of digital photography don't be stingy with your picture taking, it's not like it is costing you anything to develop! Take ALOT of pics of each and every dog! The more you take, the more chances you have of getting something usable!
2) Get down to the dog's level, if you can't squat down or lay on the ground to take a pic...get in shape! Dogs (and people, for that matter) photograph so much better at eye level.
3) Get them out of the kennel...put a leash on them and have someone take them outside. Three reasons; the first is the lighting will be better (on camera flashes are really only good for occasional fill lighting) and secondly alot of people will quickly scroll by the photographs of the dogs behind bars. The third...when you get the dogs outside they are much happier which shows in their photos and happy dog photos get looked at!
These are just a few tips for getting started. As the blog progresses we will have more tips and I encourage those of you reading this to share tips and ideas that can help shelter dogs and the humans that volunteer for them.
On the next blog I will spotlight a dog (or two) from the Chouteau Pound!
