Picture A

This is a picture of "Riku", a Papillon who is rather large for his breed. I thought he projected a dignified air as he sat regally on the chair. He was resting in the shade, which made it easier to accurately render the softness of his profuse coat of fur. The blue of the chair provides a nice color contrast to this mostly white dog. Since a considerable portion of his fur is white, I set the exposure compensation to +1 stop.

Taken with the Canon EOS 7D and Tamron SP AF60mm F/2 Di II MACRO 1:1 (Model G005). Aperture priority AE (f/2.8, 1/1500 sec), +1exposure compensation, ISO400, WB: Daylight.

Picture B

This is a picture of "Rokubeh", a flat-coated retriever. It was a slightly overcast day but the available light was sufficient for a sharp handheld exposure. Rokubeh is a very black dog, so if the dog filled the frame I would normally set my exposure compensation slightly toward the minus side. However this is not a frame-filling close-up shot, so I took this picture without using any exposure compensation.

Taken with the Canon EOS 7D and Tamron SP AF60mm F/2 Di II MACRO 1:1 (Model G005). Aperture priority AE (f/2.8, 1/350 sec), ISO400, WB: AWB.

* Click on the picture to see an enlarged image.
Eyes play a vital role in creating compelling pictures of all living creatures. To make sure the eyes appear sharp in your photos, place your pet's eyes within the autofocus (AF) frame shooting. When taking vertical pictures, lock focus on the eyes, or select an off-center AF frame that places the subject's eyes within the frame as you shoot.

A soft background focuses the viewer's attention on your pet. To blur distracting background details, select a wide aperture (a small f/number) such as f/4. To soften the background even further, select an even wider aperture (smaller f/number) such as f/2.8 or f/2.0 and/or position the subject farther away from the background.