THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD PICTURES TO POST FOR "OUR ADOPTABLES"

I wanted to visit with all of you who are taking times out of your lives and fostering these wonderful doodles in need that have bonded us into a tightly knit rescue unit! I fostered quite a few in a short amount of time, until health and personal reasons put me on a back burner, hopefully soon to make enough strides to jump back onto the hot plate! One of the things that I learned is that good pictures are a major component in the success of receiving a good number of applications so as to have choices, good choices, in where to place a dog.

It is so important that we give a good description of the dog so that a bond can be made with the right personalities. But, we all have to admit, the first thing we do is look at the picture. That is the dog's, looking for its forever home and relying on you to find it, first impression to a potential adopter.

Since photography is my main source of income, I thought I would share a few tips that might help increase the number of applications.

There is rarely a dog that is EASY to photograph, especially in a foster situation and definitely early on, when you need the photographs to post. The number one mistake is getting into too big a hurry and not preparing adequately to take good pictures. The quality of the camera is not the issue. It's about the preparation, the knowing in advance what needs to be seen and how to show it, that is the biggest cause for photos that don't highlight the dog to its full potential.

If at all possible, make sure the dog is clean, groomed, or at least brushed before posting. Even when a dog's legs aren't brushed and looks like they might be stringy, uneven, LOOK like they may be matted even if they aren't, it gives the immediate visual impression that the dog comes with extra "needs". We all know that doodles have high grooming needs and we stress this during the application process. However, we, DRC, doesn't want it to look as if the grooming requirements are so high that we can't handle it within our foster homes.

Your families are instrumental in being successful foster homes for these dogs! My children have done things that they never thought they would see or do and learned oh-so-much by being involved. But when your children are in a photo or a dog who desperately needs children of its own, you need to remember that people are looking at this photo. What do they see when your child is smiling and laughing with a foster? That dog doesn't NEED a home. It looks like it is happy where it is. That CHILD is happy with that dog being in his/her home. (Remember, I'm a visual...)

There are definitely times when you need to utilize as many people as possible to get a dog to be still long enough for a photo to be taken. In these cases - remember LESS IS MORE. Less humans in the photo and more dog... Zoom. And zoom some more. Try not to capture your children's smiles but only their hands if anything. Don't let the potential adopter put a face to the child loving on that foster dog. They don't realize that our children are happy to have another playmate and are even more happy most times when the adoption takes place and there is one less bowl to fill!!! :)

Actors and models always submit head shots. It is an opportunity to be able to look people/dogs right in the eye. The eye is the doorway to the soul...??? I would recommend a close shot of the face, which I know isn't always easy. Actually, it's rarely been easy! But I can tell you that when you do get one where people can look that dog right in the eye, they connect! How many times have you lifted your doodle's face by the chin and looked him/her right in the eye and talked to them?

Some foster babies are a little more active than others so it is important to make sure that all physical needs are met before even trying to get pictures. Feed them. Give them a treat to make sure they're full! They tend to get a little less active with a full tummy. It is perfectly fine to let them chew on a toy while taking the picture. It is actually endearing! The bonus is that it looks MUCH MUCH better than showing them sniffing around the yard. Every dog sniffs around a yard, but the one to fall in love with is the cute one playing with the toy!

I cannot stress how important lighting is, especially for our less-than-light friends. Take it outside. If you're inside, use a flash. You have got to catch that sparkle in the eye or the difference in tones - anything to break up the sea of darkness that is the curse of the black dog (I have a black goldendoodle so I know only too well how hard he is to photograph!). Look at your pictures and see if you can tell if the coat looks soft or if it looks like a solid color without texture. If it doesn't look like it has texture, play with lighting. My house is a "not on the furniture" house because I have three kids AND three dogs. I can't afford the upkeep of letting either of them on the nice stuff, but the kids don't mind as well as the doodles.

When submitting your photos to be uploaded onto petfinder or our site, make sure you submit high resolution photos. Whatever software you use, whether Photoshop or other, you can make sure of this by RESIZING the IMAGE, not the canvas size. A lot of programs default to 72 dpi. You just click on that and change it to 300 dpi. That will make the file size increase dramatically, so you then can crop the photo, change the percentage ratio size (if you aren't familiar with these terms, don't worry! - Just work on trying to figure out how to get it to 300 dpi) to a lesser percentage so that the ending file size is around 5 MB.

So, long story a little longer:

1. Good lighting is key

2. Dog should be groomed and content before even trying

3. Minimize amount of background "noise" (people, objects, home interiors) and zoom in or crop so you focus on the doodle

4. Imperative to submit high resolution

5. Need to submit a head shot, and at least two body shots, preferably one standing or sitting (lying down isn't the best unless it is lying on the stomach with head up)

6. If you need help, let someone else click while you work with the dog. More often than not, a foster is much better at getting a dog into appropriate "poses" and having a friend or spouse actually just point and shoot may produce better results.

Thanks for all you do to help these wonderful creatures we have all grown to adore so much, and happy shooting. My next post will be on how to get young children to smile for Christmas card pictures.... yeah, right! LOL!

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Nancy, Ned and Clancy on November 13, 2010 at 12:04pm

Thank you, Kim. I am not shooting fosters but my own dogs, and this information was helpful for that also. I do know when I look at the fosters' pictures, it makes a huge difference - not to the familiar doodle-lover but to newbies. Here is Clancy's shelter photo (and there was no one interested in adopting him) which is a good smiling head shot - but the grooming advice might have made a difference in catching people's interest sooner.

This is what he looked like when we visited him at the shelter (notice that he had NO eyes by that time and some mats causing his ear fur to stick out):

Here is the next day at our house in his first after-grooming photo - wouldn't you run to get this guy looking like this?

Permalink Reply by Kathy Janes on November 13, 2010 at 7:10pm

I can't believe this was a shelter dog - he is ADORABLE! In all the photos! (I kind of like the shaggy shelter photo, but it my preference for a long haired dog. I'g have snagged him in a heartbeat!) Such a cutie!

Permalink Reply by Kim on November 13, 2010 at 7:39pm

This is such a perfect example! While we might prefer our own doodles to look a little shaggier and more "grown in", you connect more because you can see the EYES!
Thanks so much for posting these - they really are perfect examples of what I was talking about.

Permalink Reply by Kim on November 13, 2010 at 7:48pm

One thing that really stands out besides the eyes is how clean this doodle is in the "after" picture around the mouth as compared to before... Nice.........clean............adopted!!!

Permalink Reply by Tracy Farmer on November 13, 2010 at 3:26pm

Thanks for all of the advice...I'll get snapping some good photos of my two black fosters :)

Permalink Reply by Kim on November 13, 2010 at 7:46pm

Tracy,
Feel free to show us the before and after shots of our black foster doods!
With one of yours being laid up post-surgery, I doubt you can get an "attractive" shot of his standing. Another obstacle is to show a dog in recovery that doesn't look like he will be really "needy" forever! You need to focus on making him look as "normal" as possible.

Permalink Reply by Kathy Janes on November 13, 2010 at 7:10pm

Thank you for the great advice! All good tips to keep in mind!

Permalink Reply by Nancy, Ned and Clancy on November 13, 2010 at 8:06pm

Kim, this is another version of Clancy after the first haircut. He is sitting and LOVING his new toys which lasted all of 5 minutes - but long enough for a good photo. Could your foster sit this way?The picture is cropped.

I like the scruffy look also, but the eyes say sooooo much.

Permalink Reply by Kim on November 13, 2010 at 10:10pm

You know you just hired yourself as the poster child for providing examples, right? Now go out and find us some black doodle pictures!!! :)

Permalink Reply by Adrianne Matzkin on November 13, 2010 at 10:27pm

This is Charli's PF picture. How could one not all in love with this face?

Permalink Reply by Kim on November 13, 2010 at 11:04pm

I find it to be impossible. Especially with the black doodles I love so much. I do think that you can't get a great feel for size and just moving the fingers a little big out of the picture makes puppy stand out more. (remember, I'm on here to help get better pictures....I see a great light catch in the eye, nice shiny fur, sweet smile, but am a big distracted by fingers and the thumb peeking out from the side. Don't know if it is a male or female holding sweet Charli, so don't know how the fingers size up compared to the puppy. If teeny, maybe I would think confined to keep him still because he is puppy "active"). I always like to place a bright color with a dark doodle, too, for contrast. But I would take this one in a heartbeat!!! I love me some dark doodles! I have white, black and just need chocolate to create my neopolitan empire!!! mwa ha ha!!!

Permalink Reply by Kathy Janes on November 14, 2010 at 12:30pm

Ha! Kim you need a red one too! They are striking! I think it would be fun to have one in each color - and a robotic arm to groom them all with! I love the blacks too though. They are so soulfull with their dark eyes.