Camera Shy

[cheryl & oliver]

I look at all these great pictures of all the great doodles here and I wonder if there is something I can do with Oliver.  He hates the camera, he sees it and he runs...It is so hard to get good pictures of him, and it is so frustrating...If you guys knew what I went thru to get the pictures for the holiday cards you wouldn't believe it.  Do you guys have any suggestions?...I have some great ones that a friend took New Years Eve of both my guys, and they are really nice, but he has a very expensive complicated camera, that is very fast, and of course he knows how to use it, lol....Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  I have tried treats, toys, u name it...I don't know how he knows the camera, we have tried different ones, no flash, etc. He for some reason sees it and runs....Very frustrating to say the least.  I am going to have a cd made of the great pictures and put them on my site for all to see, but what do I do when I want to take a picture????

[Martha & Cooper]

Cooper is camera shy too!   I think it is the flash for him.   I have to catch him when he is preoccupied or very tired to get a good shot.   We are working on it though, because I love to take his picture!  LOL!

[cheryl & oliver]

Martha, I completely undrstand the need to take pictures of them, they are just so darn cute!!!!.....And that picture of Cooper is just adorale...He looks like Oliver, lol

[Martha & Cooper]

Cheryl, Cooper does look like Oliver and funny thing, I almost named him Oliver.   LOL!

[cheryl & oliver]

I am so jealous, maybe Albus could come here and teach Oliver???

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I don't always get good pictures when I take them so I take tons - literally.  For example, today I went to a doodle get-together and took 115 pictures, saved 62 to share with others, got none of Ned, 1 of Clancy. There were about three that I thought were actually nice in composition and lighting.  Whenever I get down to the dogs' eye level, my dogs come toward me - if you started far enough away and focused before crouching down, maybe Oliver would come toward you and you could get a shot? I also get better results with natural light. I also try to have a 'helper' for posed photos - usually my husband who might hold a collar until I get focused, then release and step back - sometimes works.  The flash also bothers Clancy a lot!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Did NOT mean 62 were good - about 32 were shareable!

[cheryl & oliver]

I guess I am not alone with this problem, it is just so frustrating...but I am reading each reply, and I am going to try all of your suggestions...

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Daisy is the exact way. I have probably taken over 1000 pictures of Daisy, the ones that are posted are salvaged not the ones I imagine they will be. I do have better luck with the video portion of my camera sometimes. A lot of my photos are blurry, not in frame and just get the back side of her. I figure I will just keep trying. I am so jealous of the up close and focused pics a lot of you post.

I have a very nice camera to boot, that being said I know about 1/8 of what I need to know.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Gee, you know a lot compared to me then : )

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Here is the perfect example of what Daisy does when she realizes I am trying to snap a photo - when I pushed the button she was looking right at me I swear.

[Linda and Murphy]

I actually bought my DSLR camera because of this.  There is no hesitation from when you press the button to when the picture is taken. I was beyond crazy having gone from an SLR to the digital cameras. The hesitation can be 1-2 seconds depending on the recycle time. (The REAL photographers on DK can give you better info on that)

[Dori & Rua]

Ditto on this.  So many of my pictures of Rua were either like this with her head turned away or her walking away.  The DSLR really helped with that.  Our fireplace hearth upstairs is about 1' off the floor.  Her toy basket is there.  If I put her there and feed her treats, I can usually get some I like.  But as many have said, you somethings have to take tons to get a few good ones.  I have tried to have my DH help, but his attention span isn't as long as Rua's is!!!!  LOL!!! 

 

One thing that has really helped improve my pictures was a suggestion from someone to get down at the Doodles level.  So many of my first pictures are of me standing look down on Rua taking the pictures.  Once I started kneeling, crouching or laying down, the pictures were much more interesting.

 

Cheryl, make sure you are join the Photography Group if you haven't already.