But if you don’t want fame going to your pup’s head, these insider tips for taking a really great photo of your furry BFF from Bark are still handy.
Whether you want to make your dog Insta-famous or just take a really, really great photo of them, Stacie Grissom, head of content at Bark, is here with advice and her dog, Pimm. |
Stacie Grissom is a self-described “crazy dog person,” which certainly comes in handy at her day job as head of content at Bark.
“All I do is talk about dogs, take pictures of dogs, look at dogs and
tell dog stories in different mediums and channels,” Grissom told
Metro.
And if you think that the office of the folks behind BarkBox is a heaven filled with wall-to-wall dogs, you’re not too far off.
“Depending on the weather and the day, there are 20 to 25 dogs in the
office,” said Grissom, whose pup, Pimm, is usually among the pack.
“Right now, I’m in a little conference room, and there’s a little
bulldog just languishing on the floor sleeping with his legs splayed
out.
Pimm’s escapades around the Bark office are well-documented on her Instagram and her mom’s, which makes Grissom the perfect person to give us advice for taking great photos of your dog — and maybe even make them an Instagram star along the way.
“You can take incredible photos of your dog with your iPhone, you don’t need a big, fancy camera to take a good photo of your best bud,” she said.
First, be authentic
“You can’t want to build your dog’s account just to build it. It has
to be a hobby and a thing you love already that’s just icing on the
cake,” Grissom said. “People can see when someone is trying to build
their dog’s account. I think some of the most famous dogs, their photos
aren’t mind-blowing works of art, but what their parents have done
really well is telling the story of those dogs in the photos.”
Embrace your pup’s peculiarity
“Find the quirky things that are unique and speak to the rest of us
sitting on the couch snuggling with our dogs to go, ‘Oh, my dog does
that, too!’” Grissom suggested. “That’s where it starts to be a little
bit of magic, and I’ve seen people pick up an awful lot of followers
really quickly.”
Lighting is everything
“You don’t want light coming from behind — you want to make sure you
have the light coming on your dog, and shoot at their level to really
capture their facial expression,” Grissom advised. “Keep the background
simple, and keep the focus on your dog.”
Shoot outside as much as possible, she added. “If you’re inside, shoot next to the window. Don’t shoot with your phone facing the window, position your dog so the window is shedding light on their face, not their back.”
The secret weapon
“You know your dog best, so do whatever you can do to get them to
make a funny facial expression or get some spark in their eyes to bring
out that funny expression,” Grissom said. “Peanut butter is the secret
ingredient. Put a dollop on their nose — they’ll sit still trying to
lick it off, and you’ll get really amazing photos because they’ll
wrinkle up their face and put their tongue on their nose.”
Off-line operatives
“Networking with other dogs and finding a community of people is
really helpful,” Grissom said. “I know a lot of the famous dogs are part
of meet-up groups, and a lot of the most successful dogs have offline
things they do.”
COMMENTS