An essential part of everyone’s holiday experience is the surge of photo-taking that takes place during these festive months. From Halloween costume photos, to Thanksgiving family photos, to that one perfect family photo for your Christmas cards. This is truly the season for our smiles to shine through. Here at Zen Frenz, we believe that our pets deserve their very own spot in all our holiday photos. But this isn’t always an easy task, especially for our furry friends who find it hard to stay still in front of the camera. Despite how cute our pets may be in our eyes, this isn’t always easy to capture in a photo. We’ve got some tips and tricks to guide you on your pet photography journey this holiday season.
1. Hygiene Matters
Regardless of how fun our pet’s outfit may be or how cute their face is, a photo can easily get ruined if our pet’s hygiene isn’t well maintained. It doesn’t just affect the appearance of our pets, it also affects how they feel if their fur and paws are dirty. We don’t just want our pets to look clean, we also want them to feel good! A happy, healthy pet is a much easier pet to photograph.
There are tons of products out there to help maintain your pet’s hygiene. Personalizing your pet’s hygiene care is also extremely important according to their individual preferences, their breed, and any health conditions they may have. We highly recommend trying our CALM Pet Shampoo for dogs & cats. This shampoo offers special benefits for your pet that protects their coat, reduces inflammation, and helps reduce stress. If your pet is prone to inflammation, wounds, or other skin-related problems we recommend trying our Healing Balm for dogs & cats along with the shampoo. This balm uses various organic ingredients with a CBD infused balm to soothe any skin problems and treat wounds.
2. Get Inspired
A challenge many pet-owners face when trying to incorporate their furry friends into photos is finding the perfect pose and position for their pets. This is especially difficult considering that we can’t exactly trust our pets to smile even when we tell them to. Taking photos of our pets becomes much easier when we approach the task with a strong vision in mind.
Photo-sharing sites such as Instagram and Pinterest have amazing pet photos taken by both professional and amateur photographers that can provide you with the perfect inspiration for your next photo. Seeing how other pet-owners and photographers pose their pets can help you visualize how to best approach the photo-taking process with your own pet to maximize their cuteness and get their best angles. Check out the Zen Frenz Instagram profile for some photo-inspo from our very adorable ambassadors!
3. Stay Calm
A very common problem for most pet-owners is trying to keep their pets calm for them to stay still long enough for a photo to be taken. The photo-taking process is usually extremely stressful for pets as lights, noise, and being overly touched can cause overstimulation in animals, especially when this is done around strangers.
In order to ensure that your pet stays calm enough for a photo, we recommend minimizing the amount of distractions and harsh lighting involved in taking photos. This can be done in many ways, such as choosing a good location for the photo, using the right camera, and avoiding crowding your pet with people. It is important to understand what your pet’s needs are and the specific things that trigger stress responses during photo-taking.
In addition to these precautionary measures, we highly recommend trying our Zen Drop series to help relieve stress and promote calmness in your pets. For dogs and cats, we recommend trying our CALM Zen Drops which provide healing, anxiety relief, and balanced behavior support. We also have a special formula designed for Cats with additional mobility and anti-itching benefits.
4. Have Fun
Above all else, have fun! The ultimate goal of taking photos during the holiday season is to capture joyous memories that we can look back on. Taking the ‘perfect’ photo doesn’t necessarily mean the most professional or Insta-worthy photo. The photo-taking process is meant to be enjoyed and bring us closer together with our families and pets. It’s important to remember that despite how cute our pets may be, they may not quite understand the point of taking so many photos. They may get frustrated, become restless, or stop cooperating with you.
During the challenges you face while taking photos of your beloved pet, it is essential that you ensure that the experience is fun for both you and your pet. A fun trick to keep your pet engaged and happy during this process is to stock up on treats and rewards. We highly recommend our Bacon & Beef Zen Bites and Peanut Butter & Honey Zen Bites as some delicious essentials for your next photo session with your pet. It won’t just put a smile on their faces, it’ll also help keep them calm so you can get that perfect shot!
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