lovelifey: [Photography] How to Shoot Animal Portraits [video]

Jul 20, 2019

[Photography] How to Shoot Animal Portraits [video]

The post How to Shoot Animal Portraits [video] appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

animal-portraits

In this video from the crew over at Cooph, Vincent Lagrange, shows you how to shoot animal portraits that have style and tell the story behind the animal.

These are the key things Lagrange points out in the video:

Purity

Animals don’t need makeup or a stylist – they have their own unique look to photograph from the get-go.

animal-portraits

Technique

Build a good relationship with the animal.
Create a soft light setting. Avoid flash so that the animal is as relaxed as possible.
Create a quiet atmosphere
Communicate with sound.
Only use food when the shoot is becoming difficult.

animal-portraits

Approach

Don’t start directly photographing the animal. Spend some time with it first.
If the animal doesn’t want to be photographed, then don’t. Let it rest and then try again. It is not an object.
Have patience

Equipment

For the larger portraits, Vincent uses the Leica S medium format camera.
When he is on the road, he uses the Leica M.
He always uses fixed lenses – never zooms.
He also never uses continuous shooting mode. He invests time in composing and doing single shots and keeping it quiet.