It goes without saying, the most important quality that a master pet photographer can have is not an expensive camera or a head full of knowledge about camera settings and editing software.
Taking perfect pictures of pets may even be more difficult than taking perfect pictures of kids. Neither pets nor kids are very interested in sitting still for long periods of times. However, very small babies will not be able to move out of the picture. Older kids might be bribed to hold the pose. This is all a bit more difficult with a cat, dog, parrot, or other type of pet.
They are either totally disinterested in your desire to get a perfect photo or misinterpret what you are trying to communicate. After all, unlike even the smallest children, pets have no idea what a camera is or does. That means that they are very unlikely to smile look at the camera, and say, “Cheese!”
The most important quality is patience. Having talked with several professional pet photographers, they all agreed that they could and would never force an animal to do anything that they did not want to do. They also all agreed that not every shot was perfect, and sometimes it took dozens of tries to get it right. Before they could get the perfect pose from a pet, they had to earn the animal's trust and make the experience fun for the people and the pets!
Remember: Practice And Patience Make Perfect Pet Pictures!
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