Shooting pets or kids is a good opportunity to practice capturing motion...

Posted by & filed under Travel Photography.

We all like to look at pretty travel photos in exotic locations. And yes, you should take your camera on your travels.

But, by all means, don’t leave it on the shelf when you’re home.

The more you shoot at home, the more ready you’ll be to capture all the amazing things that happen abroad.

Besides, you can sell your practice shots, too.

Even when you’re really busy, you can do this. My days are so full of home improvements, travel, a full-time job, and errands, that I barely have time to organize a formal photo shoot… BUT the dogs need to run, so I’ve been taking the camera to the dog park.

It’s a great way to practice capturing motion while also getting some stock photos. Here are some shots I took just yesterday that are already up and selling online:

Shooting pets or kids is a good opportunity to practice capturing motion...

Shooting pets or kids is a good opportunity to practice capturing motion...

Shooting pets or kids is a good opportunity to practice capturing motion...


If you want to take action photos of pets or kids, make sure you’ve got a lot of light, so you can have a fast shutter speed (these action shots were taken between 1/1000th and 1/4000th of a second). I also shot these with a long lens (200mm), which creates that nice blur in the background.


You can even take photos indoors. I took these on a tripod by setting the timer on my camera and trying to wrangle two dogs…



Shooting pets or kids is a good opportunity to practice capturing motion...

Shooting pets or kids is a good opportunity to practice capturing motion...

Shooting pets or kids is a good opportunity to practice capturing motion...

These aren’t exotic photos of monks in a temple, sailboats in the Caribbean, or a bustling night market… but they ARE everyday images, and buyers need those, too.

It’s one of my favorite things about shooting for stock.

So, get your camera out, charge the battery, grab a fresh memory card, and think about what you do every day that you could photograph. You’ll not only stay sharp, but you’ll come away with some photos to sell, too.

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