Comparison Photos: Intake at the Shelter vs Professional

Intake photos are the photos that are taken as soon as the stray or surrendered animal is dropped off at the shelter for identifiable purposes. Sometimes, due to no fault of their own and resources, the shelters don’t take new photos after the animals have settled into the shelter. These photos are often blurry, low res, don’t show the animals personality, and portray a scared animal. They are not the most inviting photos to “sell” a new adopter. Sometimes shelters also don’t have the resources or volunteers to be able to get better photos taken, again no fault of their own. It can also be hard to get photos done at the shelter for multiple reasons such as coordinating with volunteers, weather, location, studio vs natural light, and animal behavior's. There also has to be enough turn around with a new photo of the animal to be uploaded before the animal potentially gets adopted.

If all of the stars align, arranging and dedicating a few days a month to animal portraits for shelters can be very rewarding. Below, you will see a few comparison photos of volunteer/intake photos on the left vs my photos on the right. There is a huge difference in the portraits and it has the potential to get animals adopted quicker. I personally like to photograph the animals that have been at the shelter the longest and the ones that can never get a good photo taken of them. One photo can make a difference!!

Do you work at a local shelter and want to try to set up photos days for the animals? Just shoot me an email or visit my animal shelter page to learn more. I hope to hear from you!