Smartphone photography & dogs

Keeping up with content
We live in graphic times with a lot of social media that is largely based on images and/or videos. Not everyone owns a (semi-)professional camera and even those of us who do don't carry it around with us all the time. But almost everyone owns a smartphone. It is of course nice to have professional pictures taken to fill your social media with but if your dog has it's own Instagram page you might want to keep reading to find out how you can make your own content stand out using your smartphone and my favourite apps.

Lets start of with the first topic

Light
Probably THE most important thing in photography. When using a smartphone you will certainly need enough of it to avoid blurry pictures as both you and your dog are living, breathing beings that can never be perfectly still. But you also want to avoid having to much direct light as it will cause harsh shadows on the dog. Additionally if you have a high contrast dog like my Roran it is nearly impossible to get the lighting correct on the whole coat; you either get to much light on the white parts or no detail in the dark parts. As demonstrated in the picture on the right.

When you take pictures inside there are a few things to keep in mind:

• Avoid your phone's flash: it is almost never flattering
  
• Unless you have very bright lighting don't do it when the sun is down
  
• Natural light is preferred: on dark days get close to the window, on bright days keep some distance
  
• If you want to add extra light and have bright ceilings you can create nice indirect light by putting a spot on the ceiling
  

Lets take a look at how to handle light outside:

• Bright sunny day: try to find some shade and make sure your dog is completely in it or wait for golden hour (see later)
• Cloudy gray day: this is easier as the clouds diffuse the light making it nice and soft
  

Bright day next to window - Harsh lighting

Same spot on a darker day

Golden Hour is the sweet spot for soft lighting right after the sun comes up or before it goes down. During summer it can still be a challenge to get the lighting correct if you want those typical golden hour shots. If you have some time on a sunny evening play around with the direction (sun in your back, from the side, in front of you) of your shots and the location to get a feeling for what your phone camera can handle and what type of result you like.
I use the Golden Hour app to plan.

This one was taken with my Nikon DSLR during golden hour in the woods

I hope this was helpfull. Let me know what else you would like to learn about and keep an eye out for the next chapter: Angles & Backgrounds.