Tips and Tricks: Taking Shelter Photos with Just Your Cell Phone

Sometimes shelters don’t have access to a photographer or all the pretty equipment, so what do they do? They have to make do with a cell phone. So let’s talk about how to get better photos with your cell phone, and get these furbabies out of the shelter.

As a photographer, I rarely take pictures at the shelter with my cell phone, so I will just be sharing my shelter images throughout this blog.

Dogs

Always try to take the dogs outside to get a photo. Unfortunately, shelters are very dark, especially inside the kennels, so taking them outside completely gets rid of your lighting problems.

Now it’s time for the fun part! Take the pup outside, grab some treats, take a toy, and start playing outside in the fenced in yard (most shelters have them). We want them off leash, so they have more fun and for potential adopters to see what good boys and girls we have at the shelters.

Now that you and the pup are having a great time playing, it’s time to get out your cell phone and get a photo of that happy puppy face. We all know that tongue out, eyes looking at you, and slight smile photo. It’s classic fallback that gets everyone to say, “aww! Look at the cute dog!”

Sometimes you’ll have a dog that isn’t interested in playing; this is why we also brought treats with us. Just get the dog to look at you and start taking photos. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told by potential adopters that they came to adopt a dog (and even a cat), because of how their eyes looked in the photos. No matter what, make sure those eyes are in focus and looking at the camera.

The majority of your dog photos should be taken outside; however, all my shelter people will know this isn’t always a possibility. Your cell phone is going to blur really easily in the kennel. Every shelter I’ve worked with the dog’s kennels are the worst place for photos. So good luck and here’s some advice.

Make sure the dog stays calm; you want as little movement as possible. Treats will be you friend. You still need them to look at you, and keep their eyes in focus. If the dog is struggling to look at you, hold the treat slightly above your phone (make sure to keep it outside of the frame), this will help a lot indoors and outdoors.

I’ve never had great results with turning my phones flash on, so you can try it, but I would advise you to avoid it. Plus the flash is a lot for a dog or cat to handle while they’re trapped in a kennel.

Something you can do for both cats and dogs is get a lamp to add more light in the kennels, but soften the light by putting a white sheet over the lamp. We don’t want harsh lighting for shelter photos. Soft light makes the pets look more natural, and it makes them appear warm, welcoming, and friendly, which is exactly what we want for shelter photos.

Cats

Unfortunately, cats are almost always photographed in their kennels, so it’s really important to make them feel as comfortable as possible:  pet them, play with them, and get to know them for a little bit. The work you do before taking photos will decide how your photos will look.

There are a couple tricks you can use for cats. While you’re petting them, take your hand away towards your phone. Like with the dogs, the cat should be looking at the phone and their eyes need to be in focus, potential adopters love it.

Watch their body language; they need to look comfortable in the photos. A scared cat, curled up, looking at the corner of the kennel isn’t going attract adopters. However, a cat lying down, looking at the camera is at least going to get adopters to look at the cat’s profile.

I found a photo from my cell phone!!

You can never go wrong with a funny photo.

I rarely use to treats for cat. They never really work with cats (in my experience), and shelters usually don’t have a lot of treats for the cats like they for the dogs.

Making the Kennel Fancy

Kennels aren’t the most appealing backgrounds. Something I used to do was tape up a solid color blanket to cover the walls of the kennel then add some props. Is it Christmas? Add a small present. Is it Halloween/Fall? Get a small pumpkin! Put a stuff animal in there with them. Never underestimate props…just make sure your phone is focusing on the pet and not the props.

Videos

Potential adopters LOVE videos. Take a video of the dog chasing the ball, the dog running, of you petting the cat or dog, the cat kneading, the dog doing training, or just being cute in any way. Petfinder allows videos, but I rarely see shelters posting them. It’s an excellent resource.

The last shelter I was at let me run their Instagram account, the videos I posted were easily the biggest hits. You have to make them short though or you’ll lose people’s interest really quick. Make the video 10 to 15 seconds, and add a cute song with it. Right now Instagram is trying to compete with Tiktok by using reels…take advantage of this competition and get the furbabies adopted.

Editing your photos

You can edit your cell phone photos by using apps or just the phone itself. I’ve heard ‘Adobe Photoshop Express’ is free and a great way to edit your cell phone photos. Look into blurring the backgrounds of your photos, so potential adopters only focus on the pet’s face. This works great with kennel and outdoor photos. You also need to make sure you fix the color balance of your photos. It truly makes a huge difference in your photos.

Final Advice

I know working at shelters is hard work, and you don’t have a lot of extra time, but it will take time to make sure you get good photos. Remember you’re using a cell phone, so they’re not going to be perfect photos, but doing these things will make them better and attract more adopters.

Be patient with the animals and yourself. Love on them, play with them, and get to know them before you start taking photos. Photographing them should be play time for the pets.