- Whether your pet is a seasoned star, or you’re trying to raise their profile, ensure you are camera-ready to capture your pet in perfect focus with Sony’s new Animal Eye Auto Focus technology
- Enter Sony’s latest Instagram competition to win a camera equipped with Animal Eye AF
- Sony reveals five of the top ‘petfluencers’ in the UK as the hashtags #dogsofinstagram and #catsofinstagram reach over 250M posts
- Guide includes a photography series taken by award winning animal portrait photographer Gerrard Gethings, featuring Instagram stars @dolly_pawton and @danteduke_thecat
Whether you’re a dog lover or cat crazy, social media is the go-to place to spend hours scrolling through the cutest animals the internet has to offer. In 2019, Instagram has become the ultimate destination for pet photo-sharing, but with over 250 million uses of the #dogsofinstagram and #catsofinstagram alone, it’s hard to stand out from the crowd. With Sony’s new unique Animal Eye Auto Focus technology, users can take perfectly focussed pictures of their pets meaning our furry friends can get all the likes they deserve.
To celebrate the release of its unique Animal Eye AF technology, on the α6400, α7III and α7RIII models, Sony has revealed a list of five of the most followed pets in the UK. These include a beautiful Mancunian husky, a fluffy Maltese from London and high fashion chihuahua.
Five of the most followed pets in the UK:
1.@milperthusky (dog) – 885k followers
2.@lifewithmalamutes (dog) – 383k followers
3.@bluestaffy (dog) – 250k followers
4.@lilliput.the.maltese (dog) – 180k followers
5.@dolly_pawton (dog) – 144k followers
Gerrard Gethings, Animal Portrait Photographer, said: ‘Photographing animals is very different to photographing humans. You have to create an environment where you control as many elements as possible. It should be calm and quiet. The trick then is to capture the animal’s attention and keep it for long enough to get the shot you need.’
‘When the frame is set up, you often have only a split second to get the shot, so the right camera is important. We took all today’s photographs with Sony cameras, using their Animal Eye Auto Focus technology. Focus is everything, and this feature tells the camera to automatically track the animal’s eyes, keeping them in super sharp focus, allowing me to concentrate on getting the perfect picture.’
Stella & Lucy (Dolly Pawton’s Mums) said: ‘A top tip is to get to know the pose that your pet enjoys doing. When Dolly was younger, we noticed she loved to prop herself on the table, so that become her signature pose. When taking shots, we incorporate her favourite squeaky toy (a little white dumpling) that she’s had for years. She’ll look at that no matter what else is going on – we don’t know what we would do if we lost it.
‘If you’re getting a few shots, keeping their interest is key. We get really creative with this and sometimes end up making a huge range of sounds to keep Dolly’s attention – often getting odd looks from passer’s by. Finally, Dolly always get rewarded with her favourite treats.’
Karen Duque, mother of Dante the Cat said: ‘With cats, it’s all about making them feel comfortable. Dante is a very relaxed boy, but whenever we set up a shot with him, we take the time to make sure he is familiar with his surroundings. He will walk around, rub himself on the props and sniff things – then he’s ready for his close-up!’
