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 Ferret
Fotography Tips
by Summerlilly I am not an expert on photographing ferrets, but I'd like to pass onto you a few of the things I have learned over the years. People say, "I just can't get my ferret to be still long enough to make a good picture of him." Who can expect a ferret to be still longer than one second? You just have to be fast, have a camera that is capable of snapping several pictures in a row without a hesitation, and most of all be lucky. Here are a few things you will need to get started:
Camera - I recommend a digital capable of shooting several pictures in a row with out having to wait for one to develop. It is good to have one that has a LCD display to view with instead of having to look through a viewfinder. The higher the resolution your camera, the better picture you are going to get. I use the high quality setting, which gives a very large picture. I can crop the ferret and the necessary background out leaving all the non-essentials behind. This makes the actual picture of the ferret much larger than if I used the whole picture as is. I have used a regular camera, but it get quite expensive for film and developing when I'm lucky to have one really good picture on the whole roll. A digital eliminates all this plus it gives me a second chance if the first ones I took didn't suit me. I also use the close-up feature quite frequently too as this will show the ferret's whiskers clearly by which I judge the quality of the picture. Tripod - It's very important to use a tripod most of the time. This allows me to focus my camera beforehand. It also holds the camera steady eliminating the movement when holding it myself. I can use both hands to pose the ferret and then very quickly reach over with one hand and snap the camera. Flash - I mostly have to experiment with my lightening first. Sometimes if the room is very light especially in the early hours, I turn the flash off. I usually take a few pictures of just the background and view them on the computer first to see what adjustments need to be made before I ever hunt a ferret to photograph. Sometimes using the flash-fill will add that extra light that I need. I also have an external flash that I use sometimes in addition to the built-in one on the camera. I enjoy photographing outside especially in the springtime where no extra lighting is needed. It is better to do it in the early or later part of the day too when the light is not so harsh. I especially like shooting in the shade with a few effects of the sun filtering through. Props - You will need a background of some sort so that all the surroundings in the room won't show especially if you are photographing a theme such as Christmas. I use a $5 cardboard cutting board that folds out to a size I like and pin a piece of fabric that depicts the theme on it. I spend a lot of time in the fabric stores! Since the cutting board was too wide, I trimmed it down and made two out of it. You will need any other props that depict the theme you are using. It is also very helpful to have a bottle of Ferretone to place a few drops on something to keep their attention and especially to keep them from leaving the set! You will also need a squeaky toy. This works wonders and makes them look at you for the instant you want to snap the picture. It is very important to use props they are going to pose with that are new to them. Their curiosity will keep their attention while you snap away. Early in the mornings when they first come out to play is usually the best for me. I never work with one over five minutes at a time as they get very bored very quickly. It is better to photograph only a few minutes at a time two or three different times in a day than one long session. A good editing program - I use Paint Shop Pro 7 to do what editing I need to my pictures. I have thought about buying Adobe PhotoShop, but I have never felt I had the time to devote to learning it. If you have a good picture to start with, you really don't need to do much to it unless you want to brighten, darken, or increase the contrast in it. I also use this program to resize the pictures to a manageable size. A FERRET - By all means you need a ferret! I usually have better luck with one at a time, but sometimes I get two that turn out not too badly. Most people say it is good to have someone help you in handling the ferrets, but since I've never had this luxury, I don't know if that would help me that much or not. Some ferrets don't mind letting you pose them and gladly will accommodate you, but the majority of them will try to leave the scene but not before they turn your background over. I usually set mine up on the foot of the bed, and Petal, my little while albino girl, loves to tunnel under the bedspread and turn everything over. Making ferret pictures are so much fun! I hope I have given you a few ideas to help the next time you decide its ferret picture taking time!
Summerlilly
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