How to Photograph a Pug

Since Pugs are so strikingly beautiful to look at, it seems only natural that one would want to photograph the Godly creatures.  Here are some tips I learned about this challenging task.

Required Tools:
A Camera
The patience of a snail

Step 1:  Choose your subject(s). 
Step 2: Carefully apply all the basic photography rules such as pointing your back to the sun and avoiding background objects that deter from the subject.
Step3: Point and click. 
Taa-daa!  Most often your photograph will turn out looking something like this... 

 
Ok, so the pug ran off faster than the speed of light.  Let's try this again.

Attempt # 2
Say something to get the pug's attention, after all, pugs know they're beautiful, and empathize with the desire humans have to photograph them.  Not only are they happy to oblige but they're quite hams for the camera.  Ok, got the pugs attention?  Wow this looks great through the view finder. 
Click!

Oh...ok well, looks like the pug lost interest.  Patience isn't their strong suit.  We'll give it another try. 
Tip: Try asking a human to hold the pug.  This is usually an effective method.  Set up the shot, aim and
Click!

Hmm, well of course something more interesting could come along, you know, such as another dog arriving on the scene. Here, Ozzy has decided there are far more interesting goings-on than the photo opportunity at hand.  Pugs are naturally curious and usually will want to see every detail of that which has caught their interest.  The result: another failed attempt, hence the use of the term "challenging" at the top of this page. 
No problem...let's keep trying.

Another known method is to photograph the unsuspecting pug from a distance using the zoom feature on your camera.  Here, Tara has no idea she is being photographed, as she is too busy surveying the surrounding events.  The photographer is able to get a nice shot of her.

Hmm, how about some close ups.  Kneel down to the pugs level and point the camera directly at their gorgeous face.  Looks good!  Click...

Oh, there's always that.

Well, you can always pick up the pug and hold her for the camera.  If you are fortunate enough to snap the shot "as" the pug looks away, as opposed to "after," you may end up with a decent semi-side view of the pug, as Daisy demonstrates in this photo.

There's always the "Upside-down hold" method.  Pug owners are well trained in this method.  Here Zeus realizes that resistance is futile and gladly surrenders long enough for admirers to gasp in awe at his natural good looks.

Getting a front shot may be difficult.  Here's where the zoom lens is again helpful.  As the unsuspecting pug gleefully rejoins his cohorts after a nature call, pretend you're doing something else and snap the shot of the approaching pug.  Results are typically good in this situation.

If you are still unsuccessful at getting a great pug shot, you may have to resort to the use of trickery.  Here are some examples:

Here, I caught T-Bone as he went "door-to-door" hoping for a good scratchin' from any willing party.  While we did capture his face and his velvety brown pug eyes, still this is not an ideal shot. 


If all else fails, resort to the lowest of the low and pull a  bluff by calling out one of the pugs favorite words.  In this case, Tebucky identifies with the word "Treats!"

Ah!  Worked like a charm!   What a shot!  Of course, be sure to follow through and do grant a treat.  While the bluff may work for a good photo, you don't want to cry wolf here and lose the leverage the word has.  Seconds after this shot was taken, Tebucky was devouring the treat he earned for giving us this striking photo.

There are other times when your pug is doing something so cute that you've just got to get a photo of it.  Recently, Clyde was hanging with his pals at one of our  beach parties, and insisted on digging in the sand.  He ended up with the cutest little sandy face.  In a scurry to snap a shot, I ended up with something that wasn't quite centered, but turned out to be a terrific photo.  Of course, with natural good looks like these, a bad shot is not possible.

Voila! 

As you can see, photographing a pug is not as easy as it seems.  If you have a pug photo tip to contribute, or just a good photo that warrants an equally good caption, feel free to send them to us and we'll be happy to add them to this guide.

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