Many people treat their pets like members of their family and rightly so! Pets enrich the lives of their owners and hold special places in their hearts, so it is no wonder that social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are inundated with people’s pet photos!

However, whilst anyone can take a quick snap of his or her pet pulling a cute face, not everyone can take a professional pet portrait worthy of hanging on the living room wall. Here we will explain why pet portrait photography provides a lucrative opportunity for any budding photographers out there!

Starting your own pet photography business

If you are a great photographer and a lover of animals, why not fuse your two passions together and set up your own pet photography business? Pet photography is and always has been very popular, so it is the perfect idea to cash in on. People already spend so much money on their pets, buying them everything from toys to clothing, so there is no reason why they wouldn’t be happy to fork out for professional portraits of their beloved furry friends too!

There is certainly a lot of money to be made out of starting your own pet portrait business. Not only can you sell prints of your clients’ pets, but there is also the opportunity to increase your profits by making key rings, fridge magnets, greetings cards, calendars, mugs and even t-shirts. It’s one of those ideas that can’t fail as there is already a market out there for pet portraits and you’ll certainly have a large customer base living in your local area to get you started.

What it takes to be a good pet photographer

Whilst you will need high quality camera equipment, a studio and experience in order to set up a pet portrait business, you will also need to be an animal person. Just like when taking portraits of humans, if you can’t connect with the animal and make them feel at ease, you are not going to be able to capture their true personality on camera. A good pet photographer needs to love animals and have the patience to work with them, as they can be a little unpredictable and tricky to direct!

Image source: https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3512/4011788738_b3fe88acc9.jpg

 Advertising your pet portraits service

As we previously mentioned, finding your first customers for your pet portrait photography business won’t be difficult, as we are sure you will have many friends and family members lining up to have their pets photographed. Creating portraits of your friends and family’s pets is a great way to build up your portfolio and it will also give you example images to use on your website and flyers.

In terms of advertising your pet portraits service, we recommend guest posting on pet and animal blogs, advertising in pet magazines and seeing if your local pet store will display your flyers. You may also want to consider researching any local dog shows or pet contests taking place in the local area. A great way to attract new clients would be to sponsor a local pet competition by giving away a free pet portrait photography session to the winning pet.

Conclusion

Pet portrait photography is certainly a lucrative opportunity for both new and experienced photographers to consider. Of course, you will face tough competition from other photographers with the same idea, so you will need to find a way to make your service stand out. But with so many pet owners out there, the opportunity to make a fortune from your pet portraits is most definitely huge.

Image credits: Xtina L & Dog Tag Art