Funny Dog Photos: Learning How to take Humorous Pet Photography

The St. Mary’s County Camera Club had a themed competition of humorous photos last week. Humorous photos are challenging. You can either hope to get lucky when something you see strikes you as humorous or you need to create something funny. I decided to get more pet photography practice and learn about photographing humor at the same time. I enjoyed my photo attempts because I am very interested in humorous photos.


Some pictures are funny if something doesn’t quite make sense or fit in with the rest of the photo, there is an unexpected element. Human activities, clothing, silly hats, funny teeth or children’s toys look funny because we don’t normally associate them with pets. I’ve also seen photos that are funny because something unfamiliar happens, like a photo of a dog floating in the air with balloons attached to his body or dogs waterskiing.

I photographed a Westie “playing” the piano, reading a book and driving a car. My first place photo was a Westie at the piano. The original photo was mildly funny, but the addition of the piece of music called “Unleashed Melody” added an extra funny element. The dog reading a book received an honorable mention. The pictures were all challenging, because the dog was in a wiggly mood.

To see some wonderful humorous dog photos visit photos by Eliot Erwitt or William Wegman. I give my thanks to Andrew Darlow for his pet photo advice.

Horse photography practice

I scheduled a practice horse photography session with my friend and her horse Bodie. I don’t think she had many horse photos, so it was something new for both of us. It took LOTS of patience. I had read that horses look better if you stand back 15 to 20 feet, place the horse at a 45 degree angle to the sun and evenly space the horse’s legs. She walked the horse in circles to get into the right position, which eventually worked, but there were some fairly deep shadows on the horses face. I used a big red bow so she could use the photo for a Christmas card next year. Bodie was quite skittish, so it was challenging. The day was windy, making the bow flap about. It took a while for Bodie to get used to the noise from the bow. I think next time I photograph a horse, I will ask more about the horses temperament, since I don’t want to scare the horse. I would have skipped the bow. I’m sure every animal is very different. I really liked the close up shots, especially the photo with my friend hugging her horse.

Red Shouldered Hawk: Taking advantage of the unexpected

I took a friend's advice and visited St. Mary's College of Maryland one morning in search of a great blue heron.  Blue herons are fairly common in St. Mary's County, but they are fairly skittish and fly away the instant I bring out my camera.  I didn't see any herons, but I have learned to look around to see if I see anything else interesting to photograph.  I photographed a few red winged black birds clinging to the tall grass and some tall fluffy grass fronds, but I wasn't particularly impressed with the angles and backgrounds.  The birds were too small even with my 300 mm lens.  As I was getting ready to leave, I noticed a large bird in the top of a nearby tree.  I slowly walked toward it, trying not to scare it away.  I didn't know what type of hawk it was until I got home.  Red shouldered hawks apparently like deciduous forests and mainly eat small mammals.  I identified it by its red underparts and brown body.
A little patience can lead to unexpected results!

More Pet Photography Showing their Personality

I photographed 3 dogs recently.  One of the dogs had a cute little move when we got her attention, she lifted up her paw.  I managed to get this little move in my pictures.  I thought it was adorable.  She had very expressive eyes too.  Part of the goal in photographing pets, is to show their personality.  I visit pets in their homes (or a nearby park), so they will be comfortable and more likely to be themselves.

Craft Fair at Patuxent River Naval Air Station

For locals: We will be participating in the Arts and Crafts Festival at the Drill Hall at Pax River NAS at the St. Mary's County Camera Club booth. (near Lexington Park MD) We will be selling photo merchandise like mouse pads, and coasters, etc. Sat 12/4/2010 10 AM 5 hrs Free Admission. Shuttle bus for non base patrons is available behind the Frank Knox Building. It's a great way to get fun gifts for the holidays.

Bald Eagles at Conowingo Dam

Recently we took a weekend trip to Conowingo Dam (Fishermen's Park) near Havre de Grace Maryland to view the bald eagles. We were told 90 eagles had been sighted recently.  I learned quickly that I really needed a longer lens to capture the birds well; somewhere between 500 to 600 millimeter would have worked better. My images were not very close and not very sharp, but I’ll show you one of the better ones. Maybe I can try again next year.

When I am not pleased with the images I get, I sometimes look around at what might be better. I captured a photo of 3 fishermen by the dam in the early morning golden light and one of the vultures perching on a log. There were many vultures easily accessible and lots of stray cats as well.

More Pet Photo practice

I am learning to make high pitched silly noises to make the dog's ears perk up.  It seems to work better than squeaky toys.  It is very important in most cases to focus on your pet's eyes to get them sharp, since most people look right at the eyes of any person or animal in a photo.  We put DJ in a large bucket to add a little color and create a cute pose.