TOP TIPS RING-A-DING SKILLS!

Set up your ring light and camera to capture beautiful pet photos

01 PRACTICE ON A TEDDY

If you’re planning on capturing pets it’s a good idea to practice first, so the lighting, backdrop and exposure are spot on before the shoot begins. A teddy is ideal, as you can place it in the right spot, perfect lighting and check how the ring light reflects in the eyes.

02 SIMPLE CAMERA SETTINGS

When using always-on ring lights we can set any exposure mode and let the camera meter for the right exposure. We used Manual mode with an aperture of f/1.8, shutter speed 1/125 sec and ISO to Auto: this way the ISO will adapt to the conditions for us.

03 LENS CHOICES

A 50mm prime is perfect for this type of pet portrait, as it offers a wide max aperture, which nicely blurs our backdrop. We need to be very precise with focusing, as when shooting at a wide aperture like f/1.8 the depth of field will be a few millimetres, so focus on the eyes.

04 CHECK THE CATCHLIGHTS

Catchlights are the tiny reflected highlights you see reflected in your subject’s eyes, and ring lights create attractive circular shapes. The distance between subject and light determines the size of the catchlight, so bring it in close to make them larger.

05 RINGS FOR BACKDROP

We can also use the ring lights for a halo backdrop by shooting from the other side. Here the dog is lit with a window in the room, while the rings behind create our background. When the background has strong light, we may need to up our exposure to compensate.

06 SHOOT IN RAW

Some ring lights may not have perfect colour accuracy. It’s best to shoot in Raw, as this gives you greater freedom to correct colour casts in post. You can do this in Camera Raw or Lightroom by clicking on a neutral point, like the grey blanket, with the eyedropper tool.