Royalty-free images and stock photos of dogs and puppies

Pet photography involves a mix of photography and animal handling skills — and a whole lot of patience. It can be difficult to get a human to sit still and pose for a picture. An excited puppy that wants to run, sniff, and explore makes the perfect shot that much more difficult. A pet photographer can’t direct a distracted Rottweiler to take on a specific pose but must instead wait until the dog spontaneously positions himself in a desired way. To get crisp, clear photos, photographers rely on a camera with a fast shutter speed to capture those agility shots of a dog leaping up to catch a frisbee or racing along a shoreline. It’s also key that pet photographers have an acute understanding of lighting in order to avoid under or overexposed photos of dogs with all-black or all-white fur.

Dogs aren’t fluent in human, which can make it tricky to capture the perfect dog photo. However, while the pet photographer can’t just say, “Cheese!” to encourage his subjects to smile, he can keep actual cheese, or other treats, on hand, to motivate the pup to look his way. Depending on the age and breed of the dog, the excitability and energy levels of the dog model also come into play. Photographers may need to tire their pups out with a long walk or tug-of-war session in order to get the dogs camera-ready. Dogs “smile” when tired, so this is a great way to get those happy shots.

According to research, humans are hardwired to respond positively when looking at baby-like features - a large head, big eyes, chubby cheeks. Puppies, essentially baby dogs, have this same “cute” schema. Simply looking at pictures of cute dogs tends to boost the viewer’s mood. In this way, letting your gaze linger on photos of French Bulldog puppies in little blue blazers is actually good medicine. Looking at a picture of a jumping-for-joy Pomeranian can even help you concentrate better.

There are a few key questions to ask yourself when picking out a photogenic dog picture: Is the dog looking at the camera? If so, are his eyes clear and vibrant? Is there an engaging expression on the dog’s face? Does the composition of the photo emphasize the dog and its personality or is the background distracting? You can also try getting creative with angles. A clear close-up of an upside-down puppy face peeking out from the top of the frame can delightfully surprise viewers, while a close-up shot taken at eye-level can make the viewer feel closely connected to the dog.

Shutterstock has best-in-show, or, best-in-class image search. You can search for dog images by typing keywords directly into the search bar at the top of each page. Then, further refine your search by using the advanced filters on the left side of the screen. This includes image type, like photo vs illustration, and the colors you want featured in the visual. Found the perfect picture of Fido somewhere else on the web? You can find a similar licensable, royalty-free image using Shutterstock’s reverse image search. Go to the search bar, and on the right side you will find “Search by image.” Click this and then simply drag and drop an image of your choice. Shutterstock will return your search, perhaps even faster than Fido would return a ball, with similar images from our image library.