Behind the Scenes of a Shelter Photo Session 

(or: “How many more photos do you need to take?”)


A friend of mine, seeing me crawling on my knees across a cold tile floor, bending, kneeling, squatting, making all kinds of strange noises in an effort to get the attention of one of eight puppies, watched me fire off one photo after another and finally asked:“How many more pictures do you need to take?”And in that moment, I realized something important. A lot of people don’t really know what it takes to photograph a shelter pet.


I’ll give you the final number from this session a little later — but first, let me set the scene. I go to the Humane Society of Northwest Montana once a week and usually spend about an hour photographing new pets who need updated images for their website profiles. The goal is simple: give each animal the best possible chance to be seen, noticed, and hopefully adopted. The process, however, is anything but simple.


For this particular session, I photographed a litter of eight puppies and two adult dogs. Ten animals in one hour. Now, to put that into perspective, when I work with my private clients, I typically spend at least an hour photographing just one dog. The pace is slower, the environment is familiar, and the dog usually has time to warm up and relax.


Shelter photography is completely different. In that one hour, I need to photograph as many animals as needed while still capturing images that feel flattering, honest, and full of personality. And here’s the thing: even with the incredible love and care from shelter staff and volunteers, many shelter pets are overwhelmed. New smells, new sounds, unfamiliar routines, other animals nearby — it can all be a lot.


Then I show up, a complete stranger, holding a large black object that looks suspiciously like a giant mechanical eye pointed directly at them. This does not help them calm down. When a dog feels unsure about a situation, the last thing they want to do is stare directly into a lens. Instead, they turn away, look down, or avoid eye contact altogether. Which, as you might imagine, makes portrait photography… interesting.


I photograph with a professional camera and usually an 85mm lens at an aperture of 2.8. If you’re used to taking photos with your phone, this might sound a bit technical, so here’s a simple comparison. With a phone, most of the image appears sharp, and when you use portrait mode, the background blur is created by software. With a camera, that soft, blurry background happens naturally, based on the lens, how open it is, how far the subject is from the background, how far I am from the subject, and how busy the background is. Shooting at f/2.8 helps in the often dim lighting of shelter rooms and allows me to blur distracting backgrounds. But it also means the margin for error is very small. The focus needs to land precisely on the eyes. Even with autofocus, I’m constantly adjusting, moving, and refocusing to make sure I’ve captured what I call the mirrors of the soul.


Now combine all of that with a puppy who is stressed, curious, excited, unsure, and bouncing around like a wiggle worm on a hook. Add limited space, low light, and a busy background. The goal is still the same: capture three to five strong images per pet that truly show who they are. So I’ll pause here and let you guess. How many photos do you think that takes? The answer is 1,064. Yes — one thousand sixty-four images.


Out of those, more than a thousand went straight to the trash. Blurry movement, awkward expressions, half-closed eyes, unflattering angles — all part of the process. From the remaining images, I spent another four to five hours carefully editing: removing leashes, cleaning up dirt, minimizing distractions, and adjusting color, tone, and sharpness so each photo feels clean, warm, and inviting. And just to be clear, this is simply my approach. Every photographer has a different style, workflow, and set of priorities. This is the process I’ve chosen because I truly love working with shelter pets and because I believe they deserve images that help them shine, even during a stressful chapter of their lives.


So the next time you see someone crouched on a shelter floor, making weird noises, taking what seems like an unreasonable number of photos, now you know the answer to the question: “How many more pictures do you need to take?” :-) And now that you’ve seen behind the scenes, I hope you’ll enjoy the final images even more — or better yet, go meet these wonderful pups in person at the Humane Society of Northwest Montana. You might just leave with a new furry family member.



If you’d like to see more stories like this and follow along behind the scenes of shelter sessions, I’d love for you to follow my photography. Supporting the shelter, sharing these stories, and spreading the word all help give these animals the best chance possible.