The shyest and most anxious dogs need to get out of the shelter and into a comfortable, loving home as fast as possible. Yet it’s harder for shelters to fully promote them without appealing photos — a conundrum that’s compounded in these days of Covid, when the public can’t browse most shelters in person.

Good photographs are essential.

Many a “wallflower” can’t or oughtn’t be herded out of his or her kennel for this. Yet kennels are the worst places to shoot. They’re cramped, and usually have harsh-looking, unappealing concrete walls and floors, with jail-like metal bars for doors and windows.

Potential pets look more appealing to adopters when photos show them in a pleasant environment.

We can’t do much to fix the cramped quarters (other than shooting from outside, which is sometimes the only option), but often you can still get a great photo.

Here’s the brief video I showed of one way to do this in my Photographing Shelter Dogs webinar.

Note: I’ll be posting the other video clips I showed on other topics soon, along with a few more I didn’t include in the webinar.

Thanks to Daniel Chavez for shooting this video.

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EQUIPMENT DETAILS:

Since people asked which backdrops I recommend: I prefer those by Kate Backdrops (amazon link). They’re less prone to wrinkling than most (good when you have to stuff them into a bag!), and they’re really two-sided, being white on the back (minimal bleed-through of the face color). 6½ x 10 feet is a good compromise of size vs. price. Don’t go crazy with colors, you just want to show off the dogs. A medium-to light blue backdrop gives nice contrast to tan/yellow/golden dogs (as seen here), and a warm-hued backdrop (say, gold) gives a nice contrast to gray/”blue” dogs.

You also want to have some clamps so you can easily place the backdrop almost anywhere. Options abound, but my favorite are LimoStudio 3.75” Nylon Spring Clamps (link goes to a 6-pack on Amazon). They’re lightweight, and as small as can be while still able to grip most surfaces.