Capturing Dogs' and Cats' Expressions — Fixing Motion, Darkness and Blur

Dogs and cats are adorable in expression and motion, but they tend to fall short as “blurry,” “no eye contact” or “dark and sunken.” The causes are motion, eye-level height, darkness and focus. A little tweak to how you use the phone makes them much easier to capture.

Crouch to their eye level

Shooting down from standing height shows a lot of floor and makes the pet small and flat. Crouch and lower the camera to the pet’s eye level to make the expression the star, for a much more engaging shot.

Prevent blur with light and burst

Indoors is dark, and darkness slows the shutter so motion blurs. Coax them to a bright window or sort out the brightness before shooting. For moving moments, shoot a burst and pick a sharp frame — that’s reliable (→ Fixing dark indoor photos).

Focus on the eyes

Just before shooting, tap around the pet’s eyes on screen to set focus. With the eyes in focus, the whole photo looks sharper. When it’s hard to land because of movement, tap the instant it stops and shoot right away.

Composition tips

Place the pet on an intersection and leave space ahead of its gaze for a natural, comfortable composition (→ Rule of thirds). Making use of a line running into the distance — a walking path, the seams in flooring — leads the eye to the pet (→ Leading lines). A frame with a good expression suits a social icon too.

Composition guideRule of thirdsSee the full guide for this composition → Composition guideLeading linesSee the full guide for this composition →

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Start with just this

Crouch to lower your eye level, tap the eyes to focus, and shoot a burst in a bright place. When it’s fast, freeze it for a moment with a treat. That flow cuts down a lot of “blurry, no eye contact” with pets.