how to take better photos of your pet with your smartphone tipeven if you dont have an expensive camera you can capture memorable images with your smartphone the right software and a few trickscreditjd biersdorferoct 21 2020much of the internet seems to be made of animal photos especially pictures of cats if it all makes you want a decent portrait of your own pet for posterity and you cant afford a professional photographer just grab your smartphonemany recent phone models include all the hardware and software you need to take a great picture of your friend youll also want to consider factors like location and lighting and remember let the pet rule the photo session and never agitate or distress the animal just wait for his or her personality to shine through the camera lens heres a guidestep 1 make a plandecide where you would like to create your portrait depending on the animal you may get better results if you take the photo in a familiar place where your pet is likely to be calmif youre going for the portrait studio approach try taking the photos during a time of day when your animal is more relaxed like right after a meal or on the edge of nap time once you pick a spot remove as much clutter from the background as you can a sheet or bit of fabric hung up as a backdrop can also keep the focus on your subjectif youd rather capture the animals natural bounce and liveliness take your camera along during a regular park stroll or backyard romp so you can snap awayimagecreditjd biersdorferdont forget to factor in plenty of time and patience animals can be unpredictable or uncooperative so take your cues from the creature it may take dozens of shots or another session to get your perfect picturestep 2 see the lightwhen setting up your smartphone shot avoid firing the flash the unexpected pop may startle your pet and the glare reflected in the back of the animals retinas usually creates eerie red or green eyesimagecreditjd biersdorfernatural light outdoors or from a window often works best if youre taking the pictures indoors you can gently brighten the area with inexpensive clipon lamps but be mindful of where the shadows land and adjust the lighting positions accordinglystep 3 set your camerawhile not as powerful as a digital slr cameras smartphone camera technology has greatly improved in the last decade with a recent phone you can get some of the same looks for your photos like using the portrait mode to keep the foreground subject in sharp focus while gently blurring the background many of apples iphone models and googles pixel phones support a portrait mode phones by samsung and other manufacturers have similar settingsimagecreditjd biersdorfersome camera apps have a burst mode which captures a rapid series of shots when you hold down the shutter button so you can later pick the best photo of the bunch from the camera roll in